Ask HN: How do you store cables?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35530738

by spit2wind • 3 years ago

15 20 3 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I feel like I'm drowning in cables; tiny USB dongles, long lengths of Ethernet, and wall warts. There are some duplicates and some one-of-a-kind (to me). How do you store these kinds of things in a way that keeps them organized, healthy, and tucked away?

MDGeist• 3 years ago

I used to throw all cables and adapters in a big cardboard box and let them comingle. That was a disaster, so recently I sorted everything by type and put them in large ziploc bags and put them in storage bins with lids. The bins are not clear so the bags of cables are not visible from the outside which gives the appearance of neatness.

iamflimflam12• 3 years ago

I have a drawer. Actually, I have two drawers, and a box, and a couple of bags...

iamflimflam12• 3 years ago

Oh, and various power bricks for equipment that I no longer own...

sbolt2• 3 years ago

I use velcro cable ties to keep each cable in a tidy loop. I then put the cables in large slider lock bags depending on their category (charging, data, misc). It's also good to donate duplicates, most cables are cheap to purchase so keeping multiple of any one type isn't worth it.

codingdave2• 3 years ago

I don't mind affiliate links on content-driven web sites, but putting them on HN comments feels really sketchy to me.

EDIT: I see you deleted them. Thanks!

sbolt2• 3 years ago

My bad, I just grabbed them from the SiteStripe out of habit, links are removed

dhruvkar• 3 years ago

I'm not sure why, but it does for me too.

However, to play devil's advocate -- what really is the issue?

If someone puts out a helpful link, they get a bit of monetary feedback, much like karma. What's wrong with that?

h2odragon• 3 years ago

In a big box, carefully sorted chronologically. As you go down the layers get more intertwined, tentacular and compressed. Who now needs a Wii to composite video cable? or 13w3 to 5BNC? or 50->80pin SCSI adapters?

The function of these items is to eventually become detritus of interest to the racoon archeologists. We owe it to them to maintain some rational ordering in these samples.

They're gonna have a helluva time figuring out the ubiquitous round plastic discs. "cult objects" of course, but what kind of rituals could demand so many of them?

vyrotek• 3 years ago

Ziplock bags for individual or similar cables and then all in a box. Pretty easy to search through.

Img https://twitter.com/vyrotek/status/1345892926916726784

bediger4000• 3 years ago

Drawer full of power cables, box full of CAT-$N and USB cables with various plugs, all jumbled together.

I moved a couple of years ago, got rid of a big blue tub of 25 years of power supplies, serial cables with odd plugs, various classes of Ethernet, parallel and SCSI cables, all jumbled together. It's been a long time since I needed something odd, so I recycled it all.

wruza2• 3 years ago

In a box, each cable bound with a rubber band (like cash). There’s no issues with searching through when they remain separate, so I don’t use any accounting scheme except for a light similarity grouping in that box. Long ethernet cable rings go into a separate bag.

qup• 3 years ago

How do you deal with the decay of the rubber bands? Or do they not stay in there that long?

wruza2• 3 years ago

They still have some shape after a while if you don’t stretch them too much and it’s dark. Beige ones are pretty durable.

dgunay• 3 years ago

I have some gallon plastic bags that have labels written on them (things like "display cables", "ethernet", etc). The cables are coiled as best I can and stuffed in a drawer near the computers.

roosgit• 3 years ago

I keep my cables in toilet paper rolls (the cardboard part, just to make it clear). If you have many in one box, you can write on the roll what type of cable it holds, as a way to label it.

2rsf• 3 years ago

A few smaller drawers with cables semi-sorted into types and tossed into a drawer

taxcoder• 3 years ago

Coiled, coil held with twist tie/s depending on size of coil, in one of several boxes depending on type, boxes on closet shelf above server and network equipment, closet in office behind desk, office in west end of home.

leros• 3 years ago

I have a small drawer with a few cables. In general, I don't find a need to keep an inventory of cables these days. Maybe just a few USB cables, an HDMI cable, and a few other random things.

RecycledEle• 3 years ago

I solved this one!

Plastic drawers with P-Touch labels: https://www.google.com/search?q=plastic+drawers

You will need all different sizes of drawers. My smallest drawers are a bit over 1" tall and 5" wide.

Use at least 1" tall, black-on-white label tape to print clear labels using standard abbreviations. We all know what "USB-C to USB-C" means.

It will still look messy, but you will always be able to find what you need.

Ask HN: How do you store cables?

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