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Cable naming conventions for labeling cables

post #1 of 11
7/3/07 at 8:12pm
Thread Starter 
I am having a a/v system installed and wanted to ask others what is the optimal names to give all of the cabling/wiring? I purchased an A/V receiver that has the following connections: 1) Speakers: a) Front left, right and center, b) rear left and right, c) subwolfer, 2) Interconnects between the wall (all speakers are wall installed terminate at a face plate) and the A/V system, 3) Cable box, 4) DVD player, 5) Plasma TV.

I purchased a label maker and wanted to print out all of the labels before hand. If anyone can map out how all of the different labels should read that I need to make I would be appreciate it. Basically just wanted a listing of what the labels should say and which ones I need to make. I am not that familar with all the interconnects

PS I also wanted to create labels for the wires in the data closet. In the data closet there is a wireless cable modem router with CAT 5 connections from 4 rooms as well as phone lines. Thanks Phil
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post #2 of 11
7/3/07 at 8:48pm
You could name them colors if you really wanted to.
As long as one end of the wire says the same thing as the other, you should be fine.
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post #3 of 11
7/3/07 at 9:19pm
Thread Starter 
I was looking more for an exact complete inventory as I am not sure what cables are typical with this configuration ie Front Right, Front Left, Center, Rear Left, Rear Right, Cable Video Out, Cable Audio Out, etc. tx pwl
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post #4 of 11
7/4/07 at 7:58am
Go pick up a decent labeler, such as a RhinoPro; it has builtin in names that you can use...like "Left Speaker"
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post #5 of 11
7/4/07 at 11:42am
I have the same problem as the OP, and neither of the responses above provides a sufficient answer. Perhaps a specific example would help explain the issue.

What would you label an S-video cable that connects a Tivo DVR output to a DVD recorder input? I would be tempted to label each end to identify its use: "Tivo OUT" and "DVD rec IN", but that violates post #2. This technique would be useful if it became necessary to remove and reinstall either component (and is much better than just having each cable numbered 1-6, or whatever).
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post #6 of 11
7/4/07 at 1:07pm
This is the sheet of stickers I got with my Integra receiver.
I wire tied each set of speaker wires together( ex: Fr left, Fr right, etc)
I wrote out a list of each device's output and where it goes to.
EX:
output input
Oppo DVD HDMI (vid) projector input 1
dig optical (aud) rec'r input 1
DirecTV HD Rec'r component out (vid) component in 2
dig optical (aud) rec'r input 2

Helps out on organization.
LL
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post #7 of 11
7/4/07 at 1:35pm
I don't like to label as it clutters your wiring (IMHO). If you have an equipment rack, it's easy enough to determine what wires run from where to where (like out of the DVR into a DVD Recorder), so I don't see a reason to label. Just look, as the wires are short for the most part. The only time it would be difficult to determine what is what are the Speaker cables, which I still don't label. If you have to unhook your speaker wires from the back of your receiver and don't remember which goes where, take yourself a 9V batter and put the Red and Black to the battery......whichever speaker that wire goes to, will 'Click'. YOu then know where it goes.

If you must have the labels, label them something 'YOU' will understand. It won't make your equipement sound differently if you label it differently than your neighbor
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post #8 of 11
7/4/07 at 4:38pm
Where I have cables long enough to matter, I label them with the same unique number or letter on each end. In NASA's example, I would have notes that say "S-video G is Tivo1 out to DVD-R in" and the cable itself would just have a series of "G G G G" on the P-touch label.

Cables within the equipment racks I have in split-loom tubing where possible and the ends of the split loom have a 4" band of white electrical tape closing them off and labelled with the device name (TiVo1-3, DVD1-2, CD, VHS, etc). Those are then generally clipped in vertical wire management trays, which is the chief reason to label them. Even though they're less than 3 meters long (even in a cross-rack case), it's not trivial to know which end goes with which cable.

In short, my answer is "put letters or numbers on them and take notes if needed".
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post #9 of 11
7/5/07 at 6:48am
For the Rhino Pro, you can buy heat shrink tubing that you can print on. MUCH better than any kind of adhesive or tape style labels, no sticky and nice and neat and never come off. They are a bit more costly, of course...
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post #10 of 11
7/5/07 at 8:18am
Make each label with 3 lines.

Line 1: Cable number (optional)
Line 2: Where this side of the cable goes
Line 3: Where the far end of the cable goes

ex.
00-01
Receiver S-Video In #1
Tivo S-Video Out #1

other end of that cable would be:
00-01
Tivo S-Video Out #1
Receiver S-Video In #1
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post #11 of 11
7/5/07 at 9:31am
For me it is simple. I never label the input side. So if I am running Tivo 1 to Receiver Component 1, I just label it Tivo 1 on both ends. I know that my tivo video out goes to my receiver or my splitter an I am usually just trying to figure out where.

Then I have a little folder that has my receiver / remote config and it says Video 1 in is Tivo 1. That way if I decide to move a cable I don't have to re-label them because the input I used has changed.
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