Can I insert random cables into my circuits?

Hi. I'm building relatively simple electronic circuits to teach myself the basics. I'm doing the first 21 pages' worth of circuits from Jaycar's Simple Circuits Volume I. The most complicated circuit is an astable multivibrator using 2 transistors.

My local electronics shop has all kinds of cables and connectors. VGA, RF, serial port... all manner of connectors. I had the idea of using some of these connectors in my circuits. For example, I could separate the two halves of the oscillator circuit and connect them (or indeed any other two halves) using a VGA cable. I would have to select a few pins to use to bridge the broken part of the circuit, and wire in two sockets.

My intention is not to use the protocol that goes along with the relevant connector/cable. So, for example, if I actually plugged part of my circuit into a VGA socket, I'm not expecting a monitor to display anything meaningful. (Or it could even blow up).

Am I right in thinking that the cables are just conductive wires inside, so I can simply use them arbitrarily?

Richard

Am I right in thinking that the cables are just conductive wires inside, so I can simply use them arbitrarily?

Click to expand...

Yes; they're fine for your purpose but an expensive way of doing it. Hook-up wire bought by the yard would probably be much cheaper. Don't think separating an oscillator circuit into two halves is a good idea though.

I dont see why not, sometimes a cable esp a long one can introduce resistance and capacitance into a circuti which can mess things up, however for your application I think this wont be much of an issue.

When I was a kid I made a sound generator, the battery, amp and speaker was in a box with an octal socket on it and the sound generator was inside an octal plug housing (old relay housing), I had a few of these octal plugs with diffo sound generation circuits in, was loads of fun and interested my mates.

Somebody once asked me if they can replace (extend) some cables with thicker ones. I said yes, sure.. then looked at their project on the table and asked "what are you doing". They said "We are installing these toaster parts into this wooden box". That was the end of their project. (Sorry for off-topic, just wanted to share this story.)

Somebody once asked me if they can replace (extend) some cables with thicker ones. I said yes, sure.. then looked at their project on the table and asked "what are you doing". They said "We are installing these toaster parts into this wooden box". That was the end of their project. (Sorry for off-topic, just wanted to share this story.) Point of the story is that it is good thing to try things out.. that is great way to learn, but always make sure that the device is safe.

It's a great way of getting a few feet of multiple colored wires. For solid wire, it's amazing what can be had with a few feet of 25 pair telephone cable. The cost of a single cable is peanuts compared to the wire kit or 100' spools of wire. For work, I maintained a stock of 18 AWG low stranding and 4 colors of 8 AWG. The former was for a lot of DIN terminal work. I got the wire for nearly half the retail cost by going direct to the manufacturer. I had a small minimum order size (100' of each/$55 total order) to meet, but had no control over delivery time.

You can build or buy color coded Clip Leads which will allow you to split your circuits at will. When your done, you can reuse the clip leads on a multitude of other circuits/projects. I'm sure Jaycar along with everyone else has them or the pieces to make your own.