Snake problems

J

Jamin Lynch

Sophomore
Jan 11, 2011
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South Texas
I was wondering if anybody else is having this same problem with your EWI snakes and if there is a fix.

The problem is the outer cover creeps back where the fan meets the shrink tube and exposes the inner wires. So far cable ties and tape have failed to hold things in place. Now a couple of the channels are not working. I've never had this happen on other brand snakes before....ProCo or Whirlwind. I was thinking of replacing them with CBI.

What might be causing this?

Thanks
Jamin
 
Re: Snake problems

I have a couple stage snakes from them that have had the outer sheath shrink a little but I have not lost any channels. My belief is that the hot weather has caused it. Losing channels is something else more than likely. Open your connectors and see if the bad channels are in need of re-soldering. There is an easy fix to your problem. It takes a little while to do but I find it is worth it. Put a longer piece of shrink tubing on the cable. You will have to take some but not all of the connectors off and then resolder them when you are done so start with the bad channels. This has also happened to me on other brands of snakes too. Again, I think that the heat here has a lot to do with it.
 
Re: Snake problems

"I've never had this happen on other brand snakes before....ProCo or Whirlwind. I was thinking of replacing them with CBI."

As you are seeing, there is more of a difference between ProCo/Whirlwind and EWI than just price! I have an old ProCo snake that is 20 years old now and still sees use. I also have Whirlwind and CBI. The CBI (24 channel reel snake)is not the same high quality, but I have not had any issues with it.
 
Re: Snake problems

Chuck Simon said:
"I've never had this happen on other brand snakes before....ProCo or Whirlwind. I was thinking of replacing them with CBI."

As you are seeing, there is more of a difference between ProCo/Whirlwind and EWI than just price!
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+1

Whirlwind is an industry standard for a reason. You're not going to get that kind of build quality with budget snakes.

Greg
 
Re: Snake problems

Jamin Lynch said:
I was wondering if anybody else is having this same problem with your EWI snakes and if there is a fix.

The problem is the outer cover creeps back where the fan meets the shrink tube and exposes the inner wires. So far cable ties and tape have failed to hold things in place. Now a couple of the channels are not working. I've never had this happen on other brand snakes before....ProCo or Whirlwind. I was thinking of replacing them with CBI.

What might be causing this?

Thanks
Jamin
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I've never had any problem with snakes or cables from EWI unless severe abuse was involved
 
Re: Snake problems

Kemper Watson said:
I've never had any problem with snakes or cables from EWI unless severe abuse was involved
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I am a user and fan of the EWI stuff for my own personal rig. I don't think that either Mark or Liz have ever said or even implied that their stuff is on a par with Whirlwind, Radial or other top level cable and snake producers.

I've had several of their snakes and some of them have wound up in one of the clubs I work with along with about 30 EWI microphone cables.

There are some issues but over the years the eventual sum of the original purchase price and the occasional cost to replace an XLR end on the mic cables or the original XLR inputs on the snake still add up to less than they'd have spent on the higher price alternatives.

And yes the overall jacket on the snakes does occasionally pull back from the cables inside, exposing the foil shields. Some of that heat shrink tape and a protective wrap of gaff tape have kept the sub snakes in service without incident.

For the record the main snake in this club is the ProCo Helix 32 channel one they've had since the days when that WAS enough channels. Stage to FOH for channels 33 to 48 are and EWI with a detachable ELCO connector for the monitor out fan.
 
Re: Snake problems

Jamin Lynch said:
The problem is the outer cover creeps back where the fan meets the shrink tube and exposes the inner wires.
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Could you send me a picture?

Yours is the first report I've heard of those symptoms involving the EWI product; however, I believe I have seen what you are describing a few times over the decades involving other manufactures products… by my involvement in fixing snakes with problems… The cause of which I believe could be as it was in the snakes I've seen with similar symptoms, which is: lots and lots of twists in snake combined with the snake spending time in real hot environments. Heating and cooling of the twisted conductor bundle could cause the outer casing to slowly inch-back away from both ends of the main trunk.

The EWI snakes are susceptible to twisting the main trunk, and extreme cases of twisting the trunk will undoubtedly damage the cable. If the cause of the problem is twisting of the trunk, untwisting the trunk may solve the problem if it's not too horribly disfigured. There are other brands of snake cable that are really difficult to twist, but then, IME, those snake cables that are really difficult to twist, also are generally a little more difficult to handle (in the manner that they coil).

W. Mark Hellinger
President
Audiopile

[email protected]
 
+1 Hammer.

I purchased all my whirlwind medusa snakes prior to being turned on to audiopile... Since then I have picked up some of their XLR cables and fan-fan XLR snakes, and have been just thrilled with the quality! I personally do like the super hard whirlwind blue jacket for my main snakes, but otherwise I'll be onto audiopile for everything else.

Their cable trunks, workboxes and other cases have also worked out great, and the workboxes get constant compliments and inquiries from other techs on gigs.
 
Re: Snake problems

Steve Milner said:
I personally do like the super hard whirlwind blue jacket for my main snakes,
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I agree, and strongly recommend said product, especially if you determine you need a product that's seriously tough to stand-up to a tougher application.

It's all about suitability for the application and cost effectiveness.
 
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Re: Snake problems

Well, the fact that Mark has taken the time to respond here to the problem has definitely moved my opinion of the company up a few notches!
 
Re: Snake problems

Charlie Zureki said:
Hmmm

Seems like a simple call to Audiopile may have solved this problem....instead of posting on the Forum.
Hammer
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Maybe. I think it was fairly innocuous post and not a knock on the product. I've had the same problem with some of my patch snakes in my monitor rack. I think EWI could have spent a couple more cents and used a little longer piece of shrink wrap and this wouldn't be an issue though. But like Lee said a little gaff over some heat shrink tape seems to have fixed it. I'll have to get some Tommytape and check it out.
 
Re: Snake problems

Lee Douglas said:
I've had the same problem with some of my patch snakes in my monitor rack. I think EWI could have spent a couple more cents and used a little longer piece of shrink wrap and this wouldn't be an issue though.
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Consider it done.

I personally haven't yet experienced this issue with the patch snakes I use; however, that's just me. I appreciate the feedback (it's invaluable).

Is the problem on the fantail or trunk, or both?
 
Re: Snake problems

Lee Douglas said:
Maybe. I think it was fairly innocuous post and not a knock on the product.
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Hello Lee,

I agree...and it seems that my post could have also been worded a bit differently.

In the same spirit of misunderstanding... too often, a post, such as the original could be regarded by some (without Lab history) as an indifference by the Manufacturer. I know that Mark & Audiopile is serious in regards to keeping their customers content.

I urge that anyone having an kind of problem with gear, always give the Manufacturer an opportunity to correct the problem.

Cheers,
Hammer
 
W. Mark Hellinger said:
I agree, and strongly recommend said product, especially if you determine you need a product that's seriously tough to stand-up to a tougher application.

It's all about suitability for the application and cost effectiveness.
Click to expand...

Mark,
As usual, you are right on the money... Although the WW snakes I do have are total overkill for 90% of the work I do. I have no doubt that if I was buying again in the future, one of your snakes would be on the top of my list just from the quality I have seen in the cables and fan snakes I have from you.

I have abused my 4-CH fan snake a bit and have not had any issues at all, and the black Neutrik-(like) ends & the Starline XLR cables are just phenomenal quality for the money. It will be a long time before I can justify rolling my own again vs. purchasing more of these cables.

It's incredibly exciting to see a small company who can really deliver with a good product and great service... Thanks for both!
 
Re: Snake problems

I wasn't trying to beat up on anybody or EWI products. I have LOTS of EWI gear that I'm very happy with. Mark and Liz have the best customer service of anybody out there and have gone out of their way to help many times. Just checking to see if it's me or if this was an on-going problem that EWI should be made aware of.

I thought maybe I was rolling the snake up incorrcetly or something. As expected, Mark picked up on it and is working on a solution.
 
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Re: Snake problems

Jamin Lynch said:
I thought maybe I was rolling the snake up incorrcetly or something.
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Snakes should generally be coiled in either an "under-over" or "figure-8" manner... or rolled up on a reel. How ever you do it, the end result should be that when the snake is laid out, there are no twists in it. With EWI snakes (and probably most snakes), the labeling on the outer jacket should be straight down the jacket. If it isn't, then there's twists in the snake.

I'd say that two most likely issues that kill snakes are twists and getting driven over. Having said that... if keeping twists out of your snake is difficult: There are snakes out there which are constructed with trunks that (IME) are more difficult to twist than the EWI snakes (WW blue and that tough grey Belden snake cable are a couple of examples). The EWI snakes are fairly susceptible to twisting, but on the other hand, the EWI snakes are constructed with the intent of being fairly flexible, i.e.: coil and lay arguably easier over a wider range of temperatures than a snake that's more difficult to twist.

This twisting issue can be serious and is part of the reason why I promote the use of reel snakes for those who are using longer snakes and the over-under or figure 8 thing just doesn’t seem to materialize, since with a reel snake, typically the snake comes off the reel straight, and goes back on the reel straight, even though, admittedly, a reel snake does have other potential issues (snakes getting reeled on too tight, more stuff that can get broken, etc…)
 
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