Tips for making USB cables?

Like the title says I want to make some custom length USB cables up for my Feeding Frenzy project. Essentially I want to run a single 10 conductor cable off a dual USB MB header and split the line into two separate USB lines. The total length would be about 18".

I found some stuff at the electronics store made by Belden part # 5508FE. It is 10 conductor 22 gauge stranded wire with a shield. Would this be a suitable cable to use? Do I need to hook up the shield wire to anything?

No... not good got USB. I might have some ideas if I know what will be on the other end of the cable.

On one end will be an Aqua Computer Tubemeter attached to my Aquatube. The other end goes to the MB of course. The Tubemeter, as the name implies, measures the coolant level in a reservoir. I have two Aquatubes about 5" apart so that is why I thought of using one 10 conductor cable and dedicating 5 wires each to each separate device. Here is the Aquatube/Tubemeter.













Here is the front view so you can see the close proximity they are to each other.

You should be just fine doing that. The USB connectors don't impart any special characteristics to the electrons, so eliminating them is no biggie. Attach the shield to one of the ground connections, but only on one end (I recommend the motherboard end).

I would get a standard USB cable and cut it up so you have a twisted shielded pair for the data wires... and ground the shield at both ends of the cable (and who cares if the power wires are shielded). The Belden cable you linked to might work over an 18 inch distance, but is not ideal.

So who has done this before?

I've made dual usb cables for microcontroller projects from standard network cable before, works fine at usb1 speeds. Nor reason to doubt it wouldn't work for usb2 as well; the twisted pair + shield in network cables carries 100mb lan data just fine. Just be considerate of the length of the cable and the current you draw.

First of all, there are only 4 wires actually used by a USB port: +5V, two data lines, and a GND. The USB header on the MB has ten positions, including one N/C (not connected) and one 'key' (no pin on header, no hole on cable connector) to make sure you don't plug it in wrong.

If you're running the USB cables from a MB header, here's a simple solution: find an appropriate-length floppy drive ribbon cable. Hack off the plastic connector on one end to the right size, cut the ribbon cable to the right length (you can just plain ol' scissors), separate the individual strands from the cut end as far as you need to, sleeve it, strip the strands, solder, yada yada yada. I've used this technique successfully (well, except I didn't sleeve it) with no problems.

cat5 e happens to have 4 twisted pairs, which is perfect for 2 usb runs. i have done this before with great sucess - i made a USB breakout box for my mouse/keybard using cat 5 and some connectors off of an old USB hub. works great to this day. just make sure data_1 and data_2 are one twisted pair, and ground and power are another twisted pair.

good luck, project looks good