FlatWire

You've seen the commercials: a guy walks into an electronics
store, asks about the latest in flat-screen televisions,
makes a purchase and hurries home. Before you know it, the
happy owner is sitting on his couch watching his television,
which he has mounted perfectly on the wall. There's not
a cable, cord or wire to be seen.

But in reality, that television would require several cables
to work the way it does in the ad. It would need a power
cord, at the very least. Other cords might include a coaxial
cable, an HDMI cable, component or composite video cables and
an audio cable. How do you hide all these cables from view so
that you have the same picture-perfect setup that you see in
commercials?

One solution is to run wires through the walls of your home.
That can be expensive and difficult -- you might want the
help of professional installers for that kind of job. And
while wireless technologies are a possible solution, there
simply aren't enough wireless options on the market to set up
the ultimate home theater system. But one company has another
alternative: wires that are flat instead of round.

The company is Southwire. It specializes in creating thin,
flat wires and cables that you can glue to a wall and either
paint over or coat with a concealing material to blend it
into your wall. Once you've installed and concealed the
FlatWire, you can have that clean, cable-free look that you
see in the advertisements.

Southwire currently offers several FlatWire products for
audio, video, data and low-voltage wiring solutions. Future
FlatWire products will include 120-volt alternating current
(VAC) electrical wiring, HDMI cables and a cat-6 cable
emulator. All of the products are flexible and are about as
thick as a sheet of paper.

FlatWire and Electricity

FlatWire comes in several different types. The speaker wire
and low-voltage wire products look like a pair of copper
strips encased in a transparent film. The other FlatWire
products have narrower bands of copper encased in film.
Depending on the wire's function, there may be one, two or
three separate bands of copper. These narrow bands aren't
straight sheets of copper in a film -- they look like waves
or a series of peaks and valleys.

Copper is a conductor -- that means electricity can flow
freely through it. Copper's atomic structure is what makes it
a good conductor. The electrons in the outer energy level of
a copper atom repel one another and are relatively free. If
you introduce a flow of electrons into one end of a copper
wire, these valence electrons pass from atom to atom. The
result is a domino effect of electrons moving from one end of
the copper wire to another. The flow of electrons is what we
call electricity.

Each band is actually several layers of copper sheets
separated by an adhesive that acts as a dielectric layer. We
call a material dielectric if it doesn't conduct electricity
but does support electrostatic fields. In other words, it's
an insulator. We use the term dielectric when we're dealing
with materials that prevent conductive surfaces from coming
into contact with one another, usually in a capacitor.

The number of layers in each copper band depends upon the
purpose of the FlatWire. While it's possible to create
a multipurpose FlatWire that can meet multiple needs,
Southwire elected to design specific wires for specific uses.
The company did this to make installation easier and safer
for the average consumer -- there's a smaller chance that
a consumer will ­damage his or her electrical equipment or
suffer an injury.

Southwire's proposed 120 VAC FlatWire would have five layers.
Think of the layers like a sandwich. The central layer is the
hot layer. This is the layer that carries electrons from
a power source to a device. The layers on either side of this
central band of copper are the neutral layers. These provide
electrons with a normal pathway out from the device. The
outermost layers are the ground wires. The ground wire
prevents electronic devices with metal casings from becoming
shock hazards -- the ground wire connects to the metal
exterior of the device on one end and the ground on the
other.

FlatWire Connectors

Most people eventually ask the same question about FlatWire:
how do you hook it up to power sources and devices? If the
wires come in a flat, wide form, how do you attach
a connector? Southwire answers that question with
a collection of custom connectors.

Most of the FlatWire speaker wires require the installer to
use a guide Southwire calls the FlatWire Ready Strain Relief.
This is a guide that you adhere to the section of FlatWire
you need to trim. The guide shows you where to cut along the
wire. Then you can peel back the polymer film and expose the
copper. The guide also acts like a clamp on the end of the
FlatWire so that the polymer film doesn't peel back further
than necessary.

The speaker FlatWires require some work on the part of the
installer. For speakers that use banana plugs or pin
connectors, Southwire offers roller connectors that fit
directly on the end of the wire. FlatWire speaker wires have
two parallel strips of copper -- one is the positive
connection and the other is the negative. You insert the end
of each wire into its respective adapter. The adapter has
a plastic sleeve that rotates, allowing you to wrap the
copper around the pin inside the sleeve. This creates the
connection necessary to conduct electricity.

Another option for speaker cables is to use Southwire's
wall-mountable box. The box has speaker wire jacks on the
outside and a pair of gold spring contacts inside. To attach
the FlatWire to the box, you need to use a Strain Relief
guide to peel back the polymer coating on the FlatWire. You
fold the exposed ends of the FlatWire over the back of the
guide, place both the guide and the FlatWire inside the wall
box, make sure the wire touches the gold spring contacts and
seal the box.

FlatWire cables like subwoofer wires come with custom
connectors that have a special tab with a clear plastic
section that lays flat against the wire. You can slide these
connectors down the wire to adjust to the length you need.
The copper in these wires is in a special wave pattern -- in
order for the wire to work the wave must align with the
respective circuit board. You have to make sure the copper
band in the wire lines up with the window on the connector
before clamping the connector and cutting the wire. Otherwise
your wire won't carry a signal properly.