more rack ideas

[David Halliday (Volt Computer)]

Let's try this again and see if it formats properly...  <g>


On Wednesday, April 30, 1997 10:34 AM, John Speth [SMTP:johns at oei.com]
wrote:
> At 12:33 PM 4/30/97 -0400, you wrote:
> >Be warned as I was, ribbon cable is only capable of carrying about
100ma
> >per
> >wire.  If I remember right, its like 26 or 28 gauge wire.  If you are
> >doing
> >a number of modules, IDC connectors and ribbon cable is a very easy
and
> >clean solution, but it just is not capable of carrying enough
current.
> 
> It's hard to resist the clean packaging of ribbon cable.  So in
dealing
> with the limited current carrying capability of ribbon conductors, you
> can
> always double or triple up the high current conductors to increase the
> max
> current for a particular signal.


Also, you can interlace your signal and your ground leads for better
shielding.  Disk drives do this - every other connector is at ground
potential.  This would waste your wires though...  Staying with the disk
idea, the connectors used for disk drive power are very standardised and
available through most electronics places:  Digi-Key and radioshack.
With four pins, you can get the +/- 15 and +5 (logic).  You can also
twist the wiring for additional shielding.  Using these Molex connectors
( the brand name ) will keep your power wiring totally seperate from
your signal wiring...