3 Reasons Why Coil Cords are Important in a Wireless World

Coil cords are everywhere, from the back of a semi truck, to a camera’s flash strobe to the arcade games where you manipulate a claw to pick up a toy.  Coil cords are used in a wide variety of industries too.  Coiled cables are used by the medical industry, security industry and industrial control industry to name but a few.  And in this age of everything wireless a good question is why would anyone use a coiled cord?  So no matter what you call it, a coil cord, curly cord or coiled cable this article will give some reasons why a coil cord is still the right solution for many applications.

1)      There are three main reasons to use a custom coil cord instead of wired solution.  The first is power.  While wireless solutions exist for many application when electrical power needs to be supplied it almost always is done with wire or cable.  When something is wireless it means the product uses radio waves of some sort.  Radios that we listen to are one example of just such a product.  We could connect all radios with coil cords and send the signal along the cord, but that isn’t practical for long lengths of distances, so radio waves are used to send the signal.  When radios waves are sent they move in all directions and don’t really care what they hit, and don’t react with anything but antennas “tuned” to their frequency.

Power is different.  If power was transmitted like radios wave it would interact with anything metallic in its path.  And if the metallic object was connected to something the power would transfer from the metal to the object.  This would act as conductors, and could be very bad as in the extreme case of lightning, which is a very powerful wave of energy.  So cables, and coil cords, are used as a part to transfer power for obvious safety reasons.

2)      The second reason coiled cables are used instead of wireless is to avoid electronic noise.  We live in a world filled with radio waves all around us.  Often custom coil cords are used instead of radio waves because the items needing the signal would be damaged or impaired by other signals.  A classic representation of this is again a radio, only the old AM kind.  We have heard static and other stations fade in and out on radios.  The static we hear is noise.  If a coiled cord was used instead of radio waves, and the radio was shielded from outside waves, we wouldn’t hear static.  However connecting all radios with coil cords is impractical, but in an operating room it isn’t.  This is why cables and coil cords are often used in hospitals.

3)      The third reason to use a coil cord instead of wireless signal is security.  In the early days of cell phones, it wasn’t unusual to be talking with someone one moment and the next be speaking with someone else.  This was because the cellular phone systems and their suppliers at that time were not as advanced as now.  For most people this is not an issue, but if you are in the military it can be a matter of life or death.  Having a coiled cable transmit signal or power ensures there will be no interruptions.  Imagine a surgeon in the operation room losing power at a critical point in surgery.  This is why where failure is not an option coiled cords are often used.

Wireless products are great, and they have made our lives much more mobile and easy.  However as the above points show custom coil cords and cables are still very necessary.  If you need power, a clean signal or security of transmission a coiled cable is a great solution.  Meridian Cable manufactures and designs coil cords for any coiled cable need you have.

Many people are gullible enough to believe that EVERYTHING imported is of poor quality.  This simple defies logic and anyone who makes a blanket statement as such surely doesn’t know the world we live in today.  Meridian Cable makes coil cords in China, designs them in America and is creating jobs in BOTH countries.  This cannot be said by some of our competitors.

First let’s address the quality issue.  If you have bought a cell phone, laptop computer, television or many other electronic devices odds are it was imported.  The same is true for many, many other items.  Kitchen appliances, furniture, medical devices, industrial controls and caskets are just a few of the items imported into America from overseas.  If the argument is true that everything imported is of poor quality how is it that there are excellently made examples of every item listed here?  The same is true of coil cords and cable assemblies.  The truth is you can find poor quality manufacturing ANYWHERE, and that includes America.  The important thing is to find a reputable company with a long history of quality performance.

Second let’s discuss why anyone would make such a blanket statement.  There are great manufacturing companies all over the world, and there are very poor manufacturing companies all over the world.  In this day and age surely everyone knows that excellent performance is not limited to any nation.  Anyone who thinks one country has all the advantages is limiting their option.  Granted there are reasons to buy from a given country and those do count.  However if quality is the only criteria then there are many countries that qualify.  The same is true of coil cords and cable assemblies.  The truth is you can find companies at each end of the quality spectrum in most countries.  A smart assessment would include ALL companies that can perform and not limit the options based on geography.

Third it is helpful to remember how small the world is today.  Sure the earth has not changed size in our lifetime, or for a few billion years for that matter, but from a business standpoint the world has never been smaller.  It took Christopher Columbus 5 weeks to cross the Atlantic in 1492, the first steamship took 18 days, Lindbergh 33.5 hours and today a modern jet makes the journey in 7 to 8 hours.  Technology has continuously made the world smaller with each passing generation.  Anyone who denies this fact is either purposely not telling the truth or is clinging to a lost world.

Last we all need to remember our business history.  There are countless examples of countries and companies who close themselves off to the options the world can afford.  China for example in 1100’s had paper, gunpowder and the compass CENTURIES before Europe.  And in the 1400s, 80 years before Columbus’ voyage they had 400 foot long, ocean going boats while Columbus’ boats were about 70 feet long.  China closed their borders, burned their boats, and was not a serious economic power for the next 500 years.

The point is obvious; any company that wants to grow and be competitive has to take advantage of every opportunity and resource available.  Anyone who says ALL the advantages are in ONE country is either not being honest, or is myopic and denying reality.  In today’s business environment, with the advancing in communication and logistics, any company can buy from any other company.  All it takes is find thing right partner.  When it comes to coil cords and cable assemblies Meridian Cable, being a global company, can be the best partner an OEM can find.  And we have added many jobs in AMERICA over the last few years, so if you are worried about American job creation Meridian Cable is doing that too!

We have all seen them, a coiled cable that makes connecting two electronic devices so much easier.  The benefits of a coiled cable are numerous, but the main purpose is so that a big pile of excess cable doesn’t lie around and get tangled.  A coiled cable can also be called a coil cord, coiled cord, curly cord, coiled wire or stretch cord to name just a few other names.  All these names are used in this article, but they all mean the same product. The question, how to make a coiled cable? Is answered below in four steps.

As with many things experience plays its part, so it is always best to consult with experts like Meridian Cable.

STEP ONE is to make a cable.  This can be as simple as one conductor or as complicated as a cable Meridian Cable recently made.  That coiled cable had 15 conductors; five twisted pairs, two 14 awg conductors, two 18 awg conductors and one 50 ohm coaxial cable.  Most coiled cables are not this complicated, but Meridian Cable can do it.

Since a coiled cable acts as a spring it is critical when making the cable that all the conductors are constructed right.  Things to consider are the size of the conductor stranding, the twist of the stranding, the direction in which the conductors are bundled and the insulation material used to name a few.

The final cable consideration is the outside jacket material.  This is critical because this is where most of the “coil” action in a coiled cable occurs.  Meridian Cable uses the following materials; polyurethane, thermoplastic rubber, thermoplastic elastomer and polyvinyl chloride.  Each material has applications it is suited for and these can range from medical uses to simple industrial control situations.

STEP TWO is to wind the cable onto a rod.  During this process the coiled cord starts to look like the final product.  The cable is wrapped around a rod the can be a small as 1/4 of an inch to a large as 3 or 4 inches in diameter.  The size of the rod creates the inside diameter (ID) of the coiled cable.  A small ID creates a coiled cord with more spring action and a larger ID creates less spring action.

STEP THREE is heat treating.  Since the outer jacket material is thermoplastic it can be softened with heat.  However too much heat will melt the material and too little won’t change anything.  The goal is to heat the material JUST hot enough and for JUST the right amount of time to get it to stay in the coiled shape.  This requires some experience and know how because if it isn’t done right then the coiled cord won’t perform correctly.

STEP FOUR is reverse winding.  During heat treating the material on the outside of the coil cord is lengthened and the material on the inside is shortened.  When the coil cord is reverse wound, or turned inside out, the force pulls the coils together giving the coil cord the spring action.

While these are the basic steps in making a coiled cable there are a lot of details that need to be considered.  A few things to consider are how many cycles will the coil cable experience, what kinds of environment will the coiled cable endure and what electrical properties are vital for proper performance.  Meridian Cable has the experience to talk you through the design considerations and show you how a quality coiled cable performs.  Call us and we will be happy to design your next coiled cable.

Bud Kinzalow ­ Meridian Cable