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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

#391

Post by pil0u »

I read the post and the comments here, I might belong to the 1% (apparently) who really do not relate at all. Or maybe I just own/tinker with less hardware than the average here.

I recently followed through the Marie Kondo methodology, and giving up my cables (the ones I actually don't use, the ones "I might need later, some day, maybe") to my local community was a relief. Cables are obviously a tiny proportion of what the methodology covers, but part of my mental load anyway. Now, I know they have a greater chance to be used, and if I ever need one again, all of these cables are common enough to find them again.

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

#392

Post by raro11 »

dns_snek wrote: post #316
mceachen wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a cheap pack of 5 colors of 3m electrical tape. Each cable gets one or two pieces of tape: Data: White if usb2 Blue if it supports USB 3 data (because 5Gbps USB 3 ports are mostly blue) Green if TB/USB4/40Gbps Power: None if low/no Power Delivery Yellow for 45W PD Red for 65W+ PD

I suggest finding something else, electrical tape starts coming off after a few years, leaving behind sticky residue that's impossible to remove without some kind of solvent. Same goes for masking tape.

I assume he labels the bag and never has the need to remove it (you just take a new bag). Edit: Nope I was wrong. Bad bad bad

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

#394

Post by BrunoBernardino »

Mine's a (big) drawer, not a box, and this summer I got rid of most of the duplicate cables (after testing them). It ended with like 50% less stuff. My wife didn't care and wasn't impressed; I think because it's a drawer in the office that only I open and look at.

I did also make it more organized per cable type (USBs, Network, Audio, etc.). It's OK. It's for me. It's OK.

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

#397

Post by zimpenfish »

booty wrote: post #45
joshstrange wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This bags or bins or whatever your preferred organization method is. Don't just have "cables" group them. This is how I discovered "yeah, I don't need all these DVI/VGA cables and I can do with only 10 extra HDMI cables". I'll second "grouping" with "capability sorting". Get a cable tester and sort your cables by Charge/USB speeds. Even with my default "grouping" of things like "USB-C -> C", "USB-A -> C", etc I still…

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.

I went for a colour label system - one colour for type of cable (C-C, A-C, etc.) and one colour for capabilities (power, usb2, usb3, usb4+, etc.)

Makes it super easy to find, say, a data microUSB (blue, orange) for the Audiomoth) or a simple charging microUSB (red, orange) for the old blood pressure cuff).

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

#398

Post by zimpenfish »

zxexz wrote: post #321
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.

Somewhat recently, on a wild night out on the town, I ended up buying a USB-C USB-C cable tester[0]. Using it, I managed to find a few amazing cables amongst my collection. Gave away the others with context. I want something like this for every type of cable. [0] https://caberqu.com/20-42-c2c-caberqu.html

I've got a Treedix[0] which does A, C to Lightning, mini-B, C, MicroB3.0, and Micro. Super handy for identifying the nonsense C-C cables you can chuck.

[0] https://treedix.com/products/treedix-usb-cable-tester-usb-c-...

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

#399

Post by zimpenfish »

unwind wrote: post #332
zxexz wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhat recently, on a wild night out on the town, I ended up buying a USB-C USB-C cable tester[0]. Using it, I managed to find a few amazing cables amongst my collection. Gave away the others with context. I want something like this for every type of cable. [0] https://caberqu.com/20-42-c2c-caberqu.html

I like your idea of a wild night out! Note to others: that tester board looks fairly passive, i.e. I don't see (mention of) a microcontroller to talk to the chip that high-powered cables must have. So I guess it's somewhat limited in the number of things it can check?

The Treedix[0] can query e-marker chips.

[0] https://treedix.com/products/treedix-usb-cable-tester-usb-c-...

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

#400

Post by unxmaal »

Parts age into tools.

As time and attrition happens, those 30 VGA cables turn into 10, then 3, then 1. What was once a bag of unimportant parts labeled “VGA” is now a single tool with a specific use case and that is critical for solving certain narrow problems.

Don’t let anyone take your big box of tools.

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