Soldering a DVI connector

[Andrew Sarangan]

I was wondering if anyone has soldered a DVI connector, and how
difficult it is to do. I need to route a DVI cable through a small
hole, so I am planning on routing the bare cable through the hole and
soldering the connector afterwards. Crimp terminals would be nice,
but I was unable to find such a connector. Pacific cable sells
solderable DVI connectors. If anyone has words of advice, it would be
appreciated. Thanks.

 

[philo]

I was wondering if anyone has soldered a DVI connector, and how
difficult it is to do. I need to route a DVI cable through a small
hole, so I am planning on routing the bare cable through the hole and
soldering the connector afterwards. Crimp terminals would be nice,
but I was unable to find such a connector. Pacific cable sells
solderable DVI connectors. If anyone has words of advice, it would be
appreciated. Thanks.

Unless you are an expert at soldering you'll be better off just enlarging
the hole

 

[wasbit]

If you need to know the pin outs try http://www.hardwarebook.net/.

You can use it online or download the zip file ...... very handy

 

[kony]

I was wondering if anyone has soldered a DVI connector, and how
difficult it is to do. I need to route a DVI cable through a small
hole, so I am planning on routing the bare cable through the hole and
soldering the connector afterwards. Crimp terminals would be nice,
but I was unable to find such a connector. Pacific cable sells
solderable DVI connectors. If anyone has words of advice, it would be
appreciated. Thanks.

If you have a good soldering iron with a low temp (not
something like a junky Radio Shack special), a small tip in
good condition, and either some spare flux to apply or a
solder with a high flux core % (so you are using the minimal
amount of solder necessary for a good joint instead of too
much solder just to get enough flux for a good solder flow),
it is reasonably easy to do, providing you have a setup that
allows keeping the wires stationary while soldering. One of
the cheapest ways to do that is a device called "soldering
helping hands" (Google will find examples).

Beyond that, we can't say how good your eyes, how little
your hands shake, how well you do at smaller pitched
soldering in general. IMO, soldering it is no more tedious
than stripping all the wires beforehand.

I tend to agree with Philo that you should just cut a larger
hole, then if that is unslightly take a blank electrical
wall plate, drill a hole that is about 2mm oversized in
diameter of the cord, then cut the plate in half across the
middle of the hole horizontally (the 2mm is to allow for
that amount of material to be removed by the cutting blade).

After having the two pieces, sanded flat so they fit
together as flush as possible again and double-checking that
the hole remains a sufficiently large diameter for the cable
to fit, run the cable through the larger hole, put the 2
halves of the cover plate on then mark on each halve's hole
where to put the wall anchor for the screw. If you like you
could even glue the two halves together before screwing it
down though if you tightened the screws too much it might
crack apart again.

 

[Andrew Sarangan]

It is not the drywall hole I am worried about. I already have a 4"
hole cut out for the face plate. It is the 2x4 studs that are
difficult to drill through. Routing the wire will require drilling
through several 2x4 studs behind the wall. One would need to
practically sever the 2x4 to make a hole large enough to fit the DVI
connector. I am going to try the soldering option. I also found that
there is a compact circular connector for DVI called Rapidrun, but
they are awfully expensive, about $50 for a 2ft length.

 

[Noozer]

Why does it have to go through every stud?

Just run it along the floor underneath a piece of quarter round.

 

[kony]

It is not the drywall hole I am worried about. I already have a 4"
hole cut out for the face plate. It is the 2x4 studs that are
difficult to drill through. Routing the wire will require drilling
through several 2x4 studs behind the wall. One would need to
practically sever the 2x4 to make a hole large enough to fit the DVI
connector. I am going to try the soldering option. I also found that
there is a compact circular connector for DVI called Rapidrun, but
they are awfully expensive, about $50 for a 2ft length.

You don't need to make the big hole for the DVI connector,
just notch-out the side of the 2x4s. The way to do that
without the bit jumping off the side is to drill a little
oversized and temporarily nail a piece of 2x4 to the side of
the one you are drilling to keep the drill bit in place.
You could instead use a sawzall or saber-saw to cut parallel
slits spaced equal to the diameter of the cable and then use
a chisel to chip out the middle between the cuts.

I'm curious now though, to drill these you'd have to have
the drywall or plaster off already. Is this a new,
rough-out construction or are you tearing out the wall to do
it? Keep in mind, there is a finite length you can run a
DVI cable before there are timing errors.

 

[Andrew Sarangan]

You don't need to make the big hole for the DVI connector,
just notch-out the side of the 2x4s. The way to do that
without the bit jumping off the side is to drill a little
oversized and temporarily nail a piece of 2x4 to the side of
the one you are drilling to keep the drill bit in place.
You could instead use a sawzall or saber-saw to cut parallel
slits spaced equal to the diameter of the cable and then use
a chisel to chip out the middle between the cuts.

I'm curious now though, to drill these you'd have to have
the drywall or plaster off already. Is this a new,
rough-out construction or are you tearing out the wall to do
it? Keep in mind, there is a finite length you can run a
DVI cable before there are timing errors.

The drywall is already in place, so I am cutting out access holes
where necessary to gain access to the wall cavity. I can use a right-
angle drill attachment to make holes in the 2x4 without tearing down
too much drywall. The cable has to go from a room upstairs to the
basement room, almost directly below each other. It is not a long run,
only 6 ft so length is not a concern. But I have to drill through the
bottom 2x4 in the upstairs room wall cavity, get below the floor, and
then drill through another 2x4 in the downstairs room. There is no way
to get in and out of the wall cavity without drilling through at least
one 2x4.

 

[Grinder]

The drywall is already in place, so I am cutting out access holes
where necessary to gain access to the wall cavity. I can use a right-
angle drill attachment to make holes in the 2x4 without tearing down
too much drywall. The cable has to go from a room upstairs to the
basement room, almost directly below each other. It is not a long run,
only 6 ft so length is not a concern. But I have to drill through the
bottom 2x4 in the upstairs room wall cavity, get below the floor, and
then drill through another 2x4 in the downstairs room. There is no way
to get in and out of the wall cavity without drilling through at least
one 2x4.

More curiosity: Why do you want the PC in a room different than the monitor?

 

[Jon Danniken]

But I have to drill through the
bottom 2x4 in the upstairs room wall cavity, get below the floor, and
then drill through another 2x4 in the downstairs room. There is no way
to get in and out of the wall cavity without drilling through at least
one 2x4.

FWIW, the 2x4 in the middle of the wall is a "firebreak", and does not
contribute any structural stability to the house load; you would be safe in
drilling through at least that one.

Jon

 

[kony]

The drywall is already in place, so I am cutting out access holes
where necessary to gain access to the wall cavity. I can use a right-
angle drill attachment to make holes in the 2x4 without tearing down
too much drywall. The cable has to go from a room upstairs to the
basement room, almost directly below each other. It is not a long run,
only 6 ft so length is not a concern. But I have to drill through the
bottom 2x4 in the upstairs room wall cavity, get below the floor, and
then drill through another 2x4 in the downstairs room. There is no way
to get in and out of the wall cavity without drilling through at least
one 2x4.

If I'm understanding this, you now have just a couple of
holes to drill. Consider that a typical DVI connector would
not require as large a hole as 1-1/2" PCV plumbing pipes
many millions of homes already have running through the
walls. Those typically have a 2" hole.

Actually the DVI connector body itself is probably just a
hair over 1.5" wide but a 1-1/2" PCV schedule 40 pipe has an
outer diameter of about 1-7/8". Unless you're drilling
through something load-bearing, you should be ok drilling a
hole just large enough. The remaining task would be finding
a ~ 1-3/4" hole saw (this should be large enough assuming
the DVI connector body is not unnecessarily bulky, then it
should fit through a 1-3/4" hole but it'll be a close fit).
You would also likely be fine getting the more common 2" saw
but since you wanted to keep holes smaller I mention the
less common 1-3/4" size.

 

[Andrew Sarangan]

More curiosity: Why do you want the PC in a room different than the monitor?

Because the PC generates too much heat and noise. Yes, I know I could
spend the bucks and get a quiet PC, replace the fans and hard drives,
get fanless components, and possibly even find high-end components
that generate less heat, but those are complicated options and not a
perfect solution. Some have suggested running a duct from the PC fan
to blow all the heat to the outside. All of these are very complicated
options not to mention cost. There is no denying that high performance
seems to go hand in hand with more heat output and fan noise.

In our previous house, I had the PC in a utility room and the monitor
and keyboard on the other side of the wall in a different room, and
the performance was incredible. It was absolutely quiet and no heat.
Skeptics have to experience it to believe it. The utility room was
fairly large, yet it was significantly warmer, which tells you
something about the heat load it was generating. When we moved to our
new house, I wanted to place the PC in the basement where it is nice
and cool and the monitor upstairs. I really believe that remote PC's
are the way of the future. That way you can get the best performance
without worrying about size, noise and heat. I currently have a
headless file server in the basement storage room. It is noisy as
hell. But I almost never hear it.

 

[Andrew Sarangan]

FWIW, the 2x4 in the middle of the wall is a "firebreak", and does not
contribute any structural stability to the house load; you would be safe in
drilling through at least that one.

Jon

That's good to know. But is that also true for the horizontal 2x4
along the top and bottom? It would seem that the horizontal 2x4s would
be supporting a lot of weight.

 

[kony]

That's good to know. But is that also true for the horizontal 2x4
along the top and bottom? It would seem that the horizontal 2x4s would
be supporting a lot of weight.

So long as you don't cut the hole right under a load-bearing
stud, it should not effect it's ability to support the
weight/stresses it needs to. It will probably be easier to
drill a small pilot hole first from the top of the floor and
stick something like a straightened coat-hanger down through
the hole so you can see where it is under the floor and make
minor adjustments if necessary. The pilot hole will also
help center the hole saw perfectly.

The 2x4 at the bottom of a wall is not a part of the load
bearing, that is handled by the larger 2 x n" planks or
trellis structure under the floor.

IF you were to completely cut it in two, instead of just a ~
50% hole in a roughly 3.5" wide 2x4, you would then want to
nail down each cut end (if there wasn't a nail or two close
by already) on the floor & ceiling holes, and frame it with
crossmembers in the vertical wall studs. These same
principles apply when there's a door or windw put in a
wall... these are pretty typical techniques, your house is
not going to crumble from a little hole in a 2x4 so long as
you are only drilling out a 1.75-2" hole in one vertical
2x4, not several thick, 2x4s bunched together as a
load-bearing structure, you have no need to do anything
more.

 

[John S]

I was wondering if anyone has soldered a DVI connector, and how
difficult it is to do. I need to route a DVI cable through a small
hole, so I am planning on routing the bare cable through the hole and
soldering the connector afterwards. Crimp terminals would be nice,
but I was unable to find such a connector. Pacific cable sells
solderable DVI connectors. If anyone has words of advice, it would be
appreciated. Thanks.

It's been interesting reading the various suggestions on dealing with your
problem.

One possibility not suggested is to leave the DVI connector in place and
cut the cable instead, then splice the cut ends of the cable inside the
wall cavity. By staggering the cut ends of the conductors the soldered
joints don't all need to be immediately adjacent to one another. If you
place a short length of shrink tubing over one cut end of cable before
making the joint you can heat it with a heat gun afterwards and make a tidy
and secure splice. If you have surplus cable length you can afford to
experiment and make mistakes, as you can always trim back the ends and have
another go if you don't like the initial result.

Cheers,

John S

 

[Paul]

It's been interesting reading the various suggestions on dealing with your
problem.

One possibility not suggested is to leave the DVI connector in place and
cut the cable instead, then splice the cut ends of the cable inside the
wall cavity. By staggering the cut ends of the conductors the soldered
joints don't all need to be immediately adjacent to one another. If you
place a short length of shrink tubing over one cut end of cable before
making the joint you can heat it with a heat gun afterwards and make a tidy
and secure splice. If you have surplus cable length you can afford to
experiment and make mistakes, as you can always trim back the ends and have
another go if you don't like the initial result.

Cheers,

John S

Whatever scheme is chosen, I think it would be a good idea to test the
cable splicing concept, before putting it in the wall. DVI has high speed
signals on it, and who knows how important lead dress is to it working
properly. It might turn out, that putting a hole in the wall, was a waste
of time.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/belden-hdmi-update.htm

Paul

 

[Andrew Sarangan]

If you have a good soldering iron with a low temp (not
something like a junky Radio Shack special), a small tip in
good condition, and either some spare flux to apply or a
solder with a high flux core % (so you are using the minimal
amount of solder necessary for a good joint instead of too
much solder just to get enough flux for a good solder flow),
it is reasonably easy to do, providing you have a setup that
allows keeping the wires stationary while soldering. One of
the cheapest ways to do that is a device called "soldering
helping hands" (Google will find examples).

Beyond that, we can't say how good your eyes, how little
your hands shake, how well you do at smaller pitched
soldering in general. IMO, soldering it is no more tedious
than stripping all the wires beforehand.

I tend to agree with Philo that you should just cut a larger
hole, then if that is unslightly take a blank electrical
wall plate, drill a hole that is about 2mm oversized in
diameter of the cord, then cut the plate in half across the
middle of the hole horizontally (the 2mm is to allow for
that amount of material to be removed by the cutting blade).

After having the two pieces, sanded flat so they fit
together as flush as possible again and double-checking that
the hole remains a sufficiently large diameter for the cable
to fit, run the cable through the larger hole, put the 2
halves of the cover plate on then mark on each halve's hole
where to put the wall anchor for the screw. If you like you
could even glue the two halves together before screwing it
down though if you tightened the screws too much it might
crack apart again.

I am posting to report the results of the original question on
soldering a DVI connector. The soldering went quite a bit easier than
I had expected. I used a 30W soldering iron because the 15W did not
produce good joints. With 30W, the tip is very hot and it only takes a
fraction of a second of jab to do a joint, which minimizes the amount
of heat transferred into the wires and pins. I bent the tabs on the
DVI connector outwards to reduce the congestion of wires. This made a
huge difference. There are 18 pins arranged in three rows, and one pin
is unused, so there were 17 joints total. I soldered the center row
first, and then the outer rows to have easy access to all the pins.

The most difficult part was tracing the wires. There is no standard
color codes for DVI cables, so each wire needs to be traced. There is
a grounded shielding mesh surrounding the whole cable. Inside that
shield there are four individually shielded cables, each consisting of
twisted pair and it's shield. Their shields go to separate pins on the
connector and not tied to the common ground. It took me a long time to
figure out all the connections and strip the wires neatly to prepare
for the soldering job. The connector worked on the first try, and
appears to be fairly robust, although I am sure it is not nearly as
robust as a molded connector. I was able to route all the wires (two
USB cables, two audio cables, power cable, DVI cable, firewire cable)
through a 1/2" hole.

Right now my PC box is in the basement, and the monitor and keyboard
are upstairs. It is absolutely quiet and cool in the room.

 

[kony]

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:57:02 -0700, Andrew Sarangan

The connector worked on the first try, and
appears to be fairly robust, although I am sure it is not nearly as
robust as a molded connector. I was able to route all the wires (two
USB cables, two audio cables, power cable, DVI cable, firewire cable)
through a 1/2" hole.

Right now my PC box is in the basement, and the monitor and keyboard
are upstairs. It is absolutely quiet and cool in the room.

It is good to hear of your success. A handmade connector
can be made very robust by putting on 1, or ideally 2 layers
of non-conductive epoxy. 1st layer goes very thinly around
the soldered joints, carefully so as to not get any into the
pin cavity and thin enough it does not interfere with
clamping the outer connector shell on later. After the 1st
layer sets, the second layer is applied liberally further
back on the cable towards the rear of the connector shell,
that shell is clamped around it before it sets, bonding the
cable to the connector shell interior, and any excess is
promptly wiped off the exterior of the shell before it sets.

 

[Andrew Sarangan]

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:57:02 -0700, Andrew Sarangan





It is good to hear of your success. A handmade connector
can be made very robust by putting on 1, or ideally 2 layers
of non-conductive epoxy. 1st layer goes very thinly around
the soldered joints, carefully so as to not get any into the
pin cavity and thin enough it does not interfere with
clamping the outer connector shell on later. After the 1st
layer sets, the second layer is applied liberally further
back on the cable towards the rear of the connector shell,
that shell is clamped around it before it sets, bonding the
cable to the connector shell interior, and any excess is
promptly wiped off the exterior of the shell before it sets.

Thanks for that tip about the epoxy. I will try that.