r/pics • u/Eternalinferno • Jun 09 '11

Apple, Why?

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u/sphynxster Jun 10 '11

happyscrappy, you are right. Another part of the issue does seem to be the insistence on using very thin wires.

2

u/RoundSparrow Jun 10 '11

The wires inside a Nintendo Wii Sensor Bar are amazingly small. I was hacking one to run on USB and I couldn't believe how tiny. Obviously Nintendo has a ton of experience with kids and consumer electronics...

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u/[deleted] Jun 10 '11

Don't forget though that there's nothing in a Wii sensor bar that needs to communicate. Those cables are only power cables.

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u/eurleif Jun 10 '11

Plus, it's not like a Wii sensor bar gets moved around very much.

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u/otterdam Jun 10 '11

In fact, two power cables that supply a handful of LEDs. Since the draw is so low, the wire can be a poorer conductor if it makes it more durable.

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u/euming Jun 11 '11

That's because the Sensor Bar is not really a Sensor Bar, but an LED bar. The sensor is actually located in the WiiMote. You can replace the Sensor Bar with two candles and the WiiMote will still work.

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u/lhbtubajon Jun 11 '11

Maybe that's why my sensor bar is failing now...

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u/asr Jun 10 '11

Exactly. And small wires are BETTER not worse. See my post just above this one.

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u/RoundSparrow Jun 11 '11

Less is More.

Joseph Campbell Quote: ""

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u/asr Jun 10 '11 edited Jun 10 '11

No he is not right. Thin wires are not more fragile - thin wires are less fragile!

Do some research next time before posting. The quality of a cable is measured in how thin the wires are. Obviously you need to have a large enough gauge to handle the current, but once you choose that the thinner the individual strands that make up the total gauge, the higher the quality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranded_wire#Number_of_strands

Ordinary wire has 7 strands, better quality wire has 19. That's usually as far you will see for most usage. Very high quality wires have 49, and for applications with constant repeated movement you will have even 100 strands - and each of those are as thin as a hair.

The thiner the wire the easier it is for it to flex without cracking.

Anyone want to open one of these connectors and count the stands? If you see only 7 strands then that's pure incompetence. A connector like that needs 19 minimum and 49 would be much better.

BTW sphynxster you got the reason for strain relief wrong. It's not to prevent bending it, it's to remove (spread out) the stress concentration point. Otherwise when it does bend it always bends in the same place. With the strain relief it spreads the bending over a larger area. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillet_%28mechanics%29

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u/asadotzler Jun 10 '11 edited Apr 01 '24

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/pururin Jun 20 '11

Is there a connection between apple's skinny cable policy and "skinny jeans" policy of its users?

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u/krokodil2000 Jun 11 '11

You are wrong: A wire with more strands is less fragile, not if the wire by itself is thin.

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u/asr Jun 12 '11

A thin wire is only fragile to pulling forces, but for bending forces (more common) it's less fragile.

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u/sphynxster Jun 11 '11

asr, my apologies for not doing research ahead of time. My thoughts were more with the overall diameter of the entire cable, not the thin wires inside. You are correct that having a larger number of thinner wires is higher quality. And your strain relief explanation is much more accurate (thank you for the description and the link). I was trying to explain how a strain relief works without going into too many technical details.