Dealing with cable snarl?

[paulr]

I wonder if anyone has advice about dealing with the snarl of cables in the corner of my room. I think the absolute number of them is not so high. The corner of the room has a phone jack with a DSL box on the wall, so the phone and DSL modem are plugged into it. There is an ethernet router plugged into the DSL modem with an ethernet cable. There are two laptop computers plugged into the router, with more ethernet cable (I prefer not to use wifi at home). The phone has a built-in answering machine/fax, so it has a power cord. I have an external headset mic plugged into it, so that has a headset cord and a power cube. The DSL modem, the router, and the two laptops also have their own power bricks or cubes, plus I have an external hard drive with a power cube, and a LED clock radio with a power cord. Finally there are two power strips since one somehow wasn't enough.

This is not a crazy amount of stuff, I think. It's the type of equipment most techie type people have. But that whole corner of the room is a rats nest of cables. Clearly I am doing something wrong.

Any particular suggestions? One thing I really hate is the six outlets on power strips (8 outlets for fancy expensive ones), and the strips themselves sitting on the floor. I'm in an apartment so I can't drill holes in the walls but I have this crappy pressboard dresser/bookshelf from a sidewalk sale in the corner, so I'm fine with mounting the power strips on it with screws and I might buy one of the big 3 foot strips, but I wish I could find a single strip with 20 or so outlets.

Aside from that, any suggestions about keeping the tangle under control? Nylon wire ties might be part of the answer, but I do need to easily be able to unplug a laptop's power brick and get the cord out, if I want to take the laptop someplace. The other cables maybe I could declare "fixed" and tie together.

Thanks for any thoughts. I'm sure anyone with a solution is well familiar with the problem.

 

[greenlight]

I'm having a bit of an issue with this problem, too, but it's not limited to the corner of my room!! I'm always fussing with various usb and power cables, not to mention a couple of xbox controllers.

Maybe I need a some wireless devices.

 

[BB]

I sometimes use Velcro cable ties... Come in multiple colors and are nice because they are easy to take apart again for rewiring...

Sometimes, I think cable snarls are genetic... Me, always snarls. My 80+ year old father-in-law (not electrically inclined), cables for stereo/tv--always looks neat (he cleans up after I install his electronics for him).

-Bill

 

[BIGIRON]

Sorta on topic. I picked up a couple of "Squid" power blocks and like them. The allow you to use all the sockets and stagger the transformers.

Otherwise, I just try to push the cables behind stuff.

 

[DonShock]

I've used a variety of Cable Organizers. The two that I've found the most useful are the Zip-It-Up for managing bundles of loose cables and the Organizer Track for mounting cables to walls and such. I like both of these for the same reason, they make it easy to add, remove, or reroute your cables when needed. I had tried a lot of other methods, like zip ties with fixed mounts and that spiral cable wrap, but it was a pain to redo when you got a new piece of equipment and such.

 

[Fallingwater]

I *could* use cable ties and make orderly bundles of all the cables.
Or I can leave them as they are, and leave my room looking like it's a mad scientist's laboratory.
Hmm. Tough choice.

 

[will]

The only way to get a nice cable bundle is to have it made up special and have all the cables the correct length to the units. That way you can use cable ties and have one nice neat cable bundle.

Reality check - there is no way that is going to happen.

What might work is to bundle the cables as they leave the wall, and hide the rest behind something. Just a thought - I never cable tie power cables in the same bundle as low voltage cables (phone, ethernet, dsl cables. )

No matter what you do - you are going to end up hiding the cables behind something.

 

[paulr]

Thanks especially to DonShock who suggested some useful-looking accessories. I might try to buy some of those.

It occurs to me that part of my problem is that several of my cables are too long, e.g. I think I have a 6 foot ethernet cable connecting the ethernet router to the DSL modem, even though they're next to each other. Similarly the power cords are 6 feet long even though the stuff is right next to the outlet. So I think I may try to shorten a few of the ethernet cables and use nylon wire ties bundle up the power cords for the stuff that's near the outlet. That leaves the laptop computers which are a fairly large culprit. The laptops need to be slightly mobile, i.e. they each have two cables (power and ethernet) that need to be long enough to reach the couch and move around on the couch, and the smaller laptop needs to be easy to unplug since I take it out of the house fairly regularly (the bigger laptop mostly stays at home). However, I might even wire-tie the power bricks for the laptops, and get a spare power brick for the small laptop for transportation purposes.

 

[gromit]

velcro one-wrap. I buy mine at Lowes. about $8-9 reuseable
Wire ties from DX are a cheap as Ive found anywhere. $1.99 for 100

Yes keep the power cords away from other cords.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

A few years ago, I decided that there were too many wires, cords, and cables accumulating under my desk. I tried to keep them neat, but it was hopeless. The cables aren't tangled in knots, but they are messy. Of course, my entire room is messy, so I'm probably not the best person to respond here.

But yeah, hook/loop straps, twist ties, and such would probably work. I recently used Scotch brand hook/loop straps to secure a battery and wiring to my bike's frame, for my bike light. It's working so far.