Ask the Readers: Cord Management

Colby L. says on October 25th, 2006 at 2:41 pm

iGo (http://www.igo.com/) and Zip-Linq (http://www.ziplinq.com/) are probably worth a look.

Lee says on October 25th, 2006 at 2:59 pm

I look for devices that use the same cord. My pda, cell and external hard disk all use the same cable. Plug it in my laptop and i can sync and fuel them up.

jonathan peterson says on October 25th, 2006 at 3:42 pm

Don’t buy anything that doesn’t charge/data exchange from a USB port. You’ll only need your laptop, wall wart and a ziplinq USB gender changer/tip conversion kit.

Doug says on October 25th, 2006 at 6:19 pm

One word – Gomadic (www.gomadic.com).

Picture this…a charger, with TWO cords (single cord is also available), each of which ends in a receptacle that will accept a seemingly endless variety of interchangeable tips (they call the system “tip exchange.” They also offer single and double cord car chargers and usb synch/charge cables, all of which use the same tip exchange system.

Glenn says on October 25th, 2006 at 6:50 pm

The ideas above are great and would be my first preference. But if you can’t buy them immediately for whatever reason, grab a bunch of quart-size storage bags. Put each cord inside one and label the bags if the cords are too close in appearance. Exceptions might be those power cords with bricks that are easily identifiable and have the velcro wrap. I’m thinking my cell and mp3 cords, etc.

The bags prevent tangling, and the labels facilitate easy ID.

Glenn says on October 25th, 2006 at 6:53 pm

Oh, and as Lt. Columbo would say, “…Ah, one more thing…” If it’s convenient put the quart-sized bags inside one or two gallon-sized bags. With eleven cords you might need two bags, and you can segregate them any number of ways.

Chris Brogan... says on October 25th, 2006 at 11:16 pm

Glenn- That’s EXACTLY the kind of hack I was looking for, as I don’t intend to buy new replacement cords right away. Thank you, and thanks everyone for those alternatives, which I’ll pick up when time and cash permit.

Full Decent says on October 25th, 2006 at 11:39 pm

I splice all my power cords for accessories with a USB cable. Then I charge them with a USB hub or my laptop.

The voltage is usually close enough, and I’ve never had problems with this.

Ajay D'Souza says on October 26th, 2006 at 12:10 am

I’m really amused to see the post here. Just two days back I was thinking I got too many cords.

iPod, 2 cellphones, charging cords, my cameras all have seperate cords, usb cords … really too many cables to keep track off!

And everytime I keep thinking I lost one, I find it a few days later.

Dshabby says on October 26th, 2006 at 3:18 am

I once tried to have a single car charger with USB output to connect to charge different devices: palm, phone, gps, ipod. However after charging my palm with a non palm car charger my palm went dead. As it happened just after charging the palm with the car charger not only once but twice I think that was the cause but I am not sure as I charged my phone with the same charger without any problem.
As I have no idea on electricity any does any body know what thresholds of voltages and ampers can be used for a the different devices? For instance my palm charger says 5v 1a, and my gps charger says 5v 300ma

Omri Ceren says on October 26th, 2006 at 6:00 am

I carry everything in a tiny bag clipped to the inside of my backpack. The bag is about 6″x6″:

- Travel charger for Canon SD450
- RJ11 retractable cord
- CAT5 retractable cord
- retractable dual charge/sync for my mp3 player
- retractable adapter for Treo handsfree (so I don’t need seperate cord)
- retractable dual charge/sync for my Treo
- retractable handsfree for VOIP calling

The RJ11, CAT5, mp3 sync/charger and adapter are all from BoxWave, the sync/chager is from Seidio, and the VOIP handsfree is from ZipLinq.

Headphones: earbuds, wrapped around the mp3 player
Laptop cord: wrapped around the converter and use the attached velcro to keep it from getting tangled.

Dale Cruse says on October 26th, 2006 at 7:09 am

I like “Cable Turtles” from The Container Store at: http://www.containerstore.com/.....temIndex=1 You can wrap each cable around its own Turtle and then label it. The nice thing is you can leave each end free so you never have to completely disconnect the cable from the Turtle if you don’t want to. This ensures that when you’re using multiple cables, you won’t accidentally get them confused or put them back in their own bags.

dduff617 says on October 26th, 2006 at 12:24 pm

ziplinq for me was an enticing idea – a somewhat “modular” system with the cool self-coiling feature.

in practice however, i’ve owned, used, or bought for family over a dozen of their cables and cable kits and i would caution people about the fact that some of their cables are not designed well enough to hold up under frequent use. in some cases, the wire they use is simply too flimsy. in other cases, the designs lack stress relief at key points, leading to consistent failure (i’ve burned through 3 copies of the same cellphone cable, for example). there’s nothing worse than paring your travel bag down to a compact set of cables/connectors for the road and then having one of the key components fail on you.

so lately for my most frequently used charge/sync cable, i simply use a short, but sturdy 8″ conventional (non-retracting) cable. it ends up being less bulk in my travel bag and 8″ is long enough for me 99% of the time.

i agree with the sentiments above suggesting that you seek devices that use “standard” cables (such as usb) wherever possible.

grapeshot says on October 27th, 2006 at 12:10 pm

I “tie” up my cables with a rubber band. (I get mine from bunches of brocolli that I buy at the supermarket. These are usuall small enough to not have to be twisted and wrapped around several time, and they’re pretty thick, too, so they have the “power” to hold my thicker power cords.)

I do use zip-loc bags, but recently I’ve also started using little travel pouches that come with zippers. I’ve even used makeup bag pouches that you can find at drugstores. (No, they aren’t all decorated with pink florals.) I’ve also seen useful looking zipped pouches at Barnes & Noble, but I thought that they were a little pricey.

I put the cables associated with each device in a different pouch or bag. I’ve got a pouch for my PDA cables, and I have a larger pouch for my laptop cables. I also have a pouch for my portable DVD player cables (very nice to have that when I’m bored in a hotel room.) And I have yet another pouch for my headphones and cables for my MP3 player. I keep my camera cables in the camera bag. I haven’t had to start labeling the pouches yet, but if it starts to become too much for my brain to handle, I will.

Dan says on October 28th, 2006 at 4:25 am

I always take a power cube when I travel. They are available at almost any hardware store and let you plug 3 grounded plugs into 1 ungrounded outlet!

I love them! Check out ace hardware for a power cube, power tap, etc.

- Dan

MichaelAB says on October 28th, 2006 at 3:59 pm

If you need to have a few of them in an easy to carry pocket case, it is hard to beat a hard shell eyeglasses case. If you keep your basic cables in a few of these, you won’t look out of place if you have them in your briefcase for a meeting.

KyotoCutie says on October 31st, 2006 at 7:35 pm

I bought a pack of Velcro ties (they were $8 for two rolls of them…maybe 30 or so?). When I attached each one to a cable, I also attached a cheap plastic key ring (the color coded kind with a little piece of paper you take out and write a description on). If I can’t tell what it goes to just by looking at the cord, I can by the little tag. Then I put all the cords in the inside pocket of my suitcase, or in a zippered pouch (singing: from the Container Store, the Container store, I love the Container Store!) in my laptop bag. I liked the cable turtles that Dale suggested, but they are too lumpy in my laptop bag :(

doug says on November 22nd, 2006 at 5:25 pm

I’ve got to USB charging and store everything in a Cable Stable. read this: http://offbe.at/blogs/sample_w.....nizer.aspx