Well mebbe so... However the thread did mention 2 pairs of wires... seems to me that it takes a return to make a complete circuit... and I don't remember anything about a 15 min demo... But that doesn't mean anything... I have the biggest bag of wooden nickles you ever saw or at least they told me they were wood when the d--n things were given to me Seriously NOW I am not trying to start a flame war. not even a little skirmish here. I enjoy the bandwidth too much. occaisonally there is a problem presented here that is a small and usually diverting challenge, But the first missive in this chain was somewhat disturbing, Methinks the gent origionating the message/diatribe had a rather high opinion of himself. Unfortunatly seeme to me his was rather to find fault in others. I mean jeez all the poor salesman did wrong was not to be a walking encyclopedia of wire data and {GASP} try to be helpfull TO THE BEST of his ability. SHOOT THE FOOL he is a poor example of humanity Now in a more serious vein what was wrong there? If the Engineers experience was so great why not let the little guy say his piece and just consider the source. I mean after all his data was pretty close to being correct and reading between the lines it was obvious to me that the sales person was parroting something that he had read, Not repeating his personal experience. And Finally My experience with coiled cords is 20 years old BUT the ribbon wires would break and worse the insulation piercing spade (yes spade lugs) lugs were a frequent source of problems with less than 200 ma of current flow. Some new cords wouldn't work 10 minutes. BTW the cord was used to pulse a ledex rotary relay in an old car telephone I was asked to re engineer... At 05:37 PM 7/2/99 -0400, you wrote: >Last one, I promise. > >I just applied 1.4 amps in that coiled 4 wires in parallel, it just >dropped 0.13 Volts, what gives me a total resistance of 0.0975 Ohms in >6ft cable. A total power dissipated of 30mW per ft is acceptable for a >800mA 15 minutes glorious demo to a customer. For sure Robert, for the >series production I would not go to BellSouth handset coiled flexible >cables, a heavy cable literature is the best choice, I agree with you. >But requiring the cable at 10:00am to a demo at 01:00pm is something >that no cable company could delivery as fast as the headset cable, not >from RadioShack, but from K-Mart... :) > >When somebody says to me "YOU CAN NOT DO IT", but he doesn't know >exactly why, it sounds to me one of two possibilities: > >1) His knowledge is suspected, so I would delight myself exploring his >information resources. > >2) However, if this guy is in militar clothes, pointing a machine gun to >me, and there are tanks and helicopters all around, then I am in a >military dictated country, I would delight myself to the first >international airport. > >...next time at RadioShack I would be listening my portable CD player >with earphones... :) > >Wagner. > >"Robert K. Johnson" wrote: >> >> I wasn't aware that an EE degree was a requirement for a sales position at >> Radio Shack... Seems to me that the sales persom was trying to do him a >> favor... >> BTW Telephone Coiled handset cords are probably the poorest choice for ANY >> load greater than 50 MA. Typically they are composed of small flat (ribbon) >> conductors wrapped around a fiber filler... At least this is the experience >> of this 53 year old Engineer... REALLY! why would anyone oin his rifgt mind >> expect a salesman at an appliance store that stocks a limited number of >> parts to be an expert on all parameters of the materials they sell... >> Suppost next it is justifiable to be angry with the person for not knowing >> the 1/2 power beamwidth of every led that the store stocks. In My >> profession I first detirmine the wire that is required (most wire catalogs >> are free if not directly on the internet) and then it is a simple task to >> evaluate various possibilities... it seems to me that a 100 % margin for a >> wire that needs to be flexed repeatedly is a very poor margin. That is >> however a matter of experience and preference... But 2 to 3 amps would be a >> better choice... > >