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

blog.jim-nielsen.com

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

#231

Post by ssl-3 »

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 double the cables over until they're short enough, and then tie them into a loose half knot.

No fasteners to wish for, or to fail.

Both ends of every cable are always next to each other for identification at a glance.

Different cables cannot tangle with each other in a box.

There are no axial twists imparted into the cable.

(Stage hands hate this technique, but this isn't stagecraft.)

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

#232

Post by ThatPlayer »

JMiao wrote: post #170
booty wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not for everybody (what ever is, rite?) and since you "hardly have any pairs of cables that are similar enough to be interchangeable" then congrats, you're winning at life and don't need anything like this. The sounds hard Doesn't feel hard to me. I have a bag for USB A, a bag for USB C, and a bag for USB A C. My USB-C charging cables are all 3' or longer, so they're visually distinct from the crappy little cabl…

I would consider tossing the usb-a to usb-c cables that do not have a confirmed 56k ohm resistor.

Similarly USB cables that do not carry data lines

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

#233

Post by aaronax »

dataflow wrote: post #133
booty wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God, yeah. I try to label the USB-C cables directly by capability with my label maker, if they are more than basic charging cables.

What marker do you use to mark them? Is the ink durable and easy to read?

A label maker, as they said they use, prints durable and easy to read labels.

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

#234

Post by colechristensen »

kingrolo wrote: post #218

I decided years ago to limit myself to just one box of cables... So then I ended up having to keep finding a bigger and bigger box to switch them to. One thing that bothers me though (or an excuse my brain uses to justify it maybe) is that it feels so wasteful to dump so many cables that will probably end up in landfill when I know there's someone out there who could make use of them. If anyone has a suggestion on th…

things like old hdmi cables need to go, updated specs mean the old ones fundamentally don't work.

learn how and get the tools to strip wires and sell the metal for scrap when you have too much, do it right and better than recycling, you can sell it

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

#235

Post by dataflow »

aaronax wrote: post #233
dataflow wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What marker do you use to mark them? Is the ink durable and easy to read?

A label maker, as they said they use, prints durable and easy to read labels.

Whoops, thank, I can't read - I misread label maker as label marker!

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

#236

Post by colechristensen »

advisedwang wrote: post #20
random3 wrote: post #2

You’re not serious about it if you only have one box

Challenge: come up with categories for the boxes such that every item has exactly one box that is correct for it. I've got "USB", "AV" and "Networking & PC Accessories", which obviously has enormous overlap, but equally divides the cables I have pretty nicely.

AV, Network, Data, Power (if it doesn't fit the first category, try the next)

If one of those buckets is too full, prepend it with something more specific

i.e. USB, Data instead of just Data

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

#238

Post by rconti »

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. I went through my big box of cables, deduped a lot of things, got rid of a bunch of stuff I'd never need, etc.

Of course, I DID need one of them just a month or two later! But it was still a good exercise.

Now I have a whole drawer in a workbench devoted to cables sorted by type. What's surprising is how I NEVER have spare USB-C cables and ALWAYS have spare lightning cables. I mean, it SHOULDN'T be surprising, since more and more devices I own are now USB-C, but it's interesting that I expect my stock to always provide, and it never does -- for that cable type.

The frequency with which I have to buy new USB-C cables of varying lengths really illustrates the migration I've undergone. "Surely I have one I can just snag for the other car..." and I'm always proven wrong.

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

#239

Post by numpad0 »

I think what nerds need to understand is that normal people hate accessories. Superheroes need no IV lines, they lose power when they are added and regain it when they are removed. They think throwing away cables and accessories make machines healthier.

So, the way it needs to be communicated is that they are necessary evil that help machines be happy. And also to allow special purpose tools and cables to be stored inside the machine if possible, so they don't psychologically present as excess decorations and/or gifts.

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

#240

Post by aranaur »

ThatPlayer wrote: post #232
JMiao wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would consider tossing the usb-a to usb-c cables that do not have a confirmed 56k ohm resistor.

Similarly USB cables that do not carry data lines

Though these should be cut in half before discarding so that no one "helpfully" retrieves them.
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