Connecting Wires
Connecting Wires: a reader asks…
Can you give me a quick rundown of the types of wires, jacks, and ports I might encounter using personal computers, home networking equipment, home theater systems and smartphones? I have a box full of various cables and such and am not sure what goes with what.
I’m going to assume you’re in the US, so I won’t cover international power plug options. If you want more info on those, you can look through http://www.iec.ch/worldplugs/list_bylocation.htm for the power plugs by country. Power plugs fall into one of three types:
- Power Cable: Two or three-pronged end that plugs into your wall outlet, and the other end plugs into your computer or device. Common for desktop computers.
- Power Brick: Two or three-pronged end that plugs into your wall outlet, the other end plugs into a brick-shaped power converter, and another cable runs from that to your computer or device. Common for laptop computers.
- Power Adapter “Wall Wart”: a two or three-pronged small cube-shaped box that plugs into the wall, the other end plugs into your device. Common for networking equipment.
Some devices won’t have a label telling you the voltage/amperage rating. Rather than just guess, do a quick google search on the brand and model number of the device – look for the specifications page to compare with the rating on the power adapter/brick/wall wart.
Computers generally have various types of input and output jacks. The most common type is USB, although that comes in various flavors and types. A USB-A port is rectangular, about 1/2″ by 1/4″ and has a wafer of plastic in it. Older USB 2.0 jacks use a black or grey or white wafer, while newer USB 3.0 use a blue wafer, and USB 3.1 often use a teal-colored wafer. Same for the plugs and wires. USB printer cables will have a square plug on the other end with two corners chopped off (USB-B), while other types may end in various types of plugs:
- USB-C (newest standard, smaller rounded oblong plug that can be inserted either way) Seen on the newest Macbooks, for example.
- Mini-USB (smaller rectangle with two top ends elongated)
- Micro-USB (even smaller rectangle with two top ends elongated)
- Lightning (for Apple products, a small wafer with gold contacts on both sides, can be inserted either way)
There may also be some specialty type of USB connectors for handycams and other devices.
In addition to power and USB, most computers will have some sort of a graphics port for plugging in your computer monitor. These also come in various sizes and shapes, the important thing is to match type for type. Generally there are two types, analog and digital. If you want to switch between types you’ll need an adapter to swap over. The most common types are: VGA, DVI, DisplayPort, and HDMI.
You may also find other ports and jacks for various uses, such as a headphone jack (small, round), microphone jack (identical to the headphone jack but labeled differently), line In and Line Out jacks (again, same jack as headphone and microphone but with different labels), and memory card ports for cards like Secure Digital SD card (including the MicroSD card and an adapter to fit it into an SD card slot), Sony Memory Stick (pro duo most often), CompactFlash, SmartMedia, xD Picture card and Multi-Media Card (MMC). Most of these memory card types are what you use with a digital camera or handycam.
Often your home networking equipment will use wall wart power adapters, and sometimes these may not fit well in your power strip. So you might need to get a short extension plug or splitter so the wall wart doesn’t have to plug directly into the power strip. And yes, all your networking equipment should be connected to power through a power strip, or better yet, a battery backup (UPS). UPS devices usually come with a set of plugs that are only surge-protected, and some plugs that have battery backup, which protects against brown-outs and voltage sags. These can hurt delicate electronics just as much as voltage surges.
You should always protect your expensive home theater equipment with either a surge protector, or better yet a battery backup (UPS).
If you’re not sure what goes with what, feel free to snap a picture of the cable, jack or port and send it to me (use my Ask Your Tech Coach form) and I’ll try to help you figure it out.