Bent PSU cables

[Sharpman85]

Hi,

 

I have a question to people who have experience with PSU. I'm building my first PC and got the firs version of thw RMx 750 white edition with sleeved cables. The problem is that they are very stiff and when I tried to force them into the cable comb (the 4 + 4 mother board cable) I might have bent them too hard (see picture). Could this have damaged them? I have straightened them now, but I'm still worried as that was the only cable of that type in the set. Is there a any way to test it? I think I'm needlessly worried as they should be sturdy enough to withstand a lot more punishment (based on the way the combs are designed it would be hard to insert them or get them out of there..), but I want to be sure. If for some reason the cable is damaged, can it cause problems for my motherboard? From the schematics it's either the ground or the +12, but I do not remember exactly which one was it. Is there any way to test it? It was already connected to another motherboard and it was working, but I did not test it after the incident yet as I am waiting for a replacement. Is there a feature in the motherboards that checks it like on some GPUs where there are LEDs which flash when something is wrong?

[Skiiwee29]

The cables are likely to thick for the combs. it wont hurt or affect the performance of the cable at all, but you likely cant use those cable combs. 

[Sharpman85]

27 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

The cables are likely to thick for the combs. it wont hurt or affect the performance of the cable at all, but you likely cant use those cable combs. 

Unfortunately, it's an ITX build so it won't be affected much by it, but I wanted to use everything provided. My only concern is that the cable isn't damaged so that it won't damage me motherboard. Do you know if the cables are thick themselves of is it the material used of the sleeves? Since they practically stay in shape after bending I think it's the wires themselves.

From my experience it's not that easy to damage power cables, but is it the same for PC PSU ones? how thick are they? Are they copper?

[Pickles von Brine]

You won't damage the cable that easily. I have used the same kind of wiring before as rope when I lived on a farm (trust me, it takes a LOT to hurt it). You don't have to worry much at all. You will be surprised how much abuse wiring can take before failing. 

Remember, it is wiring, not a motherboard, cpu pins or some other delicate thing. Cables are meant to take some kind of punishment. They are designed to. 

[Bananasplit_00]

That's not much of a bend, your cable is fine

[Spotty]

Why are you putting the cable comb 2cm away from the connector? The connector spreads the cables out evenly itself... You shouldn't need a comb so close to the connector.

 

1 hour ago, Sharpman85 said:

The problem is that they are very stiff and when I tried to force them into the cable comb (the 4 + 4 mother board cable) I might have bent them too hard (see picture). Could this have damaged them? I have straightened them now, but I'm still worried as that was the only cable of that type in the set. Is there a any way to test it?

Looks fine to me. Can't see any reason why they would be damaged.

[Sharpman85]

1 hour ago, Spotty said:

Why are you putting the cable comb 2cm away from the connector? The connector spreads the cables out evenly itself... You shouldn't need a comb so close to the connector.

 

Looks fine to me. Can't see any reason why they would be damaged.

It was just an example of how they were bent, not where I put it.

 

1 hour ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

That's not much of a bend, your cable is fine

 

1 hour ago, Lord Xeb said:

You won't damage the cable that easily. I have used the same kind of wiring before as rope when I lived on a farm (trust me, it takes a LOT to hurt it). You don't have to worry much at all. You will be surprised how much abuse wiring can take before failing. 

Remember, it is wiring, not a motherboard, cpu pins or some other delicate thing. Cables are meant to take some kind of punishment. They are designed to. 

I think they may have been bent up to double 90 degree on both sides, won't that break them? You are right that they are more sturdy than other parts, but I did have to use some force, that's what concerned me as those types of cables usually bend far more easily.

[Pickles von Brine]

The cables are copper strands. Bending them at 90 degrees isn't going to break them. Trust me. The only thing to break them is a pair a shears or a knife. Either that, or a lot of flexing that causes work hardening. Even then, that takes a while do to it being a stranded cable instead of a sold core. 

[Sharpman85]

9 hours ago, Lord Xeb said:

The cables are copper strands. Bending them at 90 degrees isn't going to break them. Trust me. The only thing to break them is a pair a shears or a knife. Either that, or a lot of flexing that causes work hardening. Even then, that takes a while do to it being a stranded cable instead of a sold core. 

Thank you, that's good to know.

[Sharpman85]

On 10/6/2019 at 11:18 AM, Lord Xeb said:

The cables are copper strands. Bending them at 90 degrees isn't going to break them. Trust me. The only thing to break them is a pair a shears or a knife. Either that, or a lot of flexing that causes work hardening. Even then, that takes a while do to it being a stranded cable instead of a sold core. 

I have received information from Corsair that the cables are not strand wires, but single 16 AWG wires. Do you think they may have been damaged after bending both sides of the comb to double 90 degrees? That would explain why they are hard to work with. 
What would happen if one of them was damaged and I connected it to the motherboard?

[Blue4130]

As everyone has said multiple times, your cables are fine. If you are really this concerned, run a continuity test on the cables and see for yourself. 

[Pickles von Brine]

Yeah you are not breaking those wires bud. You are fine. It takes way more than a bend to break a wire. You have to either constantly bend it, use shears, or other thing such as that. A piece of plastic or bending them won't do that. Just use them and be happy with what you have. 

[Kisai]

6 hours ago, Sharpman85 said:

I have received information from Corsair that the cables are not strand wires, but single 16 AWG wires. Do you think they may have been damaged after bending both sides of the comb to double 90 degrees? That would explain why they are hard to work with. 
What would happen if one of them was damaged and I connected it to the motherboard?

 

I wouldn't be too worried about POWER cables being bent as long as you're not putting unnecessary stress on the wires (eg wrapping it around something pulled taut.) The problem with solid-core wires is that they're really stiff, so if you bend the wires too much, it actually rips it out of the connector.

 

Only HDMI/DVI, Ethernet and USB cables you should worry about bending, as there are limits to how much you can bend those cables before they are incapable of high speed operation and start causing mystery crashes/outages.

[Sharpman85]

1 hour ago, Lord Xeb said:

Yeah you are not breaking those wires bud. You are fine. It takes way more than a bend to break a wire. You have to either constantly bend it, use shears, or other thing such as that. A piece of plastic or bending them won't do that. Just use them and be happy with what you have. 

 

10 minutes ago, Kisai said:

 

I wouldn't be too worried about POWER cables being bent as long as you're not putting unnecessary stress on the wires (eg wrapping it around something pulled taut.) The problem with solid-core wires is that they're really stiff, so if you bend the wires too much, it actually rips it out of the connector.

 

Only HDMI/DVI, Ethernet and USB cables you should worry about bending, as there are limits to how much you can bend those cables before they are incapable of high speed operation and start causing mystery crashes/outages.

Ok, it’s just my inner OCD is giving me a hard time and I keep thinking that I may end up destroying my motherboard if they are broken. I will see on Tuesday when it arrives. Thanks for your insight.

[Pickles von Brine]

You will be fine. Trust me, you won't break anything. If a cable broke, things just wont work. No explosions, no fire, no niothing. Just no worky.