Cable Thickness and Strain Relief?

[Paft]

• Tweet

Hello,

I own a Vax U84-AL-Pe (800w 230v motor). It has a 2 core flattish oval-type cable. ⊲VDE⊳ H05VVH2-F 2X0.75 MM² Yuyao Guoyi Electric Appliance CO..LTD

It broke the first time at the strain relief section, just like several of the picture reviews on amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R13WNT1EI4PBI5/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B013R60U94

I repaired it once, and used Sugru as a stress relief, which seemed fine. But the cable failed somewhere else inside a year later, recently. Multimeter proves that.

Since you're in Manchester, I was looking at the cable you sell here:
'Dyson Compatible 10m Flex, Cable, Lead, Wire'
'Product Code: MV 10m Flex MV5641'

https://shop.manchestervacs.co.uk/dyson-upright-vacuum-cleaner-spares/dc50-spare-parts/dyson-power-cable-flex-lead

I'm still contemplating whether to purchase the thinner oval-type cable and add my own plug or just buy yours I linked. As I think these thinner oval types aren't that good as a vacuum cable long-term. They twist, etc. Plus, yours has a cable tidy.



TL:DR:

What's the thickness of this?:
MV 10m Flex MV564

What do you recommend as strain relief? Would self-amalgamating tape work?

[dysondestijl]

The Mvacs cable is definitely much better quality than the Vax original. You’re right- the thin, flat, brittle cable used on the Vax Air uprights at the moment is quite poor quality and often suffers from breakages and twisting etc. The replacement is almost certain to be miles better in terms of quality. 

[Paft]

Thanks. Screw it...I'll just order it and figure out a stress relief later. I don't have a caliper to measure the thickness when it arrives.

(Maybe Sugru again? Sugru is kind of expensive unless you know you're going to use it all. It has an expiration date. I've only ever needed half a pouch, leaving the other two to go to waste.)

My only slight concern was it would seem a bit chunky and weighty compared to the original cable as it is a smaller vac than a typical Dyson.

[beko1987]

Could try a spring over the flex? A chunky spring of the appropriate width should be easy to find on ebay (but take 3 months to arrive) then trap one end under the cable clamp and use that? Nice 10cm long one would do well. Like a spring on the ends/all down a brake flexi hose

Equally, on the vax machines there's no electrics going up the spine* (*usually, if your switches are at the top then be careful etc) but you could drill 2 holes nicely into and through the housing then cable tie the flex up to there tightly, with slack running to the base where it enters. Less likely to strain it then.

Another +1 for Stu's cables, I always ask for a few whenever I have a box come my way for other reasons from him

[Paft]

Those are some possibilities, thanks.

Funnily enough, I actually watched one of your videos prior to coming here yesterday.

I was just looking around to see what people had used as a strain relief. Searched something like 'Vax repair cable replacement'. Although the model you worked on had a removable cable cleat/strain relief (whatever you want to call it.) 'Vax Mach Air (U90-MA-RE) - Cable Replacement and a quick tidy up!'

[MVacs]

The 5641 is an original Sebo spec 0.75m cable as fitted to Sebos and similar to earlier Dysons. 0.75mm is pretty standard.

1.00mm is 33% thicker internally and harder wearing.

We also do an 1104 black flex that is 1.00mm, and a similar dark grey one DYS01 made for Dyson that is also 1.00mm.

Because none of the aftermarket suppliers made flexes good enough for what we wanted, that's the reason we did our own. Most suppliers obsess about price only. With low price comes crap quality. We think people are happy to pay a couple of quid more for a good product. We wanted good flexes. We found a good company that makes good flexes.

We use them on all our own machines and sell them each and every day without issues. Many in the trade are now buying them too.

Some people are happy to pay less for crap. We like to turn out good products when they have our name on them. I abhor mediocrity and poor quality to meet a price point. Especially with something as important as a flex. Its just not what we are about. Our flexes are great quality.

[Paft]

Thank you for the reply.

I did go ahead and order the linked (5641) cable yesterday.

One thing I still don't know is.. if I were to buy some random strain relief sleeve, what size would I be looking for?