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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment.

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Old 21st Dec 2020, 4:12 pm   #21
GMB
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

Quote:
I have also discovered leg rot foam too. It was a few years ago.
The parts in the pitcure all look as if they have been generally exposed to high humidty. So maybe the black foam enhances the corrosive effect of having high humidity/condensation.
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Old 22nd Dec 2020, 12:29 am   #22
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

The only part that looked like it had been damp was a 16 pin chip with steel pins. It was on the edge of the foam.
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Old 22nd Dec 2020, 12:13 pm   #23
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

I have seen many cheep record players where the PVC cable, which has been curled up inside on the platter, has melted the plastic on the platter, leaving ugly deep scars.
I have always known that PVC cable and expanded polystyrene were deadly enemy's.
Here is my mini drill speed controller box, where I wrap the cable around the box.
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Old 22nd Dec 2020, 1:06 pm   #24
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

Yeah, that's the effect i've seen. The box, i assume, will be PS or ABS.
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Old 22nd Dec 2020, 1:46 pm   #25
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

It's generally a bad idea to 'tidy' cables by wrapping them neatly around their associated boxes anyway as the conductors always eventually fracture in one of the places where the cable gets bent at 90 degrees in the same place every single time as it goes around the corners.

Dell obviously realised that people were doing this and for a while their laptop supplies were intentionally shaped like flat 'bobbins' with rounded ends to reduce the 'corner stress' placed on the cables which would invariably get wrapped around them.

Since I originally noticed this problem I always just throw power supplies etc into their pouch or box with the cable tossed into a random pile so it is never folded or bent the same way twice. Yes, I may have to untangle the cable next time I use it but at least I don't have to repair it.
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Old 22nd Dec 2020, 2:12 pm   #26
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

A few years ago I restored a 30's battery woodie cabinet using woodstain and then sprayed with a clear lacquer. Months later I moved it and it ended up with a mains cable from something draped over the top.
Some months later again I moved it and the mains cable had started dissolving into the top of the radio!
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Old 22nd Dec 2020, 3:15 pm   #27
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

This seems to be a widespread problem: I've got in my office a small set of component-storage racks with clear plastic pull-out drawers - in one of them I stored a load of small rubber cabinet-feet, grommets and the tubular flex-strain-relief things for the smaller Bulgin line-sockets.

A while back I discovered that the parts at the bottom of the drawer had melted the their way into the plastic and coalesced into a vaguely-slimy goo.
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Old 22nd Dec 2020, 8:18 pm   #28
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

If you follow youtuber 'Fran Blanche' she has a video on her discovery of a beloved guitar amplifier in storage (covered in a plastic leatherette material) that was causing green slime on its fittings. I suppose it's the same effect.
Apparently it's migration of phthalates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHIgjTd0yCQ
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Old 22nd Dec 2020, 9:58 pm   #29
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

John Ward did a video where the main cable to a fuse box had been damaged by polystyrene insulation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fArXX-u7uxs
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Old 23rd Dec 2020, 5:50 am   #30
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

I had a cable dissolve for about an inch from the plug.
I am not sure if it was the grip or the plug body that did it.
The remainder of the cable was fine.
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Old 23rd Dec 2020, 7:25 am   #31
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

Apple laptop chargers with the magsafe connector have a rubbery synthetic jacket on the low voltage cable. It disintegrates due to human skin contact, just the normal oils from your skin. If you habitually have the comuter on charge while you use it and have the cable under your hand to support it, the outer jacket first goes yellow, then softens, then swells, then splits exposing corroded, bare conductors. This macbook pro I'm typing on has now had its charger replaced 4 times. Not covered by warranty £80 each.

A case of using an unsuitable material.

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Old 23rd Dec 2020, 9:32 am   #32
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

The auto industry went through a period of using PVC insulation in their wiring looms (presumably for cheapness). In the engine bay, exposed to heat, the insulation could (and did!) crumble after a very few years.

I suspect that all these effects are due to loss of additives which impart flexibility to the insulation, either through age or acceleration through heat.

I've also seen foam packing, or damping foam in headphone cups, be reduced to gooey black tar - an effect that dates from products from the 60's and 70's in particular.

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Old 23rd Dec 2020, 11:22 am   #33
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

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Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
This macbook pro I'm typing on has now had its charger replaced 4 times. Not covered by warranty £80 each.
Are there really no third-party replacement leads or cheap chargers with a lead fashioned from more 'normal' material which can be used with your authentic Apple charger? (Not being an Apple man, I don't know whether the leads are captive/integral at the PSU end or not).

Edit: Looking around it seems you can get Magsafe extension cables, presumably consisting of a cable with socket like the one on the computer at one end and a magsafe plug on the other end. Buy a few short magsafe extension cables and if anything fails it will be the cable near the computer end of the extension cable, rather than the one on the main PSU cable (as long as you leave the extension inline and don't touch the main PSU-extension joint).

I use a similar dodge on TVs / displays with only one HDMI input - I buy a short HDMI extension cable, leave it plugged in and then all the wear and tear happens to the socket on the extension lead, which is easy and cheap to replace.

Last edited by SiriusHardware; 23rd Dec 2020 at 11:44 am.
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Old 23rd Dec 2020, 4:08 pm   #34
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

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Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers View Post
I've also seen foam packing, or damping foam in headphone cups, be reduced to gooey black tar - an effect that dates from products from the 60's and 70's in particular.

Craig
Yes, I had this happen around 20 years ago on a pair of Koss cans from the 70s; the ear-cups had lost their 'compliance' and were beginning to feel a bit like there was plasticene inside rather than foam. Couldn't remember when I bought them or where from, but they were not cheap.

A quick email to Koss-USA saying I liked their phones and really didn't want this to be the end of them - I asked if they could still supply me with replacement ear-cups, and if so how much would they cost? They replied saying that my phones were - of course - fully covered by their lifetime warranty. A couple of days later a pre-paid bag arrived; I popped the phones in and sent it off. 2 weeks later they returned - fixed. They'd even replaced the rubber padding on the inside of the 'hoop' part that links the 2 phones.

Nothing to pay! That's my idea of "will recommend to others and will definitely buy again in future" good customer-service.
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Old 25th Dec 2020, 3:12 am   #35
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Default Re: Power lead deterioration

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Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
This seems to be a widespread problem: I've got in my office a small set of component-storage racks with clear plastic pull-out drawers - in one of them I stored a load of small rubber cabinet-feet, grommets and the tubular flex-strain-relief things for the smaller Bulgin line-sockets.

A while back I discovered that the parts at the bottom of the drawer had melted the their way into the plastic and coalesced into a vaguely-slimy goo.
'Foot rot' seems to be quite common - especially with the chunky grey ones stuck on the bottom of Tektronix slid-in-Module PSU-base units etc. from the 80's which descended into a gooey mess on some I'd seen.

And rubber belts can be another favourite, which while they normally loose the springiness or even crack into pieces, unfortunately descended into black slime in an old Philips N1500 VCR I picked up a few years ago. And took many hours of trying various solvents to clean off all the remains.
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