Meant to be Seen

I was one of the first backers and my Rift's connecting cable, between the control box and the headset, has recently developed a split in the insulation just below the flexi-support at the headset

I saw a post recently where someone had this same problem either here or on reddit but couldn't find it again, so I thought I would bring it to everyone's attention to keep an eye out for stress or damage to the cable where it enters the headset.

I used mine with the headstrap clip about 50% of the time, but from now on probably 100% of the time. I've patched it up with tape for support and to stop it getting worse.

I understand this is a dev-kit, and Oculus's first experience making a consumer device, so I'd just like them to take notice of this design issue for the consumer version (did I hear someone say wireless ), perhaps some of the braided cable material would wear better.

Oh, I hadn't noticed the headband cable clip support thingy! :O Will totally try to use it more! My cable still looks fine even after many hour long sessions, perhaps I've just been lucky thanks!

mm0zct wrote:(did I hear someone say wireless )

A wireless version is the clear winning design. I don't know if Wigig has enough bandwidth to be comparable to dual link DVI (which is the least we will need if we're aming for 120hz or higher than 1080p resolutions at 60 hz)

It's good because it's very low power (I've heard less than one watt) and i don't see why latency should be higher. (but we won't know until someone measures it)

I've even thought of ways we could take advantage of this:

They could place the battery in a belt like accessory that also has a positional tracker that could work with another tracking sensor on the HMD. That would still leave us with the problem of having a cable that powers up the screen on the rift. But it should be far less intrusive since we could have it go from the back of our waist.

And in future versions they could build some sort of jacket that could have sensors for your arms as well.

Another good way to prevent splits like that is to use something like sugru around the edges where the cable plugs into the headset to help reduce the harsh bending

Holy crap, I didn't even notice the cable support on the head strap either. Thanks for that!

My first Rift did not sustain damage from strain while wearing it, but rather when it was store in the case. Be sure to put the Rift in first so its cable can bend gradually and can sit in the bottom of the cutout UNDER the other cables. Putting the Rift in the case last causes the Rift cable to go on top of the stack of other cables, forcing it to bend sharply at the Rift strain relief.

Also, the Strain relief is a poor design in that it would be more flexible if it were shaped a bit differently, allowing more flex. The existing strain relief could be modified by clipping out some of the plastic between every other disc in an alternating fashion, so that a pair of discs is supported only on opposite circumferential borders allowing tangential flexing at that joint, with an adjacent pair of discs having the other pair of separators removed to allow flexing at a 90-degree offset. Difficult to describe but a picture would be much better. Google to the rescue... here is what I was picturing in my mind's eye:



Another method is to use a strain relief with spiral cutouts also allowing controlled axial flexure, such as this one:



Notice how the Rift strain relief is designed with supports on all axes to PREVENT flexure, thereby increasing strain where the cable exits the so-called strain "relief" (really a "strain concentrator" in this case).

I reported this issue long ago to Oculus and I was told that it was redesigned, but my replacement Rift suffers from a similar (or identical) strain NON-relief device...

Just study the ridges in the existing Rift strain relief and see for yourself how it was mis-designed. Image how it concentrates force on the cable.

So, either cut out some excess plastic to allow the strain relief to flex, or add some extra (flexible) support to it. But whatever, be careful packing it into the case to prevent excess cable strain.

That's cool, GM.

My solution was to tape the control box to the rift and get extensions for the cables between the control box and the computer/power.

I then hang the rift+controlbox duo from the ceiling via the 3 (usb+power+hdmi) cables. If those cables twist and break, well, at least I can replace them.

Those designs make sense GM, although I do notice that the strain reliever on quite a few other products is identical to the Rift one. For example, the Z800 has a very similar one.