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Label the Cable

If you’ve ever lost a cable or a cord that you needed to make something work, then read this.

Published: October, 2005

There are two big baskets of lonesome singles in my house. One is filled with mate-less socks. The other, mate-less cables and power cords for all of the electronic stuff in my life.

Making peace with the socks was easy. I let them go their separate ways. “Socks , I tell my kids, are like people, they can’t live within two feet of each other.” I get the HAR, HAR, HAR, for another bad pun; they buy new, freshly paired socks and life goes on.

Losing the cable and cord battle is tougher. A new three pack of socks: $6.95 at Walmart; a USB cable that’s strayed from its handheld or digital camera: priceless. Well, maybe not priceless, but a royal pain that involves at least a few days wait if you order a replacement cable online or a trip to some obscure store with a very expensive replacement.

“Socks , I tell my kids, are like people, they can’t live within two feet of each other.”

“Cables, on the other hand, should not stray far from their devices. We need to take action.”

I travel a fair amount and won’t win any prizes for my housekeeping, but am I the only one who has a problem keeping the cables and other geegaws together with my equipment?

In the last sixty days alone:

  • My T/Mobile 7100 Blackberry phone spent a week in isolation until I could remember where I safely stashed the cable that syncs my contacts and calendar.
  • Infrared transfer bailed me on out on my Compaq iPaq as my transfer cable took to its semi annual sojourn to the depths of some handbag.
  • I had the occasion to use my portable DVD player output to a TV, but couldn’t. The cable seems to be at the bottom of the basket somewhere.
  • And I can’t recharge my Bluetooth headset because I’m hoping its power supply is in my son’s car.

Productivity lost and I’m on a constant treasure hunt to match cable and gadget. The most pathetic part? In three of the four cable tales above, the devices are supposed to be wireless.. Wireless it seems, has nothing to do with lacking wires.

I suppose I should have labeled them the instant they crossed my threshold, but why didn’t the vendors do it for me? I know why. They order them in bulk and it would take far too much effort (at too little profit) to take them out and label them before sending along to me.

I’m determined to take action and you are welcome to join my Label the Cable campaign. We’re going to swamp the CEA with write-ins demanding our cables and wires come labeled to match our devices.

And, just in case, it takes them awhile to make our campaign their priority, I have a few stop-gap solutions that are helping me and can probably help you.

Here’s are the best ways I can think of to Label the Cable on your own:.

A: Low tech : A magic marker and cloth First Aid tape .

The result: I didn’t spend a penny; everything I needed to label could be found in my junk drawer. The downside? My cords look like they’ve been in the infirmary bound in First Air tape, but who cares? It was cheap and available.

B: Low Tech, Up a Notch

Unitags (From $4.50)
A step up from the home grown, Unitag cable identification labels are prefab write-ons with adhesive backings that are made especially for cables or groups of cables. Available in 4 vibrant colors for color coding.

C: The Pro Solution

The Thomas and Betts EZ-Code is for those who want their cables to look like the pros. This labeling system uses a thermal transfer printer uses heat to melt a wax-based ink onto a label. The cartridges for this unit are loaded with the ribbon and label together. Not only do you get letters and numbers but you get print bar codes, symbols for ohm, ground and phone and more. You’ll be the envy of the wire-d crowd, all for $46.

D: The Brother P-Touch 1280 printer.

This is labeling at its simplest, ideal for consumers and small businesses, and it only costs about $40 . The size of a CD player, it’s got a full keyboard and a 15 character display. It’s got auto formats built-in for things you commonly label, like files. It adjusts the text size according to the width of the labeling tape you use, and has 3 presets to store your favorite label settings.