The short story is that they are Ferrite Beads or Ferrite Chokes. They are made of a material that will reduce (dampen, or attenuate in tech-speak) the effects of radio signals in electronic equipment cables. If the cable only has one of these, it is best to install that end (such as with VGA cables) closest to the Computer, since that device is most likely to create (or be affected by) EMI (electromagnetic interference) and/or RFI (radio-frequency interference).
Additionally... The cable itself can act as an Antenna... picking up RF (radio-frequency) signals, and "broadcasting" it to your equipment, causing interference, flaky operation, "noise", etc.
Almost any Hi-Tech device can create EMI and RFI however. So you may need to experiment a bit. You can also buy these chokes and install them yourself. They are not very expensive.
Google: Ferrite Bead or Choke for Computer Cables
Check out these articles...
Gizmodo
What Do Those Mysterious Lumps on Your Cables Do?
http://gizmodo.com/5871162/what-do-those-mysterious-lumps-on-your-cables-do
"The arrangement acts as an EMI blocker. And the block is most effective when close to the source."
What are the bumps at the end of computer cables?
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question352.htm
"These "bumps" are called ferrite beads or sometimes ferrite chokes. Their goal in life is to reduce EMI (electromagnetic interference) and RFI (radio-frequency interference)"
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead
:-D
No comments:
Post a Comment