Ultra thin phone cord?

**bimmerguy288** · 03-01-2008, 03:48 PM

I was at Best Buy today and saw some ultra thin phone extension cords. They are great for hard wiring. Just wonder if the "thinness" will have any negative effects on the performance of the V1. Has anyone here used this kind of phone cords?

Thanks.

**MEM-TEK** · 03-01-2008, 05:13 PM

I'm not sure if the wire gauge is the same in these ultra thin cords compared to standard phone cords. But this would be of greater concern to me:

Those ultra thin cords merely have the single thin jacket which insulates all 4 strands of wire. A standard phone cord has insulating jackets around each of the 4 strands of wire, plus the outer jacket which covers all 4 individually insulated strands of wire. My concern regarding the ultra thin cords is that it would take very little insulation abrasion, due to vibration or high heat, to allow the wires to accidentally short out either to ground or to each other. And that could be really bad for your radar detector.

**Beatlesfan** · 03-01-2008, 10:48 PM

I agree as well. Stick with the "thick" cords and you won't have to worry.

**Esoterica** · 03-02-2008, 02:16 AM

Never looked at the stuff myself, but from what MEM-TEK is describing it sounds like they are using a lacquer coating on the wires for insulation. The stuff is rather notorious for shorting out. Typically they only use the stuff for electric motor windings, transformers, that kind of stuff where its tightly wrapped in layers and isn't subject to any bending or flexing. You also aren't mentioning what gauge wire this is.

I'd be more concerned about wire gauge than anything. The thiner wire is going to create a voltage drop for you and a higher resistance even though on a very short run it would be negligible. You still do want to make sure your using a wire gauge heavy enough to handle the power load in Amps that your going to be drawing through it.

According to the V1 specs on their web site the max load your going to be drawing through this thing is 425 mA or 0.425 Amps, just about 1/2 Amp.

That means running a 32 gauge wire is going to have you operating right at the threshold for this amperage. You absolutely do not want to be running at the threshold even though many engineers these days design crap to be right at it in an effort to save overall manufacturing cost.

Since you aren't concerned about manufacturing cost I'd double the calculation at least and make sure I was running well above the minimum required wire gauge. Also factor in your going to be bending and flexing this wire a lot during its life. Vibrations and rubbing, also going to be a problem for you. I certainly wouldn't go with anything less than a 29 Awg wire and that would be my own absolute preferred bare minimum. In reality I'd use something even considerably larger than that.

There are a lot of wire gauge calculators you can find and use on line, just keep in mind most of these you'll find are going to be assuming that you're using a solid core copper wire, which you won't be using in an automotive type installation. You have to factor in a need to increase this calculation if the wire is say not copper but aluminum or flexible stranded wire.

**Arvetus** · 03-02-2008, 06:23 AM

I don't think the 'thin' cords have all 4 wires. Typically, they only have the center two.

**MEM-TEK** · 03-02-2008, 10:14 AM

I've seen some really flat ribbon style phone cords which have all 4 wires. There is no way I would consider using one of them to power my RD.

**REBinc** · 03-02-2008, 01:20 PM

I think the question is still where th advantage to the flat cord would be. There is no space in my car a regular phone cord won't fit that a flat cord would, so its not even worth trying.

**Beatlesfan** · 03-03-2008, 03:31 AM

Originally Posted by REBinc

I think the question is still where th advantage to the flat cord would be. There is no space in my car a regular phone cord won't fit that a flat cord would, so its not even worth trying.

I totally agree. If you're running a cord up the A pillar the regular cord will fit just fine. However, if you try to run the cord under your skin you might want the smaller one. The regular cord will work just fine no matter where it has to go: A pillar, head liner, etc.

**Esoterica** · 03-03-2008, 03:48 AM

What gauge wire is on this thing, anyone know?

I have this old school 4 conductor flat RJ11 retractable phone cable thing from the days of dial up modems that was designed to be easily carried with your laptop. It rolls up on this little spool kind of like a tape measure.

It was made by Belkin and I paid like $5.00 for it. I don't use it ever anymore, but still can't bring myself to cut it just to measure the wire gauge, it has to be getting close to being a collectors item I'm sure. All strands are insulated then glued together like a ribbon cable. It looks really thin, like 33 gauge at the thickest. I wouldn't use it to power my detector nor suggest one just like this for anyone.

I can see some situations where a flat cord like this could be handy, if the wire gauge was sufficient. Some guys aren't into taking their cars apart and some cars are an absolute pain in the ass to get apart to do a hardwire install. A guy could probably just try to slip this flat cable in behind trim and stuff without having to actually remove any of it?

**Beatlesfan** · 03-03-2008, 03:53 AM

Originally Posted by Esoterica

...some cars are an absolute pain in the ass to get apart to do a hardwire install. A guy could probably just try to slip this flat cable in behind trim and stuff without having to actually remove any of it?

You know, I didn't even think about that. On my daily car it was fairly easy, but on the 325i it would be a total pain in the ass.