How to properly wind up controller wires?

[noiseredux]

so I know that I generally do this wrong. I just take the wire and wrap it around the controller. I know that's bad. And I see a lot of you do it in this really careful way that I don't quite get. So somebody explain it to me before I break the wires inside my controller cables?

[fastbilly1]

I leave a loop of wire (about 6 inches) the wind it around the controller

[Ziggy]

The best way to condense any kind of cable is to coil it:



Since the cable is just being gently curved around and around, there's no stress points that might cause internal breaks. The draw back to this method is the coil easily becomes undone, so you would need a cable tie (like a velcro one) to avoid this. It can also easily become tangled with other coiled wires.

But yeah, I've been wrapping the wire around my SNES controllers since 1992 and never had an internal break. I wrap just about every game controller I own. The only one I don't rap is the Saturn and that's only because the wire is so stiff it retains the shape of being wrapped after you unwrap it, REALLY annoying. But yeah, I wrap all my controller wires around the controller, never had a problem. The things that I coil wrap is USB or Cat5 cables, stuff like that.

edit: If you wanna play it safe, you can still wrap the wire around the controller just not so tight. If you wrap the wire around a controller kinda loose, you'll basically be coiling it up. A more stiff wire, like on a Genesis or Saturn controller, will probably spring back straight if you wrap it too loose though.

[Xeogred]

Yeah I basically do what Ziggy posted, then I'll set the controller on top of the cords to kind of help it from unwinding or whatnot.

A cord one of my really old SNES controllers did actually tear after heavy use and probably winding it up around the controller constantly. Still worked, but yeah.

[mesmer]

I fold it in half once or twice, then tie a knot in the center. Sorry no pic right now.

edit: found a pic:

[CRTGAMER]

I wind it around the controller on the loose side to prevent strain. The knot method above may not be good for old controller cables. I wish all the controllers were tangle free like the N64 cables. I should look into getting one of those under the bed or hang on the door vinyl plastic shoe pouches.

[winds]

The key to coiling any cables is going with the coil. You can generally feel when its resisting and you will see it start to coil in a tangled mess if you do it the wrong way. I don't think there would be an issue with wrapping it around the controller, provided you wrap it with the coil instead of going against it (kind of hard to explain without showing i guess) and also leave a little room around where it connects to the controller instead of pulling it as tight as you can.

Another thing that a lot of people do that can cause the cable to break over time is pulling it out of the system by the cable instead of the end adapter. This can cause the solder to come loose very quickly.

Here's a video on how to properly wrap a cable. It says it's for video cable, but it should be used for pretty much all cables.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-74OEVUOKOw

[elabit]

I coil my cords by hand then use velcro ties then slip them over the controller. I do the same thing for unused power and av cords. It keeps things nice and tidy and doesn't stress top part or twist the wire wrong.

[Xeogred]

That's pretty slick.

[ZenErik]

I wrap the cables around the controller. I know that isn't the best way and can cause damage in the long run, but it saves me space in my cluttered setup.