Tangled in cords

[garmp]

Some how or another we ended up with a gnarly mess of cords/chargers for all our electrical devices.
Two cell phones, (and of course they take different chargers), GPS, MP3 player, MP3 dock, tablet, tablet keyboard, camera, laptop, hot spot, and Lord knows what other chargeable device she'll decide we NEED.
How do you carry this mess of cords and devices so that you can easily tell which charger goes with which device. I was thinking of color coding each device along with their respective charging unit. That seems too complicated. Now I'm contemplating a separate bag/pouch for each device and their charges. (MP3 for example has 3+, Power port, AC, & USB, plus phono jacks for RV plug in usage) and then putting all pouches together in a larger tote or whatever.
Any thought/ideas? Other than leaving half this behind, how do you handle your cords?

[93Cobra2771]

A roll of masking tape and fine tip sharpie. Cheap as dirt and works like a champ. My 14yo son stores all of them in a backpack with his playstation (for rainy days) and only pulls out what he needs.

[gijoecam]

Matt_Colie wrote:
Some USB charged stuff needs a 2+amp supply to charge. If you connect it to a supply that is less capable, it may either:
A - Not charge at all OR
B - Burn out the supply. So you better know who needs what.

The Anker charger (and most of their iQ lineup) will detect what's plugged into it and charge it at the appropriate current. I have a couple of their products lying around, and can attest that they work FABULOUSLY!! THeir cables are heavy-duty and work well too!

We have managed to go micro-USB for all our current electronics; even my work iPhone (I bought a battery case that uses a micro-USB to charge both). We have a couple of dedicated chargers in the camper, both 12VDC and 120VAC so we're covered either way, and if we somehow manage to forget one of them, there's always a 12VDC charger in the truck as well that we can use in the camper. There's no efficiency to be gained by inverting 12VDC to 120VAC only to have a wall-wart step it back down to 5VDC.

[camperkilgore]

We do a combination of all the things mentioned.

Label each charging device, put each in a zip lock to keep cords from tangling with each other, and I usually put all the gadget type things with the chargers in a gym bag that I can carry to the camper when preparing for a trip. I also have two outlet strips connected together on a small piece of plywood so that they are easy to manage in the place I keep it in the camper.(I have a lot of cameras which have spare batteries and each different camera has a different charger, and they require a lot of outlet strip space)(there again a label maker is a big help).

We have so much stuff to take with us on our trips, checklists are a must....especially for the gadget stuff with all the chargers, etc.

Nothing worse than getting to a location and discover you forgot something that is not easily obtained at that location.

[Matt_Colie]

The voice of experience here.

Get a labeler. Use flag labels on all the cords.
Put a label on every wall wart or mouse hole power supply.
Here is where things get tricky and if you don't watch out, things will get hurt. Some USB charged stuff needs a 2+amp supply to charge. If you connect it to a supply that is less capable, it may either:
A - Not charge at all OR
B - Burn out the supply. So you better know who needs what.

We put them all in snap close bags in a big container with snap lid.
I have lots of ways to do things and I still run out.

Matt

[LarryJM]

garmp1 wrote:
Some how or another we ended up with a gnarly mess of cords/chargers for all our electrical devices.
Two cell phones, (and of course they take different chargers), GPS, MP3 player, MP3 dock, tablet, tablet keyboard, camera, laptop, hot spot, and Lord knows what other chargeable device she'll decide we NEED.
How do you carry this mess of cords and devices so that you can easily tell which charger goes with which device. I was thinking of color coding each device along with their respective charging unit. That seems too complicated. Now I'm contemplating a separate bag/pouch for each device and their charges. (MP3 for example has 3+, Power port, AC, & USB, plus phono jacks for RV plug in usage) and then putting all pouches together in a larger tote or whatever.
Any thought/ideas? Other than leaving half this behind, how do you handle your cords?

First I make a bunch of labels of various sizes on the computer in a heavy font like "Arial Black" and label each cord/charger with those. With the USB 3.0 and 2.0 I do the same to all those USB based cables/chargers with the label on the USB connector end. I then purchase yards of 2" wide velco at my local fabric store and using nylon upholstery thread and a hand sewing awl make velco strips and attach one to each cord near the end that plugs into the power source and then coil almost all excess cord and secure it leaving only enough to connect the device to. This allows me to use the charger/cord w/o having a lot of excess loose cord/cable. I the cord is really long and I need a fairly long length to connect the device I will make and attach a second velco strip near the device end and then when storing the cord roll/store that excess onto of the normally stored and unused excess so when I use the cord charger I only have to free up the second length leaving the bulk still secured and stowed.

If I had a bunch of these I moved around then I would buy some of nylon storage bags in the camping/outdoor section at WM and store all the cords/charger in there. With the velco system you won't have the cords all tangled up with each other.

Larry

[pasusan]

I've been using these for years for our computers and everything else that has a wire...



I just write on it what it is for. One time I plugged my pressure pro wire into the Garmin. Don't know if that's what killed it, but now I've even got them flagged.

Luckily things are getting more standardized so in the camper we just have one charging unit and one wire that does our cell phones and our Kindles. The Notebook and the tablet have their special chargers and are flagged and kept in Ziplocs.

[Bobbo]

In the RV, we use these Velcro Ties. At the S&B house, we bought snack bags and use them. Snack bags are like sandwich bags, but half the size.

[Sandia_Man]

We have all the above items but they all use usb to micro usb connections. We do have a couple of older items that utilize the usb to mini usb connection, we picked up a couple of cords from Walmart for a few dollars that has leads for both micro usb and mini usb on the same cord. Been using sandwich bags for years to carry the cords.

[Winnebago_Bob]

I put labels inside a ziploc sandwich bag for each cord and keep them all in a little carry bag. Works great and they're transferable from place to place with no hassle.

[Lspangler]

ewarnerusa wrote:
I have actually found that there seems to be more standardization now than before. All of our phones and kindles charge via micro USB cables. Some other random gadgets charge with mini USB cables. Regardless of mini or micro, they all plug into a standard 5V USB outlet.


So I just use this,

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OHE8AOI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I leave it plugged into a TT 12V plug. Devices usually come with the mini or micro USB cable, so I just leave one or two plugged into this and hook up devices to the other ends when they need charging.

I do the same. We have 2 iPhone and 3 iPads, we just leave 5 Apple cords plugged into the USB block

[ewarnerusa]

I have actually found that there seems to be more standardization now than before. All of our phones and kindles charge via micro USB cables. Some other random gadgets charge with mini USB cables. Regardless of mini or micro, they all plug into a standard 5V USB outlet.


So I just use this,

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OHE8AOI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I leave it plugged into a TT 12V plug. Devices usually come with the mini or micro USB cable, so I just leave one or two plugged into this and hook up devices to the other ends when they need charging.

Moderator edit to re-size picture to forum limit of 640px maximum widhth.

[sljkansas]

Have you tried a label maker? Label each device and the cable that goes with it. Brother makes a P-touch label maker that will take several sizes of labels.

[DutchmenSport]

I carry all my cords in one duffle-bag / gym bag style, including extra household extension cords. As our cords are always with our devices, it's not too much of a problem keeping them separate and identified. But we keep separate cords in the camper for our cell phones, and they are plugged in beside the bed and never move.

My bag has about everything else, including coax cable for our Dish Tailgater, and shorter coax cable lengths also. It's a mess. Fortunately, it's not an overwhelming mess, as we can still identify all the power cords and what they go to.

However, it does make me think about leaving all that stuff at home from time to time. But ... if I couldn't access RV.net a zillion times a day, I'd probably have massive withdraw symptons and melt to a puddle of goo! So, I guess I need all this electronic mumble-jumble after all.

[Tiger4x4RV]

BTPO1 wrote:
Your idea of separate bags for each item, then one container for them all seems reasonable. JMO

X2. Clear plastic sandwich bags are great for this. I also use my trusty blue painters tape to make tag on each cord and write what the cord is for on the blue tape.