My dog recently mangled the usb wire for my TE stick and I was thinking of just being able to re-solder the wires back together. When I look at the wiring though there is this plastic fibre wire stuff. Is this like fibre optics and I am boned?
Would it also be possible for me to use any usb cable and solder it to the pcb?
No, the fibers you see are just cable insulation.
Hey thanks for the reply, since that is just insulation, couldn’t i just take any old usb cord, cut that off and solder that to the pcb?
Just peel back the insolation on every wire. And then twist the wires together. The usb cable should be able to function before you even attempt to solder anything. When it’s working, solder it together, and then apply electrical tape to insolate it. Simple as that really. Just make sure you twist the wires together very well and insolate it properly and it will be as good as new.
That is totally possible. If you go this route and if your dog continues with this behavior, I reccomend that you get a neutrik USB gender changer for the back of your case.
Get a 24mm Holesaw drill bit from Ace hardware and smaller bits for the screw holes to mount this.
Solder on and glue a short USB cable on the inside of your case and plug it into the inside. Once you know you have it on the PCB right you should hot glue that on.
That way if Fido mangles another cord you can just get another USB B cable, or disconnect it to put it somewhere safe.
Here is another forum where installing a Neutrik RJ-45 is part of the process. Similar port but the one I linked there is USB.
Oh another question too. What are those copper wires that run through the the wire but are not colour coded. Does that give the stick power? Do I need to make sure those are connected?
There are 4 colors in USB cords. The rest are sheilding or unneeded. If there are 2 black cords one of them goes into the sheilding which is also ground but more prone to fail. You want the black cord that is the same as the rest of the wires.
Black: Ground
White: D-
Green: D+
Red: VCC
Yeah, there are only 4 cords so this means that extra copper wire that is floating around it is just shielding/unneeded and I can get rid of it when i am stitching these wires back.