Reusing computer A/C cords?

[Robert Green]

The OP cleared it up for us. It stands for "alernating" current. (-:

[Robert Green]

I thought you were running a minicomputer but a blade server is close enough. I used to run a BBS with 16 nodes using the precursor to blades, an Alloy server setup and an ATT 6300 as the main PC.

Each slave card was connected to a USR modem - they were very nice to my PC group, donating first eight 2400 BPS modems and then when we expanded they gave us sixteen 9600 BPS units at a time when those suckers sold for $500. It was good PR because people who wanted to connect at what was then the fastest modem in the world also bought them.

The Alloy unit wasn't nearly as powerful or capable but for its time, it was pretty hot stuff. Really. We had to cut louvered vents into the door to the tiny room holding the BBS gear and even that wasn't enough. We had to have a ceiling fan installed.

[Robert Green]

What application requires intermittent use of such a monster?

[Robert Green]

re: "(like my charging station that now has a record 37 chargers of different types. Really, chargers for cell phones, garden equipment, tools, batteries, shavers, kitchen gear, laptops, PDAs, MP3 players, portable vacs, cameras, etc.)"

It would be more correct to say that *many* or even *most* of my charging is done in one area. That's true for the most part because the charging area has meters, testers, fire extinguishers, three different types of detectors (smoke, CO and rate-of-rise) and a fairly fireproof surface. The power strips are on timed outlets just to prevent accidental overcharging and they all have little pigtail cords to accommodate the wall warts.

The reasons is that my wife had a very serious overcharging issue with her PDA that caught fire while charging. It didn't burn anything up other than itself (and to say it burned is not accurate - it melted while emitting horrible-smelling fumes).

Anyway, after that I decided charging should be done in an area dedicated to it. A friend's kid had his laptop melt after leaving it on the bed and managing to cover it with a pillow. In a dedicated area for charging, those things are less likely to occur.

Neither. It's a spare bedroom. Items like a shaver can hold a charge for weeks so those items only need occasional charging are in the bedroom. There are shelves above the desk that contain chargers based on category.

There's also never much doubt where to find a charger. Before adapting this I had lost a number of chargers (one made it into the box with the retired-for-the-year Christmas lights) around the house. Now it's the default location for charging stuff. Fewer wall warts hanging around all over the house, too, which has a high SAF.

It makes sense and if one of your charged devices ever melts down, you'll probably say "Ah ha! NOW I see why he put them in a single location."

Most of them except for the cell phones and the laptops I use now as desktop replacements. It's a few more steps but I think it's much safer. Speaking of labels, each charging plug has one that specifies what it connects to. You can guess why. )-: Fortunately nowadays they seem to be standarizing plug sizes. The 12VDC plugs are usually much larger than the 5V units, but it's not a hard and fast rule, hence the labels.

I think this technique reduces overall power consumption because the wall warts aren't plugged in when they're not in use. It tends to prevent premature battery death from overcharging, too.

Also, since it's in a room rarely occupied, there's less chance of an exploding cell injuring someone. A high-cap NiMH AA cell can make a pretty impressive pop when it blows. DAMHIKT but I have a picture of that shredded cell somewhere. It was just another "trigger" event that made me want to consolidate charging to one area.

I suppose I should take a charger inventory noting all the voltage/amperage/polarity/size information. When the stun cane charger went AWOL, I didn't have (nor could I find) any information about what I needed to charge the unit. I rarely see a device that's marked with that information, either.

[Don Y]

I use about 1/4" high text. I think it's the second from the largest size available (the larger didn't seem to be *much* larger)

Exactly. I don't want to have to have two different approaches to the problem. Easier to just treat everything the same. I'd still need to "cover" the heat-shrinkable with a layer of cello tape. So, the shrinkability doesn't really buy me anything.

Ah, *fancy*! ;-) I just settle for plain old BLACK! (doesn't work well on the black patch cords or power cords; but, those have "known" lengths so I don't need to mark them)

Hard to decide what left and bottom mean :-/

The way a standard duplex receptacle (in a US home) is constructed is the *wrong* way. Rotate each *outlet* 90 degrees -- without rotating the receptacle itself. So, wall warts end up side-by-side instead of one atop the other.

Exactly. I have some very nice 6 outlet strips that have individual outlets "snap fitted" into a heavy aluminum frame. But, they are arranged like the duplex receptacles I mentioned, above. And, they are too close together.

I have some singleton outlets that can be mounted onto a frame (they have two "ears" with screw holes instead of "press fitted"). I just need to find a piece of heavy gauge aluminum U-channel (so I can press on the outlets with cords that are stubborn to insert without fear of deforming the case!) *and* some sort of BACKING for that piece of channel so the wires aren't exposed, etc.

The advantage of modifying something COTS is not having to do any fabrication work!

It is also a surefire way to ruin the "assembly" as the cord will have dubious strain relief, at best. When it fails, you're stuck without a way of replacing it (esp as most bricks are solvent welded assemblies; "no user serviceable parts inside" -- and no way to GET inside!)

Dell makes a line of laptop bricks that are like this. *And*, the design intentionally encourages you to wrap the CAPTIVE cord around the brick for storage. Doing so trashes the cord (the AC inlet is a special modular cord but the DC outlet is captive).

No. Mickey as in "Mickey Mouse" -- three circles (his head and two ears).

Note that the figure-of-eight cords can also be found with one end of the '8' flattened. So, instead of OO, it's more like DO.

I keep boxes of cords, sorted by style. So, when I need a new one, I can save myself the $1 and just pull one out of the box.

[Robert Green]

That's the reason everything around here is R6QS - just one kind of cable end, stripper and compression tool required. I never did get the hang of putting BNC's on thinnish RG59 coax for CCTV. So I use adapters which my EE friend frets over because of the loss that adapters involve but a bad crimp REALLY causes problems.

Another reason I use R6QS - even the colored stuff has footage marks. I find it really helps to use different colored cables for different purposes. I have spools of black and white indoor R6, one outdoor spool, three spools of CAT6 (which gets used for everything so theres Network 1 (blue) Network

2 (red) and everything else (white because it's easiest to write on).

You've got it. I can't recall if the HF strips have the ground hole going left or right or even up or down. I'll look.

Definitely.

I figured out, quite accidentally, how to open up solvent welded cases in one feld swoop. While trying to blow water out of one that had gotten wet I drilled a tiny hole in the case and pressed the conical rubber nozzle of my air compressor against it, expecting water to blow out of openings around the plug blades and power cord. BANG!!!! Split right in half. (-:

Very dumb but I see more and more engineering "What were they thinking?" moments all the time.

Read again! That's what I said. The added ground wire (which I assume is the center) gives Mickey his head. (Sounds obscene)

Polarized v. unpolarized. I said that too!

It's clear that tech weenies all behave the same way. I even segregate the D cords by color since I have so damn many of them.

[Scott Lurndal]

As I just pointed out.

[Scott Lurndal]

You're not doing it correctly, then. Make the half hitch about a foot below the plug/socket..

[Robert Green]

Probably.

It seemed that when I tried that, it ended up pulling together anyway.

Maybe there's a U-tube video out there that demonstrates the proper technique.

In reality, I'm happy with the clamps so far and I know from the stress marks they've taken more than one hit from a car. So they have a protective factor as well.

I use mine to connect a short D cord to run a trickle charger for the car through the cigar lighter. I just close the front door on the D-cords (safety purists are shuddering!). When it's taken enough abuse I replace it, plug it into the clamp and start over again.

[Don Y]

Check your mail (assuming those '00' should have been 'oo')

[Don Y]

It's still cheaper. With multiple computers, you bring along more disks, keyboards, monitors, etc. (even if you run headless). And, they take up more space!

Yeah, I used a USR many years ago. Along with Telebit "PEP" modems to talk to UN*X boxen.

Perhaps more important than the advances in cost and compute power that have taken place over the years is the advances in power reduction! E.g., my current design uses 500MHz processors that *could* run on

*batteries*!

[Mark Lloyd]

I used to have a cord where the female end would somehow put little pieces of plastic through the holes in the male end to hold it in place. I don't know where to find another like that.

[snip]

[Robert Green]

If I recall correctly, ArcNet was the only game in town at the time (1985).

CPUs are so powerful now that all you need is a multiport serial card to drive 16 modems - not that anyone runs BBS's anymore. Even back then the archtypical personalities of the Internet were emerging. The guys who truly want to learn from each other, the guys who want to prove they're superior to the rest of the world and the guys that just want to mess things up for everyone else.

I switched all the desktops in my house to laptops with low power CPUs. Amazing how much it lowered my monthly electric bill.

[DerbyDad03]

If I employ this wiring technique, what is the proper knot to use inside the wall so that I don't violate the "hidden junction" rule?

[Don Y]

Yes, I keep threatening to do so. But, have way too many peripherals that would be virtually impossible to support with a laptop; esp a *modern* laptop! Also, it's a *huge* undertaking to reinstall all the software currently on the workstations onto a set of laptops!

OTOH, on my ToDo list for today is to power down a workstation that's been "doing nothing" (because I've not had a chance to get back to what I was working on, at the time) and move the tools that I was using (DTP) onto one of the larger laptops so I can do my "editing" without having to burn all that power.

[Don Y]

I ran RG6, CAT3 and CAT5 to each of ~25 "drops" around the house. In hindsight, should have run two lengths of CAT5 as the CAT3 is effectively useless -- just for *wired* phones -- but, then again, where it terminates wouldn't be of any use for networking kit! OTOH, even 100BaseTX is fast enough for anything distributed in the house (you can push *video* down it)

[outlet strips]

OTOH, if you can't *buy* what you want/need, then the make/buy decision is easy!

That may work for some; it may do nothing for others; and may turn some into balls of shrapnel! :>

If I need to cut a brick/wall wart apart, I use a heated Xacto knife and a bit of patience. But, usually, I can find a replacement device with the same output ratings and just replace the defective unit.

IBM used to have bricks with wrap-around cords. But, they designed the strain reliefs to support this, not hinder it.

Argh! Yes, sorry. I was distracted by your figure 8 reference as those cords are mechanically different sizes/shapes. So, couldn't make sense of your later comment.

I have 10.5x5x18" boxes labeled:

- cord (modular power cords)

- extend (male modular to female modular; sometimes called HP cords)

- odd (right angle modulars, 220V, mickeys, 8's, etc.)

- extension (traditional, short, extension cords)

- medusa (think: octopus)

- reel (small retractable cord reels)

- RJ45 short (i.e., patch cords)

- RJ45 long (like 30 - 100 ft)

- coax (RG58)

- coax long

- Printer

- DB9

- DB25

- DB25 long (typ. 25' extensions)

- KVM (2 x PS2 w/ HD15 "VGA")

- KVM long

- KVM extension

- Video (VGA, DVI, 3/4/5BNC, etc.)

- HDMI

- SCSI-1

- SCSI-2

- SCSI-3

- SCSI-V

- Morph-1 (SCSI-1 to some other form of SCSI)

- Morph-2 (SCSI-2 to some other form of SCSI)

- Morph-3 (SCSI-3 to some other form of SCSI)

- Morph-V (SCSI-V to some other form of SCSI)

- SUN (misc SUN cables)

- SUN-O (Old style Sun SCSI)

- SUN-N (New style Sun SCSI)

- SUN-W (Wide Sun SCSI)

- USB (A-B cables)

- USB Odd (e.g., not A-B cables) etc.

I learned a long time ago to horde cables as you *always* need one for SOMETHING! And, they're expensive! Cheaper and more convenient to just find a place to store them (they don't get upset with the high temperatures in the garage!) than to have to run out and *buy* one (or borrow one from some other piece of equipment!)

[Robert Green]

Yes, I've run a lot of relay control wires and sensor wires using CAT5 and

1. So easy because they all use the same connectors, boots, tools, etc.

I've found if you can't find what you need, you haven't looked hard enough. Look at how many NEMA/IEC connectors people discovered. You can essentially pay a little over a buck each or six dollars each if you don't look hard enough.

Hence the smiley face. I don't recommend it without a protective casing of some kind. I also agree that it could come apart in a number of different ways of increasing risk. But it did surprise me to see it split quite nicely at the weld line. The big bang suprised me, too. (-:

I still have wall-warts from the sale the Lafayette Electronics when closing out their stores. All wall-warts were 50 cents each. The molded connectors on them were worth more.

Yep. Got boxes for all those except for SUN stuff but make up for it with a plethora of DiskPacks and other forms of removable hard drives.

Yes, long ago I realized my time was too valuable to be jack-assing over a six dollar cable. I may have overdone it because I used to buy from Computergate whose volume pricing made buying lots of extras relatively cheap.

When I retired the desktops I realized how deep in spares I was. But in the days before same day shipping at Amazon, you could lose some serious time on a project waiting for a cable to shift.

Tonight I have to order a bunch of new 15' USB cables. They seem to fail prematurely and worse, this last run had an outer casing that was too long and prevented complete insertion. Devices would power up but complain they were not connected because the power "fingers" reached but the data conductors did not. I chased that bad cable for a while because the thumb drive LED lit up, but Windoze would not see the drive. I rebooted, re-everything'ed and finally moved the cable elsewhere and discovered the issue.

I am going to introduce the bad cable to a sheet of sandpaper to see if I can't make it connect more firmly. USB connectors tend to fall out from vibration - I don't find them a particularly good design. But I was impressed how they could retrofit more lines in a compatible 4 wire connector for USB3.

[Don Y]

That's not been the case with the switched outlet strip! The link I posted up-thread was the *best* I could find -- and it was way too short, too few outlets and too expensive.

Lafayette. Ha, blast from the past.

Nowadays, most of the wall warts/bricks I use are pretty big. E.g.,

50 - 200W.

Friends, neighbors, colleagues usually bring me bits of kit to see if they are repairable. Often, they use me as an "excuse" to dump something so they can buy something newer. Hence the many laptops that I have, etc.

We have a few places here that have weekly or monthly auctions. You can usually find offbeat items for a song. E.g., a cubic yard (!!) of power cords for $7. I have floor-to-ceiling industrial metal shelving on both sides of the garage. The *lot* cost me $37.50 -- and three trips with the car to get it all home!

I only use a single "long" USB cable -- to connect one of the scanners to one of my workstations (there's not enough space on the desktop to move the scanner closer to the workstation).

[Tekkie®]

Robert Green posted for all of us...

Is that illegal? Just askin...

[Robert Green]

The correct procedure is to route and tape the wires this way: