usb cable small nick/cut to black sheathe covering

[andrepartthree]

Hi guys me again with another dumb question, my apologies in advance and particularly if I've posted this in the wrong part of the forums (I wasn't sure where questions on usb 2.0 cables would go).

So I have an ancient usb 2.0 cable that came with my equally ancient (has to be at least 10 years old) laptop cooler with fans inside of it - one of those old school heavy blocks of metal with the fans built into it. I foolishly taped the usb 2.0 A to A cable that came with it to the laptop cooler so it wouldn't get lost then when I brought the laptop cooler out of retirement and was trying to pry the tape off with my fingernails I managed to put a small cut/nick in the black sheath/plastic tubing of the usb cable in two different spots. I can see a very small (about 1/16th of an inch for ignorant americans like me who have't converted to the metric system otherwise .. I think that converts to 0.16 cm) patch of white underneath which in turn I am guessing is the second layer of wire tubing. The (I'm guessing as to the colors since I can't see them through the cut) white, black, green and black wires that do the actual transmitting of electricity are not visible and are not exposed/outside of the plastic tubing. I'm going by the links below as to what wires make up a usb cable I could be wrong on this

What are the four wires of the USB cable? - Knowledge - Xiamen Kabasi Electric Co., Ltd

What are the four wires of the USB cable?

www.kabasi-connector.com

https://www.electroschematics.com/usb-how-things-work/

I wrapped electrical tape around the two nicks on the cable which covers the nicks completely and appears to be secure I don't think the tape is going to come off anytime soon. I'm wondering if it's okay to just go ahead and use the usb 2.0 cable to power the fans on my laptop in the future.

I know that usb 2.0 cables are cheap as all heck and normally I'd just go ahead and replace the cable to be on the safe side but I'm wondering if it's risky to use a cable other than the one that originally came with the (again ancient, over 10 years old) laptop cooler in case the cable creates problems (delivers too much electrical power to the fans in the laptop cooler maybe). If it's safe to replace the cable though do you guys think something like this would work?

Amazon.com

and my apologies for linking to the American amazon website (again ignorant American posting here ) but if it helps any the name of the product is "Monoprice 105442 3ft USB 2.0 A Male to A Male 28/24AWG Cable (Gold Plated) -Black for Data Transfer Hard Drive Enclosures, Printers, Modems, Cameras and More!" 3 foot option amazon asin number ‎B002KKXP3M (on the American amazon website that is not sure if it's the same amazon asin number on the Canadian amazon website).

Thanks so much to anyone who reads this and replies

 

[moocow]

Unless you are Wolverine, I doubt fingernails would cut all the way thru to the individual wires. I would caution that even 5V and 0.5A could start fire under the right situation if there's a short. If you can't see the individual wires, then I guess it only got down to the braid or foil layer. Electrical tape over the nick should be okay but they tend to fall off after a lot of rubbing as the cable gets move around. Buying a new basic cable is probably cheaper than repairing it by chopping off the damaged section and soldering on a new connector.

For basic power stuff, any basic brand should work. If you want to carry data as well, I tend to stick with Anker, UGREEN, or Cable Matter since they appear to have the brand quality.

 

[andrepartthree]

Unless you are Wolverine, I doubt fingernails would cut all the way thru to the individual wires. I would caution that even 5V and 0.5A could start fire under the right situation if there's a short. If you can't see the individual wires, then I guess it only got down to the braid or foil layer. Electrical tape over the nick should be okay but they tend to fall off after a lot of rubbing as the cable gets move around. Buying a new basic cable is probably cheaper than repairing it by chopping off the damaged section and soldering on a new connector.

For basic power stuff, any basic brand should work. If you want to carry data as well, I tend to stick with Anker, UGREEN, or Cable Matter since they appear to have the brand quality.

View attachment 42777

Thanks so much as always moocow for all the helpful info and the quick response too .. that is an insanely useful diagram thank you for that too .. and good to know that any basic brand should work as far as power supply which is all I need it for I definitely wouldn't be using the usb 2.0 cable for data transfer with the much faster usb 3.0 cables out there (my laptops are showing their age at this point but they still have usb 3.0 cables so I'd definitely be using that for data transfer )

 

[Lysrin]

Unless you are Wolverine, *snip*

I like that