I’m doing some reorganisation of the home Worxlab, and by reorganisation I mean opening and immediately recycling magazines that I should stop subscribing to, and doing this crazy and coma-inducingly boring thing called filing. But in doing this, I have reached a tipping point, one that I have been at several times, but in the spirit of this reworking, it’s time to finally post a DJWORX handy hint. top tip, or otherwise good bit of advice that will really help you not make the same mistake.
So hands up if you can tell me what this is?
OK I know it’s a power brick, but what does it power? I have absolutely no idea. And it’s not an isolated power supply either — I have a good number of them and equally have no clue what they are for. There are no identifying marks — no logos, brands, products names… printed or otherwise. The question remains as to how whatever they’re supposed to be plugged into are still running (which in itself might be a clue). But I’m sure I’m not alone in this predicament.
So my advice (which I seem to be very bad at taking) is this — the very moment that you open a new toy, be armed with a marker pen (with optional tape), or better still a Dymo labeller (like the one you had at school or more space age) or similar depending in your OCD tendencies, and label that wall wart up by any means necessary immediately.
Personally, when I remember I just use a Sharpie, because it’s quicker, and is perfectly visible on black bricks and is perhaps less obtrusive than a white label. Labelling up your stuff also means that if you have a serious collection of gear all plugged in together, then it’s easier to pull out the right one rather than having to trace a cable back to its source.
All I offer here is a common sense good housekeeping tip. Many of you probably already do this, but for those who don’t who are relating to my pain, or are starting out and have yet to come across this, try this and save yourself problems down the road.
BUT WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF…
…the industry could label up their generic wall warts, or at least put a sticker in the box if the same one is used on different devices? Then we wouldn’t have this problem at all. Just saying.
IN THE MEANTIME
Does anyone know what this particular power supply is for? Does it look familiar to anyone?