Messy cable storage - help please.

auntyS

I have a ton of cables lying behind my TV which look awful. I want to hide them in a box but don't know if it would be safe.


I was thinking of an open topped faux-leather type of box so there would be ventilation, and the extension lead and sockets would not be inside the box.


Can anyone advise me if this is safe enough please.


Thanks.

Nilrem

You should be all right with that, as long as it's not got any high power cabling in the box.

A few tips though, for things like the digital signal cabling (hdmi, or digital audio for surround sound) you can coil them up (not too tight or you risk damaging the internal conductors), and tie them up to stop them unwinding and just drop them in any box.
I find velcro cable ties do a good job with this, and are easy to both do up, and undo when needed (unlike plastic cable ties, or the sort of metal ties you often find cables done up with when new).
You can buy rolls of it for about £2-5 such as this, or precut ones (a pack of 100 for about a tenner).

With analogue cabling, such as scart cables, aerial cables, and oolder analogue video/audio cabling you want to avoid placing the cabling too close together as you can get interference.


Personally what I tend to do is try and tie the cabling loosely to the back of the TV for things like the excess TV power cabling, and hdmi cables as much as possible, whilst I tend to make my own aerial cabling which I cut to the right length + about 15-30cm , so there is some slack but not enough to be a problem.
I also always try to tie up the cabling as much as possible, if just to reduce the snakes nest that invariably appears over time, as if you've got the excess for each cable tied to itself it can't get quite as badly tangled with the other cables (I've been using things like small cup hooks, and the "eye" from the hook and eye fasteners used for net curtains for years on the back of TV units as a way to hold cabling in place and out of sight).

If you've got a suitable TV cabinet you can get something like the Signum cable management rack from Ikea which you can (depending on your setup) hide behind the TV/entertainment unit (or under if), and carefully run all the excess wiring around it.

Basically the box should be ok for the non power cables (and probably ok for the lower power cables, but not recommended;)), but also remember that you'll want to be able to take the cabling out easily and could face interference issues with some sorts of cabling.

yangptangkipperbang

I always find that the mains cables are the biggest problem - I always end up shortening them. I recently bought a new camera - the battery charger had a lead about 8 ft long on it !

I find ordinary plastic cable ties are just fine; you can get a huge bag full for £1 and get a colour to match most of your cabling.

Quiet_Spark

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

I find ordinary plastic cable ties are just fine; you can get a huge bag full for £1 and get a colour to match most of your cabling.

That's all I've done here, very easy to form a loom and then tie it up.
No problems with interference anywhere, even with mains leads tied right next to network cables, HDMI leads, etc.

esuhl

Heat shouldn't be a problem unless you're drawing a lot of current from the connected devices.

Most extension leads are rated up to 13A, although some long ones or ones with thinner cable will only be rated to 3A. It should say somewhere what the current rating is (or you can check the fuse if it's the original one).

Using multiple extension adapters will increase the resistance (and therefore heat), so it would be unsafe to push the maximum current through.

Fuses exist to automatically cut the electricity if too much current is drawn, so if the cables started overheating, the fuse should break before anything catches fire (although I would rely on that -- and I'm not an electrician so take what I'm saying with a pinch of salt!).

P=IV (Power in Watts = Current in Amps X Voltage in Volts). So, with a single 13A extenstion lead, P=13A X 230V = 2990W. With a single 3A lead, P=3A X 230V = 690W.

If you look at the devices that are plugged in to the extension lead, they could be labelled with a maximum power rating. Add all the power ratings up and so long as they don't exceed (or come too close to) the maximum power (i.e. 2990W for a 13A cable or 690W for a 3A one) then you should be okay.

Hope that helps...

Roland_Sausage

I would go for something like this. Cheap and neatly wraps all your cables together into one.

Twisted_Cherry

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

I would go for something like this. Cheap and neatly wraps all your cables together into one.

I second that... I bought some in IKEA and it was fabulous, the back of the TV looks so much tidier. I bought some Velcro cable ties from Amazon for tidying up the PC cables!

SurferDan

Those cable tidies from IKEA at £2.99 are available from £1 shops and 99p shops at £1 and 99p respectively. 3 for the price of 1.

Nilrem

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

I find ordinary plastic cable ties are just fine; you can get a huge bag full for £1 and get a colour to match most of your cabling.

I still use them, but only for things that are not likely to get moved for years, I just find the velcro type to be much easier for round the back of the computer, or gear that might need to be pulled out/changed more often (for example phone charger cables), and sort of got into the habit of using the velcro ones almost as standard

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

I would go for something like this. Cheap and neatly wraps all your cables together into one.

That stuff is great for tying cabling together on runs, but a minor pita if you ever need to take something away (I once spent an afternoon using that to do the power cabling to my AV setup, only to have to spend another afternoon a few weeks later when the DVD player died), not much of a problem if the cabling is not fixed to the devices, but if it is tethered it's annoying

I think over the years I've tried everything from wrap, to trunking, to various types of ties and clips, but nothing seems to do for everything.


One big tip for anyone doing cable tidying is to label the cables at both ends, it can save so much time and annoyance when you need to disconnect something, as you can ID what is what at a glance, rather than trying to trace the cable, or work it out based on the look of the cable.
It's especially worth doing it to things like the chargers/adaptors supplied with a lot of cheaper computer gear where it may not say on the adaptor what it's actually for (I used to have a box full of old adaptors because I wasn't sure what was for what, and they were sometimes useful).

auntyS

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

I would go for something like this. Cheap and neatly wraps all your cables together into one.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have already tried the IKEA one but there are so many cables from different places going in and out of it that it still looks a mess so I just really want to hide them all away. Unfortunately I have a glass TV stand - big mistake as you can see everything behind it.


Thank to everyone for the suggestions and assistance, much appreciated.


Edited to add - just ordered some multi-coloured Velcro ties which will help identifying cables too. Thanks for the suggestion, Nilrem.

Moto2

Is the TV stand in a corner?
We have one in one room like that and what we've done is to use a piece of MDF painted the same as the wall behind it.
This has a hole in and sits diagonally across the corner with all the cables and sockets behind it.
It's hard to tell it's there unless you really look