Are you just commencing your journey into the realm of cable management? There are many simple wire organization tasks as a do-it-yourselfer that can make your life — and cables — better, safer, and more organized. Explore each section of our ultimate guide below, for all you should know to get started on the topic of cable management.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CABLE MANAGEMENT:
There are many reasons why managing cables is crucial. Wires that are unorganized can create a hazardous space, resulting in issues that range from trip hazards to electrical emergencies. This disorganization additionally creates an aesthetic mess with masses of cable clutter congregating like tumbleweed. This not only looks displeasing to the eye but cable management is also essential in protecting your wires themselves. If they are tangled and out of control, they can become a trip hazard. This can potentially cause damage to cable jackets and their insulation, causing power cords to fray, which may lead to dangerous situations. Keeping cables orderly is additionally important for performing maintenance on them later.
PLANNING AND ORGANIZING FOR CABLE MANAGEMENT PROJECTS:
Tackling a cable management project is simplified when planning it out from the get-go. That entails assessing the space you would like to organize. Knowing where your cables are routed will help determine how they should be — and with what types of products.
THE TOOLS AND SUPPLIES YOU’LL NEED:
There are some basics that can likely work in every type of cable management situation, such as cable ties. Nylon zip ties, for example, can be used for most wire organization projects. A nylon cable tie kit can provide cable ties in various lengths and colors, if color coding is needed. Hook and loop cable wraps and fasteners stick to themselves to bundle cables together, and can later be relocated and reused on other wire groups. Braided sleeves are a cable organizing essential, and a topic all their own. Sleeving comes in different varieties, with the choice dependent on the wires and environment they are in. Flexo® PET for example, is standard sleeving for general wire projects. F6® is standard wrap-around split sleeving that can be applied to existing cable runs. Metal and shielding sleeving reduces electromagnetic interference (EMI), radio frequency interference (RFI), and electrostatic discharge (ESD). You can also choose various types of cable clips and cable wraps to perform a range of wire organization tasks.
THE IMPORTANCE OF LABELING:
It is important to know the function of each wire, especially if you have a number of them in one area. Labels can help resolve any confusion, so you are not unplugging an incorrect cable. They also keep cables orderly, making the job easier when the time comes to maintain or upgrade them.
ABOUT COLOR CODING:
Can a wire present a dangerous situation? And does it serve a purpose that is best known by earmarking it with a particular color? These are just some of the reasons to color code a wire. There are colors in some industries that are coded particular ways to denote the function of a wire, such as using green and yellow striping to indicate it is a ground wire.
USING POWER STRIPS AND SURGE PROTECTORS:
There are times when it’s difficult to reach an electrical outlet, or it becomes more convenient to bring a power source closer to items that need to be plugged in. This is where power strips come in handy. It’s important, if there’s valuable equipment involved, to protect it with the proper electrical safeguards, during power outages, brownouts, and surges. These are cases when surge protectors are helpful. Both power strips and surge protectors additionally serve to organize electrical cords, centralizing them in one area. This is handy when a significant amount of equipment is located adjacent to each other, such as in an office, where there may be a couple of pieces of adjacent office machinery, like a computer and printer. Another scenario is within a workshop or garage, where there could be power tools in one section of the space. Some power strips and surge protectors have a slim design to fit into tight spaces, like those made for home theater applications, which typically have a dense layout of plugs. Desk mount power strips can additionally provide surge protection for sensitive electronics within the workspace. Some secure to surfaces with self-sticking adhesives, while others have clamps that can be attached or detached.
THE ART OF ROUTING CABLES:
There are different techniques that can be applied to bundle cables appropriately. This makes it simpler to identify and maintain cables, and makes their appearance more visually appealing. Neatly routing cables prevents tangles, which can damage wires and cause signal interferences. Separating them based on their type, such as power and data cables, can additionally prevent electromagnetic interference. EMI is responsible for delivering electronic “noise” within cables. There are various types of cable management products that can assist in neatening and routing wires, with cable clips, braided sleeving, and cable raceway among them.
CABLE MANAGEMENT FOR UNDER YOUR DESK:
There are a variety of methods to tackle organizing cables underneath a desk. Cable trays can be hung up under or along a desk, with wires run inside of them. If cable trays have a mesh construction, wire breakouts can be routed through the mesh. Choose CableOrganizer® curated kits, which come with a cost savings when purchasing multiple products together. One is the Setupking Desk Management Kit, with a generous length of F6® sleeving, hook and loop cable wraps and tape, self-adhesive cable clips, and the Humanscale® NeatLinks™ Under Desk Cable Manager. The Desk Cable Management Kit comes with various components that includes a surge protector, cable organizing tray, adhesive cable clips, F6® sleeving, and the Manta™ Desk Mount Power Strip & Charging Station. Desk outlets and grommets provide a handy source of power on a desk or work alone to help route wires through it. Some grommets can be placed in the floor, with floor access grommets a way to take cables up to workspaces from raised flooring systems. Fabric cord covers can be utilized to not only keep desk cables neatly hidden, but to prevent them from becoming trip hazards. Light capacity cord covers also shield desk cables on the floor from a small amount of pedestrian traffic. The PC Cable Management Kit features F6® sleeving, the RIP-TIE® CableCatch® in different sizes, six pack of BlueLounge® CableDrops, the CableDrop Multi, BlueLounge® Cable Ties, and the releasable HellermannTyton® Softfix Cable Ties.
WORKSPACE CABLE MANAGEMENT:
Managing cables in a workspace is like doing so for a desk, but within a slightly larger footprint. Many of the same products can be used, from floor access grommets to cord covers. There are also specially curated office cable management kits from CableOrganizer®. The Office Organizing Kits come in single and multiple office selections. The items within some of the kits include: F6® sleeving, hook and loop wraps, wire clips, the WireMate™ Cord Organizer, nylon cable ties, J-style cable channels, the Moray™ Cable Cover, and a fixed mount CPU/UPS holder. The PC Cable Management Kit would also be suitable to organize the wires in a workspace configuration. Braided sleeving like Flexo® F6® is a simple and convenient way to cover existing wire run lengths. Raceway and Accessory Kits snap into place and adhere to the wall with a secure backing, to hide and protect cables. This one-piece latching raceway cuts to length and paints easily to match the workspace’s décor.
WALL-MOUNTING MONITORS:
Keeping a monitor off a desk and raising it at or above eye level on a wall, can additionally be a technique used to keep wires orderly. Specialty home theater racks like flat panel display wall mounts, wall and ceiling mounts, and flat panel flush mount systems are several types of products for hanging monitors or TVs.
MANAGING EXCESS CABLE LENGTH:
Lengthy and uncontrolled cables create both trip hazards and the potential for harm to a cable itself. There are many products that can help keep cable lengths shortened, which simultaneously neatens, organizes, and protects. Among products that can do the job are cable ties, braided sleeving, heatshrink, hook and loop cable wraps and fasteners, cable clips, cable raceway, cable trays, fabric cord covers, and cord covers.
HOME THEATER CABLE MANAGEMENT:
A home theater can morph into a location with a significant amount of cord chaos. When those cords are seated at the back of equipment, it can make it difficult to both see and access them. There are multiple ways to control cable clutter in a home entertainment setup. CableOrganizer® has created curated kits in-house that include home theater cable organization products, as well as kits created by some of our manufacturers. Each kit comes with a cost savings for purchasing all the items together. There is a Home Theater Wire Management Kit that includes F6® split braided sleeving, the raceway cable management kit, cable ties, hook and loop wraps, cable clips, and a label maker. The Home Cinema Kit features a HDMI® cable, flat panel recessed TV install kit, surge protector, and Cable-Safe™ cable manager. The Home Theater Cable Management Kit hides TV wires along the wall with a snap on cover, while the Home Theater and Computer Cable Management Kit comes with self-adhesive backed raceway, including joint, 3-way, and 90 degree pieces, to navigate corners. The Wiring Solution™ Home Theater Cable Manager is a raceway solution for managing home theater wires that is easily hung up with a hammer and Phillips head screwdriver. Like the other raceway-style kits, it can be painted to match surrounding décor. Braided sleeving is a choice that can be used for cables in home theaters. Metal and shielding sleeves are expandable, enabling smooth signals. Copper Braid, for example, is flexible, providing optimal current transmission, and working to shield signals from electromagnetic interference. Flexo® Anti-Stat is a sleeving type that increases the clarity of signals, while reducing static. It is infused with a carbon compound that works to cancel high noise frequencies. Specialty surge suppressors like the Tripp-Lite feature various outlets to organize and protect equipment from surges.
TRAVEL CABLE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS:
While we’ve been telling you all about wire organization alternatives for larger spaces, we can’t forget about the littlest wires that can give us grief when we’re traveling. It’s here where we strive to keep wires tight in snug quarters. There are the smallest cable wraps where cables can be wound around and organized. These are perfect for rolling up wire slack for earbuds, phones, tablets, laptops, and the like. BlueLounge® CableClips™, Cable Turtle, Cable Fish, Cord Hog, BlueLounge® Cableyoyo, and earPod are just a few of these organizers.
CABLE MANAGEMENT FOR MOBILE DEVICES:
One way to eliminate cable clutter is to eliminate the cable altogether from the equation. There are solutions for charging mobile devices, for example, that keep wires stealth. Charging stations offer that opportunity, with round pads where a Qi-enabled device can be placed. The WireRun® Reverie™ features a small footprint and emanates a blue light as it is juicing up. The Fantasy™ Wireless Charger from WireRun® glows red, making it easy to see the unit in the dark. It also continues to energize the device on the pad, even if a phone call comes in. WireRun® Utopia™ is an in-desk wireless charger that fits into a grommet hole to provide a desktop charging pad.
CUSTOM DIY SOLUTIONS:
You can customize your cable management applications with a range of DIY options from CableOrganizer®. Customization depends on your configuration and equipment, as well as the types of cables and wires being managed. VELCRO® hook and loop wraps, different types of braided sleeving, BlueLounge® CableBox, adhesive cable clips, cable ties, and cable raceways are just a few of the many choices that can be used to DIY your wire organization projects.
FUTURE PROOFING:
Anticipating what will be needed down the road for your cable management should be part of the process. Your setup needs to be planned for the possibility of new devices and cables to be added later. Expandable braided sleeves or split braided sleeves can accommodate system growth by expanding or opening up to allow for extra cables. Cable labels are helpful to plot out the paths of particular cables, and to identify them. Power strips and surge protectors safeguard cords and plugs for your valuable equipment, leaving room to increase your network in the future. These also provide accessible points to connect and disconnect wires when changing or upgrading them.
VISUAL AESTHETICS:
A clean appearance to cables increases both their functionality and visual appeal, promoting an orderly and calm environment. This can be achieved with cables hidden under desks, behind furniture, or within cable raceway systems. Desk outlets deliver connectivity solutions, as well as a modern and streamlined look to a desk area. Power is centralized to a desktop, with outlets frequently encased in a pop-up system. Desk outlets of different types, whether removable or built-in, can enhance the look of a conference room, while delivering power to those meeting within the room. This office space not only looks more professional but proper cable management lowers the number of trip hazards in the space, with equipment plugged on top of the table.
MAINTENANCE AND UPDATES:
Ongoing maintenance is an important aspect of the cable management process. Regular checks and updates to your system’s cable management is crucial. Maintaining detailed and up-to-date documentation is a must. Your company’s IT personnel should also faithfully perform regular cable management audits. Server rooms, entertainment centers, and desks are excellent candidates for routine inspections, because of their heavy cable use. It’s essential to be on the lookout for tangled cables behind desks, wires with signs of wear (like fraying or peeling cable jackets), signal loss, and loose connections. Detecting these problems through regular troubleshooting lowers the risk of downtime and performance issues.
SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS:
Surge protectors are important tools that prevent circuit overloads, cutting power to electronics during a surge event. It is, however, essential to regularly replace your surge protectors based on manufacturer guidelines, in order to continue safeguarding your equipment in the event of power surges. Power should be distributed evenly on a power strip or surge protector — daisy-chaining either one can overload outlets. Be sure whatever electrical supply you use, to separate power and data cables to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI).
MORE RESOURCES:
Have additional questions? Visit the CableOrganizer® article library here. You can also contact a friendly CableOrganizer® representative at 1-833-3CABLEORG (1-833-322-2536), Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Email our representatives with inquiries at sales@cableorganizer.com.
