Why do electronics cables loop back on themselves?

Many times cables for electronic devices have a small plastic clip at one end or both ends of the cable and the cable itself is looped around this. It applies to connection cables such as A/V cables as well as power cables. What is that loop back for?

I believe you are talking about ferrite EMI suppressors - magnetically permeable split rings that get snapped onto cable end(s) to prevent electromagnetic noise from entering the piece of equipment via the cable. They are only plastic on the outside to protect very brittle ferrite material that actually performs the filtering function.

The loop simply gives the signal another pass through the suppressor in attempt to filter out more noise that won't get caught on the first pass. More often than not you won't see the loop simply because it makes the cable end too bulky.

Oh, BTW, EMI stands for ElectroMagnetic Interference I am pretty sure it is for the manufacturing part of making the cable. When they come off the machine the loop holds it. to keep from tangling.. but soon are you undo it.. it'll try to tangle up on you.

you know how wires and cables are.. never take your eyes off of them for a moment!

:D Most often, the plastic clip that you mentioned is weighted. The reason is, so that the cable will run smoothly downward, to avoid tangles and messy cables. Loops keep it from getting all tangled up in itself... The loop confuses the Ohmbugs,and keeps them from multiplying ??

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