It’s something I think we’ve all done before. You get done playing video games and you don’t want to just leave the controllers plugged into the console and laying around somewhere. So you pick up the controller, unplug it, wrap the cable around the controller, then set it aside or even put it in a box. Maybe you even disconnect the console and wrap the video cable around the console. But did you know that doing that can damage the plastics? In this blog post, I’ll show you a better way to store game controllers and consoles neatly without the risk of damage.
The plague of cable burn
If you are like me, you learned in fifth grade science class that plastics take thousands of years to break down. As an adult, I learned from a friend who works in the insulation industry that’s an oversimplification. Plastics can in fact degrade much faster than that. Sometimes it only takes a few years. They don’t cease to exist. But they do offgas some of the components that make them flexible while retaining their shape. Sometimes they can discolor too.
And in the case of video game controllers, you have two different types of plastics in close contact with each other. You have the hard plastic that makes up the controller body. And then you have the soft, flexible plastic that makes up the cable.
Over time, those chemicals make the cable soft and flexible rise to the surface. If you have a device with a power cord that was made in the 1960s and the power cord is stiff and inflexible, that’s the reason why.
The hidden danger of cable burn
But the side effect is that when that soft cable is in contact with another plastic, those chemicals that soften the cable react with the hard plastic. The result is that it melts that harder plastic and leaves and impression of the cable behind. We call this cable burn.
That’s why it is a bad idea to wrap the cord around a game controller and store it. It’s not a big deal if you do it just to tidy things up and you’re going to be unwinding it and plugging the controller in to play more games tomorrow or even sometime next week. But if you’re not sure when you’re going to use it again, you’ll want to wrap that cable a different way.
Store video game cables safely
The way to wind up video game cables for storage safely is to fold the cable in half, then fold it in half again. Keep repeating until you get the cable to a manageable length. Then you can use a twist tie off a loaf of bread or another similar non-permanent cable tie to bundle the cable up. Or you can slip it into a cardboard toilet paper roll.
I prefer to use the toilet paper roll trick for really long-term That includes when I store extra controllers and cables in a plastic bin. It also includes when I put a console with its controllers and cables in its original box with its foam inserts.
The nice thing about the toilet paper roll is it minimizes the contact of the cable with anything around it. The only things the cable is coming into contact with are itself and the cardboard. This keeps the cable from burning into a controller sitting next to it. It also keeps it from burning into the foam inserts in the game console box.
As a side effect, you can easily write a note on the roll about what the cable or the controller goes with. I can recognize the most common system controllers and their connectors by sight, but I can’t necessarily assume that anyone else going through my stash in the future will be able to do so. And in the case of less common systems, labeling them serves as a good reminder for myself. This helps when something more obscure gets separated from the console it belongs to. It can also help prevent someone from plugging the wrong AC adapter into a console and damaging it.
Cleaning up after storage
You can prevent some of the ill effects of the plastic degrading, but you can’t completely stop the degrading. Sometimes when you go to use the cable or controller that’s been in storage a long time, it feels a bit slimy. Here’s how to de-slime those old cables using household products. That way you can prevent damage and make it comfortable to use again. Even after years in storage.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.