Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables • Hacker News Board

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#191

Post by anotherevan » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:46 PM UTC

booty wrote: post #24

Key for me is to "group" cables. For example, I have a bag of USB-C cables, a bag of USB-A cables, etc. Grouping them is key to deduplicating. It's easy to look at a single legacy USB A-to-B "printer" cable in isolation and think "I might need this someday!" Because you really might need it someday. However, if you group them you might see that you have ten of them. And then you can get rid of... maybe 8 of them. I a…

Yep, ziploc bags with the type of cable written in permanent marker.

Pro-tip, use a hole punch on a corner of the bag. That way, once zipped you can just squeeze it to get the air out.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#192

Post by beastman82 » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:47 PM UTC

that's boxen in my case and I'm sure others

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#193

Post by anotherevan » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

I have at least one box of old A/V cables and such sitting in my cupboard that I've been thinking I need to sort through and probably throw out.

Things like big, thick composite cables and extra long VGA cables.

Now… maybe not?

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#194

Post by lowken » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

I recently purged my cable box. I had 8 HDMI cables... 8. What do I need 8 HDMI cables for?

I tossed them in the garbage with a ton of other use less cables. I kept one HDMI cable (not 8) and a few odds and ends. I kept one rj45 Ethernet cable and tossed the rest. I even tossed my rj45 crimping tool kit. Why? Because I don't see the need to crimp Ethernet cables anytime soon and should the need arise I can buy a kit for $30.

So at the end my cable box when from being overflowing to half full.

Onto the next project.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#195

Post by koyote » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

SmasherEpilepti wrote: post #106

Recently, I was screwed by my big box of cables, when I pulled out a SATA power connector for my modular power supply, and learned very quickly that though the ports universally fit across modular PSUs, the pinouts are not actually intercompatible, and you can and will fry your hard drives. I didn't know this; I had foolishly assumed that SATA power connectors were standardized on both ends.

I too have been burned by the BBOC, although not as badly as this:

I picked out a random short ethernet cable that looked nice (it was flat) to connect my wifi AP to my router.

It took me about a month to realize my 100mbit internet connection had dropped down to about ~85-90mbit, but more importantly, transferring files between a wifi client and the wired network was also only ~90mbit.

Turned out the cable was so bad that it only connected at 100mbit...

I have now gone the other way and I actually curate the BBOC: All cables I get for 'free' with random appliances now go straight to the bin (unless they are specialised) and I only keep cables I specifically bought and know they adhere to a standard.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#196

Post by jodrellblank » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

reyostallenberg wrote: post #110

Very funny comedy about this kind of stuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6wZUV1t1y0

And a Futurama moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxu7z7hfVns

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#197

Post by ChoGGi » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

demritocracy wrote: post #177

OroPla wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember CD spindles? Those are were a quarter of my cables live now. They can be stacked! There's also a few boxes and one tech bag. Also, the 15m (50ft) HDMI cable doesn't fit anywhere so it got it's own space.

A secret I've found is use hair ties instead of rubber bands with cables, they survive long stints in the garage much better

Garden stores/sections sell circles of green Velcro you can cut; I figure of it's good enough for UV then it'll work in a box.

As a bonus, you don't need to raid her hairbands.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#198

Post by marcogarces » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:50 PM UTC

I use big drawers for "types" and ziplocks for within; i have a network drawer , a media one and a generic one that says "stuff that glues or grabs" (zip ties, tape, etc)

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#199

Post by tom_alexander » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:51 PM UTC

demritocracy wrote: post #177

OroPla wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember CD spindles? Those are were a quarter of my cables live now. They can be stacked! There's also a few boxes and one tech bag. Also, the 15m (50ft) HDMI cable doesn't fit anywhere so it got it's own space.

A secret I've found is use hair ties instead of rubber bands with cables, they survive long stints in the garage much better

I use twine for the same reason. Dirt cheap. Lasts forever. Doesn't leave residue on your cables. The downside is I end up cutting the twine when I need to use the cable but a couple inches of twine in insignificant.

Re: Don't let anyone take away your big box of cables

#200

Post by CommieBobDole » Thu, Sep 10, 2026, 10:53 PM UTC

VariousPrograms wrote: post #37

Whoever does need it, I give you permission to throw out all your old cables, power adapters, and routers. Yes, on the off chance you do decide you need a Palm III dock, Linksys WRT54G, or Sony PSP charger that means you'd have to buy one on Ebay, but you can cross that $10 bridge if it actually happens.

I have a bin of cables marked "Obsolete". A cable only goes in there if there's absolutely no possibility of it being used for any reason ever again.

I use cables from it once every few years.