Didn’t really know where to post this but I can’t be the only one with this issue. I have 7 digital cameras in the house, 3 Ipods, digital thermometer that logs data into the computer and gizmo after gizmo that uses a USB connection. I have a pile of cables. What is the best way to find the one that you want when you want it?
It’s getting so bad that I am thinking of putting some masking tape on them and labeling the masking tape. Most of the time it is looking at the connections and rummaging through a pile of USB connections. So how do you keep them all straight. Looking for an easy inexpensive answer to a growing problem.
Most of your iPods can use the same cable as can many of the USB devices. You can get colored marking tape in the electrical section at Home Depot and Lowes. Cut some small pieces to stick a square on the device and put a wrap of the same color on the cable that fits it. I think you will be surprised to find that the same cable fits more than one device. I have 3 different bluetooth headsets. All 3 take the same USB cable for charging and can be plugged into a USB port on any of my computers or laptops to charge, too! All 3 cameras use the same USB cable and all of the iPods / iPhones in the house take the same cable.
they may work for you but i have an ipod and an itouch ipod and the ipod cable doesnt work with the itouch ipod and vice versa. nor does any of my ipod cables work with my blackberry cell phone.
i use standard avery address labels oi id my computer cables
As Kevin said, most of your devices probably use the same cable (the iPods might be the exception). My wife and I each an iPod and an iPhone and the same cable can be used on either device so I keep one sync cable by the computer the others are plugged into the power blocks where we charge our phones. As to cameras I don’t know of many cameras anymore which don’t use the mini-USB standard. So realisticially you really only need 1 USB cable for getting pictures off your cameras.
The only wild card would be your Blackberry and I know many of those use a mini-USB connector (just like your cameras) so the same cable might be used for this one as for the cameras. If however you feel the need to keep all the cables around as Normand said Avery labels work well or one of those pTouch label writers work well as well (we use those where I work).
Just lable them, we have four different mp3/Ipod’s in our house and all the mp3’ use the same cable but not the Ipod. The same cable for the mp3’s work for my Kodak camera but I still mark them in case a cable goes bad.
I have 4 iPods. Two 5G iPod Video (me and wife), a Nano and a newer 3G Touch. I can use any of the cables for any of them. The one that came with the iPod Video has the “release” buttons on the side while the others don’t. It does not matter, they all work. I keep one cable in the car, one plugged into the computer, and can plug in any iPod in either location.
You should really only one cable of each type. 1 iPod cable, one micro USB cable, one mini-USB cable etc.
My camera, 3 GPS’s and Logitech TV remote all use the Mini-USB even though they came with their own cables. My phone, and another camera use the same micro-USB cable.
i just plugged in my 3rd generation ipod touch to a 3rd generation ipod charger and got the warning message “charging is not supported by this accessory”
I didn’t grab all of the camera cables just the cables that were next to me by the monitor. Yes some are the same connection but they have different configurations in the cable with resistors or whatever electronic gizmos that are included in the cable. In other words they might be providing different levels of juice or whatever to the device. I think it is best to use the cable that was designed to be used with the specific device. For instance my Garmin GPS has the same connector as my Motorola cell phone, but I prefer to use the right cable with the right product.
I have a music tower for my iPod 5th Gen. My 3rd Gen Touch does not work with it. Same situation with a small battery powered iPod Speaker set that I have.
Same here Norm. USB support is disabled on our work computers (DoD directive I believe).
We have 3 cameras 5 ipod’s of various generations and a few other USB devices at home. But then again every family member has their own laptop, hence their own cables. I have an ipod USB, a SATA/IDE USB adapter (i.e 40, 60 and 80GB thumb drives) and 2 printers on a USB hub all on my laptop. The cameras pics all get transfered via SD cards from camera to card slot on laptop.
In the image you sent I counted 4 mini-USB and what looks like 2 mini Firewire (though they could be mini-USB and the camera angle made them look different), 1 iPod cable and one that I have no idea what it is (the large black rectangular one with the small connector in the center). Many companies put resistors, magnets, and all other sorts of stuff on their USB cables, but the power supplied to the device is controlled by the USB specification, not the device manufacturer. For instance USB 2.0 allows a voltage variation of 4.4V on the low end and 5.25V on the high end. Regardless of what device you plug in it can’t draw less or more power than the specification allows.
I read a blog post yesterday that folks are finding this out with the new iPad as it uses a 10v charging device. So you can charge your iPad from a laptop or a iPod wall charger, but it will be 1/2 as fast as if you were using an iPad wall charger. Conversely, you can use an iPad charger to charge your iPod or iPhone twice as fast as normal, and still only have to cary one plug-in device with you.
As I said in my inital post I keep as few cables plugged into my system as possible, especially when new cables replicate those I already have. I quite honestly wish companies would stop including cables with all their devices. In a box at home I have not less than 5 standard USB cables, 5 USB A to USB B cables, and at least 10-15 USB to mini-USB cables. Now I’ll admit I’m an IT guy so I have lots of technology around the house, but just chucking these cables in the trash seems like a real waste, and what I just listed is what I have left vs. what I’ve had and given some away.
What you said actually makes sense now. I think it wasn’t until the 4th or 5th generation iPod that Apple finally standarized their “dock” connector. So a 5th generation iPod charger would charge a 3rd generation iPod touch (and vice versa), but a 3rd generation charger has a different pin out than the newer dock connector used in new iPods, iPhones, iPod Touch, and iPad.