Author Topic: Pro tip - label wall warts  (Read 14939 times)

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Offline duckduckTopic starter

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #25 on: February 03, 2024, 11:40:52 pm »
Omg, the OP is a heretic of the USB-C religion.

I'm a fan of USB C-powered devices. I wish they would make more of them, but I understand the economic incentives of OEMs. My label printer takes a DC barrel connector, but it can also/instead take 6xAAA batteries. It works with NiMH batteries just fine, and they last a long time in this capacity.

I would call myself a member of the NiMH (and also the many flavors of lithium rechargeables) religion. I think that leaky-ass alkaline primary batteries are the work of the devil. Don't get me started.
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #26 on: February 04, 2024, 09:06:08 am »
When I buy a new device that comes with an AC-DC converter / power supply / wall wart, I print up a label on the label maker for what the wall wart is for and stick it on the wall wart. This prevents me from having to do the dreaded "dig through the box of wall warts" and read the tiny writing on the underside of each one until I find a match, or, heaven forbid, using a lab bench power supply with an adapter.
:-+

At work, I spent an afternoon labeling the several large boxes of random wall warts with their voltages and currents. (I used white for DC, yellow for AC.) Takes some time but man does it save time later, whenever someone comes in needing a replacement power supply for something.



EDIT2: I have a Brother PT-D220. I like the Brother because knock-off labels are available for cheap. I have labels that I printed a couple of years ago that look like the day I printed them.
Yep. Thermal transfer is a mature technology that is well understood even by the knockoff makers. The way the standard TZ tapes are laminated means that there are no (mechanical) robustness requirements whatsoever for the ink on the ribbon. It’s basically just carbon black in some kind of binder that can melt from one ribbon onto another.

For those who may not be familiar with how the standard laminated TZ tapes work: the thermal printhead transfers ink from the ink ribbon to the back of the clear front tape. Then the background-colored double-stick tape (with release paper on the back) is pressed onto the rear-printed front tape. This way, the ink is not being viewed through the adhesive, but directly through the lamination layer.

Though I’ve never seen anyone use them, there also exist non-laminated labels for TZ printers: TZe-N2xx and the now-discontinued paper labels (AL-K251). Both of these are direct thermal, not thermal transfer, as best I can tell.

Heat shrink tubes (HSe series) and non-adhesive fabric ribbons (TZe-FA series) of course also print directly to the substrate.

Because the printhead design of the TZ printers is designed to print onto the back of the front film, when they are used on non-laminated labels and specialty tapes (where you’re printing directly onto the substrate), they exit the printer with the printing facing away from you.

HOLY CRAP there are shrink-tubing labels! I need those to mark audio and RF cables I make. Thanks for the tip! Now I have to figure out which Brother printer will work with the cheap knock-off shrink-tubing labels. I always work backwards like that when purchasing consumer gear that eats consumables.
Compatibility is a big question, especially with knockoff tapes. The TZ system has two generations of cartridge encoding, which is the entire difference between the original TZ system and the later TZe system. The encoding includes key printing parameters like tape width and whether it’s standard rear-print (laminated) tape or front-print (unlaminated) tape, since the image must be mirrored. (Also, there are the “high-grade” laminated tapes that only work in a handful of models, and these evidently have different printing parameters, as they support different print speeds than regular ones.) But it also encodes things like the color of the label. (As an aside, I’ve been trying to compile info on the various codes, in the hope of decoding the TZ/TZe encoding. I’m surprised that there isn't already a website with them all, but I’ve come up dry.)

TZ uses only encoding holes on the bottom of the cartridge. TZe adds another set of encoding holes on the face of the cartridge, read by feelers mounted right next to the print head. TZe cartridges always have both sets of holes, making them backward-compatible to TZ printers. So old TZ printers sense only the bottom holes. Cheap TZe printers sense only the front holes IIRC. And expensive TZe printers (like the big desktop models) sense both.

My printer at home (and one of the ones at work) is a TZ printer, and just worked with the knock-off HSe heat shrink cartridges I bought. But when I tried them on the big PT-P950 at work (an expensive TZe model), some of them got misidentified, and some were not recognized at all, indicating that their encoding holes are not correct.

Brother only wants the heat shrink to work with certain models, so they’re likely encoded a particular way. As far as the actual printing goes, they work just fine, but need to be mirror imaged, since they’re not laminated. On TZ, this appears to be controlled by one of the bottom holes. On TZe it may be more complicated. :/
 
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Offline tooki

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #27 on: February 04, 2024, 10:58:02 am »
That's actually one of the first things I did with my new label maker (Brother PTH111). The knockoff ~$2 cartridges work quite well for general purpose use, they stick good and peel off clean even after a trip through the dishwasher.
OP's idea is good if you know your labels won't fade.  Last year I labeled the outlets etc. in my house with a Dymo and a knock-off cardtridge, they're now all faded, even those not seeing the sun.  I don't know if the heat from the adapter will help with the faading.  Maybe the old-style embossed labels would be better.

Quote
On the wall warts I label anything center negative on the wart and with a flag on the end of the cable to prevent mixups, label on all the center neg gear too, including the label maker.
What is the evolutionary advantage of a species that produces center negative adapters?

That's interesting... the Brother ones don't fade, even the knock-off ones. Must be a different printing process? The Brother uses a thermal transfer method, which does leave a negative behind on the "ink" roll, inside the cartridge, so needs to be destroyed if you print anything sensitive (passwords etc). Big Clive did a vid tearing one down iirc.
FYI, not all Brother tapes are thermal transfer. The P-touch printers that use M-series labels are direct-thermal only, and for the models that use Tze-series labels, unlaminated direct-thermal labels are available, too (though I’ve never seen them in the wild).
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #28 on: February 04, 2024, 11:06:59 am »
The labels are really nice as they stick well but you do have a hour or so before they really start to stick. But even then they still come off easily. They cope ok with most conditions even oily ones. The only time they do become a bit of an arse is when they go through lots of hot/cold cycles as I have found the white bit stays on and the clear bit peals off, still not as much of an arse to clean than paper labels so I wont complain.
There are multiple types of laminated labels from Brother. There’s the standard ones, the “flexible ID” ones, and the “strong adhesive” ones.
Flexible ID labels are designed to not lift when stuck to curved surfaces or around corners. These also tolerate autoclave sterilization.
Strong adhesive labels are designed for rougher surfaces and the like.

The labels that handle heat the best, according to Brother, are the “black on matte silver” labels, TZe-M9x1 series.
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #29 on: February 04, 2024, 11:11:06 am »
EDIT: Holy crap HEAT SHRINK TUBING LABELS exist!
Yep, and cheap knockoff ones exist too - Amazon is full of them. I use the Brother HSE knockoffs. The writing can come off under friction, so on cables that may be used outdoors, I add a clear heat shrink on top of the printed one. I used to use the 'Kroy' brand labels and printers, but they seem to be discontinued (and were also quite expensive).
I’ve only used the knockoff HSe tubes and I’ve found them to be disappointingly sensitive to oil — I have oily skin, and just the oil on my fingers is enough to smear the printing. I forget whether they’re more sensitive to oil before or after shrinking the tube, but I remember it affects it one way or the other. Regardless, I also add clear heat shrink over them.

I have a genuine Brother HSe arriving at work next week, I’m curious to see if they’re better.
 
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Offline berke

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #30 on: February 04, 2024, 11:36:13 am »
For electronics I only do prototypes or shit that's sent up and doesn't come back, so it doesn't matter if it fades in two years.  But I need a robust solution for labeling my house's mains wiring.  It needs to still be readable in 20 years when myself or an electrician if I ever manage to hire one wants to read the label on a wire.  Will quality name-brand tubing work for that or do I need another kind of label ?
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #31 on: February 04, 2024, 12:01:08 pm »
What label printing equipment do you have?
 

Offline berke

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #32 on: February 04, 2024, 12:23:07 pm »
Me?  Right now I just have a basic handheld Dymo Letratag.  Apparently I need to upgrade.
 

Offline mendip_discovery

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Re: Pro tip - label wall warts
« Reply #33 on: February 04, 2024, 03:10:56 pm »
For electronics I only do prototypes or shit that's sent up and doesn't come back, so it doesn't matter if it fades in two years.  But I need a robust solution for labeling my house's mains wiring.  It needs to still be readable in 20 years when myself or an electrician if I ever manage to hire one wants to read the label on a wire.  Will quality name-brand tubing work for that or do I need another kind of label ?

I would go for Ferrule type markers and just put an index of it inside the box its in.
https://www.flipkart.com/atek-pvc-ferrules-alphabet-a-z-cable-6mm-plastic-cable-marker-clip-wire-connector/p/itm9b38717506b96

With maybe some https://www.powerandcables.com/product/cable-labels/laser-labels/ as they can be laser printed and can have a human explanation on them.
Motorcyclist, Nerd, and I work in a Calibration Lab :-)
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So everyone is clear, Calibration = Taking Measurement against a known source, Verification = Checking Calibration against Specification, Adjustment = Adjusting the unit to be within specifications.
 
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