Dave,

  Yes you can shield ribbon cable. There is a product called zipper tube, or
you can get self adhesive copper foil to wrap the cable in. With either of these
you must remember to ground the shield correctly. A thin version of the copper
foil is used in making stained glass, so it is available from art glass stores.

Bob

> Date:    Mon, 13 Jul 1998 14:54:14 -0700
> From:    Dave Bayer <bayer@SYBASE.COM>
> Subject: Re: Darrell Boehler's digifant tool
>
> >|   Basically, what Darrell does is
> >| solder a cable with a  inside the ecu, with a female connector on the other
> >| end.  He then constructs a box with a male connector which plugs to the
> >| aforementioned female connector.  The box contains electronics supporting a
> >| series of led's to check various engine functions and a pin layout that
> >| allow one to check the oxygen sensor, afm, and both temperature sensors
> >| with a multimeter- and do it while the engine is running!  Detailed
> >| descriptions of the electronics are on Darrell's website at
> >| http://taos.midwest.net/vw.
>
>         The one thing that keeps popping into my head on this is introducing
> RF noise into the system. Is there anyway to shield a flat ribbon cable so
> that it doesn't act like a big antenna? I'm not worried about the test
> equipment destroying the ECU (though I suppose it should be said that one
> needs to be a little careful with the test leads), but I am a little worried
> that the van could shut down everytime I drive under a set of high tension
> lines...
>
> dave