SF Cable Blog - Get Expert Tips & Advice on Cables & AccessoriesIn our blog, we educate customers on the various types of cables, components and accesscories for computer, laptops and mobiles. Find More Blog
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SF Cable Blog - Get Expert Tips & Advice on Cables & AccessoriesIn our blog, we educate customers on the various types of cables, components and accesscories for computer, laptops and mobiles. Find More Blog
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When we hear the name extension cords, the very first thing that comes to our mind is that they could provide an extension of any home’s or workshop’s electrical circuits. This comes in handy when a lamp, appliance or tool has a short cord to reach the required location. We often get to know about how important it is to maintain the security of these cords. However, out of all the factors, choosing the right length and size of the power cord is equally important to manage the load.
Let’s explore how: Extension Cord’s Ratings The cords may vary in rating based on the amperage they can carry and the wattage they can handle. The amperage rating for each extension cord needs labeling on a tag attached to each cord. However, it might not be present or visible always. While choosing an extension cord, it is important to determine the amount of wattage and amperage that the tool will draw when you connect it to the cord. With devices like lamps, radios, and televisions, the basic household extension cord is acceptable in most cases. Generally, these basic extension cords use 16-gauge wire. While using devices including motors that produce heat, light-weight extension cords are least preferable. It can be complicated with such devices to choose the right extension cord. With the longer extension cords, it contains a higher resistance power cord and the potential for overheating is greater. A 5-ft-long heavy-duty extension cord powering a high-standard device may overheat, but a 50-ft-long extension cord of the same wire gauge will be undersized for the job. Matching Extension Cord to Load It is important to rate extension cords on the basis of their load capacity to get an idea of how the tool will work or if the load capacity matches the required necessities of the tool. To accommodate voltage, drop due to the natural resistance of the wire, you should implement over the 50-feet wire. However, it is important to take proper caution with electric devices especially house heaters. If you are considering to use an extension cord to plug one of the heaters into a powerhouse, then make sure it can handle the load. There have been incidences of house catching fires due to selecting the wrong extension cord that did not meet heater’s high wattage amperage demands. It is always good to plug space heaters into electrical outlets. But even there it is important to be careful and not exceed the amperage rating of that circuit. If you come across a circuit breaker trips or a fuse when you plug in a space heater, try another circuit with heavier wire and a larger circuit breaker amp rating.
One Last Important Thing Make sure to discard or repair extension cords which are missing ground connections or show signs of extreme wear, or have cracks or cuts or If you can see a bare wire, uncovered, through the outer jacket of the cord. Power cords without ground connection can be hazardous to the user. Examine the ends of the plugs which end up on your extension cords where you are looking for damage. Your local hardware store may have replacement plugs that you can use to extend an extension cord’s life. There are online options available as well. You might want to check it out here. Here is the guide to help you choose the correct sized extension cord for your use. This Article is originally posted here; https://www.sooperarticles.com/shopping-articles/electronics-articles/how-choose-correct-extension-cord-sizes-1742524.html If you found these article useful, here are some other articles that may be of interest. Everything You Should Know About Power Cords [Infographic] Safety Guidelines to Choose The Right Extension Power Cord What is the difference between C13 and C15 Power Cords? Your Guide to Power Extension and Charging Station Setups
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The battle between HDMI and DisplayPort is not new. But if you really understand them both, you will know that each serves its own purpose. In this blog, we will talk about how to get the best display results with the use of these two cables.
A wide range of devices come with HDMI port, from TVs to laptops and projectors. DisplayPort, on the other hand, has a much more niche usage (or acceptance or requirement). It is great for a gaming setup and external monitor usage in a workstation setup. It works great with most graphics cards and has a daisy chain mechanism, so you can hook up more than one monitor to a single CPU with just one DisplayPort on it. Let us explore the nuances of the different setups that work with the HDMI cable and DisplayPort cable: Entertainment Setup: Since all TVs have an HDMI port on it, it is the easiest and the best option for this setup. Generally, a TV has around two or three HDMI ports. With the increase in streaming devices, this is great if you want more than one option. You can use one port for a channel setup box, the second for a streaming device and yet a third one for connecting a soundbar. HDMI Arc output gives you the option to route audio out to a soundbar. This is, of course, very convenient as you can extend your music system beyond simple TV speakers. You are free to switch up to whatever speakers you want to use, including the latest ones that have digital assistants built-in. This gives you the flexibility of switching out the streaming device if you ever want to plug in your laptop to the TV, leaving the soundbar and the channel setup box as a permanent setup. Another different entertainment setup is when you want to use a projector. All standard projectors have HDMI compatibility. So, you can attach your source device and a soundbar to it. HDMI’s ubiquity provides an assurance that you can buy a device with this standard and expect it to work with the rest of your setup over the coming years. Device manufacturers will not want to instantly disconnect you from their brand, so no matter how much “courage” they have, the HDMI port is not likely to disappear from everywhere suddenly. This is why the cable is cheap to buy. Such a setup would not require a particularly long HDMI cable. An average of 3 to 5 feet should be just enough, though SF cable does have a variety of options to suit your needs. Gaming Or Video Editing Setup: We can easily club these two setups in terms of the devices used. Whether you are gaming or editing videos, the most important thing is the monitor. You need something with a high refresh rate, ideally 90Hz or more. But the monitor’s refresh rate is not enough to get the best results. You need to connect the computing source to it, with a DisplayPort cable that can drive such a high refresh rate. DisplayPort has this neat function of being able to daisy chain monitors. You can connect one monitor to a CPU and add the rest to it. This makes for a neat setup even when your CPU does not have more than one DisplayPort. This is of great value for video editing because you need to be judicious with the ports. An efficient setup tends to have three monitors: one for a full display, and two for the edit timeline. Additionally, this setup needs to have advanced no latency audio output, through speakers or headphones. If required, a sound mixer is also a part of this editing suite. If gaming is your priority, a two or three monitor daisy chain connection via the DisplayPort cable is essential. You can add a joystick, controllers, and headphones or speakers. Just like video editing, gaming also requires zero-latency data transfer and you can do it using DisplayPort. With both, the HDMI cable and the DisplayPort cable, it is important to note what version you are buying. The ports and the cables have to be of the same version. If your cable is older but your device is new, then you will not get the best results. For optimal display experience, you must check their compatibility. The newer your port and cable, the more future proof it is. SF Cable offers all kinds of cables under the sun, in varying lengths. Contact us today to start building your dream entertainment and working setup! The debate is not between HDMI and DisplayPort because their version and your requirement are what really matters for the perfect display. Learn what all these cables can do. If you found these blog post useful, here are some other blog posts that may be of interest. DisplayPort or HDMI: Which Cable Should Gamers Choose? Your Ultimate Guide to Displayport Cables 4 Reasons Why Displayport Cables Will Never Get Outdated! Choosing Between HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4: What Should You Know? Cat5e cable is an upgrade to the cat5 cable. The ‘e’ stands for ‘enhanced’. A cat 5 cable can transfer data at the maximum speed of 100Mbps whereas the cat5e cable can go up to 1000Mbps. However, when we say fast, it is not always obvious that it is reliable. The cat5e cable is the more reliable one out of the two.
Because of its speed and reliability, it should be an obvious choice for any internet intensive usage. Contrary to a popular belief that only enterprises and the IT industry have internet intensive usage, our homes are just as internet intensive. And so are the product companies that run our smart home appliances. This brings us to the question of what a smart home includes. A smart home is a home that has connected devices for entertainment, convenience, and security. A number of convenience and security-based electronic tasks rely on the concept of IFTTT. The IFTTT protocol works best when there is a seamless and constant connection to the internet. Therefore, all brands that make these products have to have cloud services with sturdy data centers to function. An important part of a data center is bulk Ethernet cables. To ensure the best operation possible, these centers should have organized cabling with cat5e cables. Here is a look at the flow of smart home system when there is seamless internet: Door locks: Gone are the days of a traditional door lock. Now you can simply tell your digital assistant that you are leaving home and one after the other it will perform tasks to ensure that your house is safe. No one can enter it without a specific code or a security key that resides in your smartphone. If the internet fails, you will find that slightly more difficult to enter your own house! However, in the end, a traditional key might just do the trick. Lights and air conditioning: Along with locking your door, your IFTTT devices also recognize that you won’t need the lights in your home to be on when you are not there. Therefore, it will turn off all the lights and the air condition units while you are not home. When you come back, your smartphone can ping those devices when you are close enough or you can even remotely switch on the AC units on your way home. This way you can always come back to a comfortable environment and save electricity in the end. Delivery service: This is the latest benefit of a house connected to the internet. Delivery services are starting programs that allow dropping off packages in your garage or even inside your house. It works because your house has cameras that enable you to remotely allow temporary and limited access to the courier to drop off the package. This eliminates the need to order parcels at your work-place or missing deliveries because you are on vacation. The IFTTT protocol is also known as assistant routines or smart routines in lay terms. One action triggers another just as a normal routine follows a certain predetermined pattern or workflow. When you are setting up these devices in your home, it is not enough that the data center that powers them has a fast connection. It is just as important that you invest in bulk Ethernet cable solutions for in-wall wiring as well as connecting the actual device to Ethernet ports in the house. The best one to use right now are cat5e cables because a smart home requires fast and reliable connectivity, it does not require its much older brother, the cat8 cables. The enhanced one is just the right fit for your morning coffee to brew after you turn off your alarm. Smart homes require fast and reliable connectivity to perform IFTTT based tasks. The cat5e cable is the popular choice. Source: https://www.sooperarticles.com/shopping-articles/electronics-articles/cat5e-cables-unsung-hero-connected-smart-home-1742383.html If you found these Articles useful, here are some other articles that may be of interest. Few Aspects of CAT5E Cables You May Be Unaware of Cat5 And Cat5e How Do They Differ From Each Other? Selecting The Right Bulk Network Cables - How to Go About It? Comparative Analysis of CAT Cables: Choosing the Right One! Buying Ethernet Cables Online? Here’s What You Should Look For! The Ethernet cable has been around for over 35 years. It is difficult to remember a time when you could use either your house phone or the internet via a dial-up connection. This changed when you could use both at the same time but still with an Ethernet cable. The cable got better in terms of speed and reliability. Then we switched over to Wi-Fi and modified Maslow’s pyramid to put Wi-Fi as a basic need. While wireless connectivity is great, the internet is faster when data passes through a cable. With every iteration of the Ethernet cable, the aim is to improve upon the speed and reliability.
Devices we use nowadays run on the internet. Our use of the internet is so much that we have refrigerators with screens and smart ovens that have cameras to see how much your food has cooked. As our dependency on the internet increases, so does our need for speed and reliability. This is where the new type of cable comes in: fiber optic cable. Fiber optic cable has a strand of pure glass that can transmit light. It can cover great distances because the coating around the glass strand does not absorb any. Light reflects internally in a phenomenon called “total internal reflection”. Since light travels faster than electric current, a fiber optic cable can transmit data faster than copper cables. It transmits data at speeds of 1000 Mbps, or one Gbps, therefore, called gigabit internet. It makes promises (and comes through) of never having to wait for videos to buffer, never having your video call freeze awkwardly and getting an edge over your fellow gamers. Gigabit internet is truly for the future. And the future is the Internet of Things. IoT devices popularly work on the IFTTT (If This Then That) protocol. One action triggers the next. This is how our routine tasks happen. This concept of routines translates to technology. A connected home routine is for your digital assistant to execute, or rather help execute. Your digital assistant is a central hub for all your smart devices. Let us look at some examples of how these routines work: Morning Routine: A standard morning routine triggers when you turn off your alarm. Then a pre-selected playlist plays, while your smart plug connected coffee maker turns itself on. After that, your digital assistant reads out the top news (based on your interests) to you. Lastly, it will tell you about your appointments and events for the day, the weather and commute time to work and sends the directions to your phone for navigation. Safety Routine/Leave The Home Routine: When you are ready to leave for work, you can trigger the leaving home routine with simple phrases like “leaving now”, or “I am leaving”, to your digital assistant. The smart home hub device then takes necessary, predefined steps to secure your house. Once you step out of the door, your smart door lock locks itself; your appliances like the coffee maker, air conditioner, toaster, and TV turn off. At last, your smart shades shut and your security camera monitors everything. The advantage of this is that if you forget to turn any device off, you won’t have to rush back home. It will automatically turn off or you can turn it off remotely if connected to a smart plug. The important thing is that your home hub device should connect to everything in your house. Come Back/Evening Routine: On your way back home, you can trigger actions with phrases like, “I am home” or “I am back”. This can happen after you unlock your main door with a secure pin or key. After the trigger phrase, actions can start unfolding, with the shades opening. Then your evening playlist can start playing while you start cooking dinner and then the lights come on as the sunsets.
Night Routine: At the end of the day, your night routine can trigger based on a phrase or set by a specific time. Your door will lock, the music will stop, and your thermostat will adjust to your ideal sleep temperature. As the flow of these routines suggests, all the devices require constant and speedy internet connection, which a fiber optic cable promises to deliver. And with increasing devices, if you want to maintain speed, you need your house connection to switch to the fiber optic Ethernet cable. SF Cable offers a wide variety of fiber optic cables to choose from based on your requirements. You can browse them here. For any other queries regarding this cable or any other Ethernet cable, you can contact us here. Source: https://www.sfcable.com/blog/fiber-optic-cable-reliable-smart-home-routine/ If you found these blog post useful, here are some other blog posts that may be of interest. The History And Evolution of Fiber Optic Cables Why Ethernet Cables are here to stay? Fiber Optic Cables Vs Ethernet Cables: What Is the Difference? Making, Working, And Advantages of Fiber Optic Cables It’s about connecting your shiny new soundbar or AV receiver and having to decide between HDMI cables and Fiber Optic Cables. As home theater systems get more and more complex (Including wiring). Back into the good old days, all that you need was a coaxial cable to get the audio and video signals to your television set. Unlike today, to align your system with sound, Blu-ray players, and high-definition programming, you will have to go through a tedious set-up procedure. One major decision includes choosing the right cables: HDMI or Optical.
So, to help you make an informed decision, here are their pros and cons. Going To The Basics Both HDMI and optical cables pass the digital audio from one device to another. There is no difference when it comes to passing multi-channel audio like Dolby digital. The major difference is that HDMI cables can pass higher resolution audio which includes formats found on Blu-ray like Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master audio. Fiber optic cables won’t be able to transmit these high-res sound formats. HDMI can also pass video signals. So, if you don’t want the hassle of managing multiple cables between two devices, HDMI should be your pick. But it would all come down to the devices that you want to connect. You might not have an option of HDMI altogether. Or maybe you have an older receiver. Or you have everything in place connected to your TV and just want to get the audio to a soundbar. Here, optical cables will be the perfect fit. You will get quality sound only as you get with HDMI cable. Let’s say you possess a soundbar, which benefits from a surround sound signal and you connect it to one of the many TVs which cannot pass such signals via its optical outputs. Such soundbars many not have HDMI inputs anyway. Hence, the best way to use them is to connect their source to the bar via optical, skipping the TV. Here Is The Comparison:
In the end, it depends on one’s individual needs. Even optical cables give decent audio results. But we live in a space of convenience. And HDMI has become a go-to cable for all the things. And it might become hard to argue against if your system itself supports it. With HDMI’s feature set, upgradability and the fact that it can handle both the formats, you don’t need to worry about the wire jungle. Plus, you will have great results too. Confused between HDMI and Optical Cables? Read more to make an informed decision on buying the right cable for your needs. If you found these blog post useful, here are some other blogs that may be of interest. The History And Evolution of Fiber Optic Cables Fiber Optic Patch Cables: Here's All You Should Know Know Everything About HDMI Technology Fiber Optic Cables and Their Multiple Benefits! When you have so many options to choose your power cords, it can be overwhelming sometimes. While you are looking to buy it for a particular application, it is important to have a basic understanding. This infographic will give you a 360 view of power cords and its applications.
Looking to buy a suitable power cord? Here is all you need to know. https://www.sfcable.com/blog/everything-know-power-cords-infographic/ A new version of DisplayPort is here. Officials are calling it the biggest upgrade yet. It could be enough to earn a place for DisplayPort in future devices. Originally envisioned as a replacement to the older VGA and DVI standards which dominated the market in the early 2000s.
Backed by the VESA group, they always had an intent to be the king of computer cables. Whereas, HDMI has always had more of a television and entertainment focus. Traditionally it was in two traditional connector sizes. The full DisplayPort connector and the Mini DisplayPort connector. Sony, Philips, Maxell, and Lattice developed its technical aspects. And the first version appeared in the middle of 2006. It offered up to 10.8 Gbps of bandwidth. Then came the 1.1 and 1.1a standards. And then DisplayPort 1.2 in 2010, 1.3 and 1.4 in 2014, 2016. It trebled the bandwidth along its entire 10-year lifespan of the standard. In the gaming industry, it made its biggest gain. It remains a must-have for the Nvidia’s G-sync technology displays to lessen the visual artifacts between the frame refreshes. In DisplayPort 2.0, gamers can expect higher resolutions and refresh rates which will put DisplayPort cables in the limelight. Features Scheduled for 2017, the launch delayed with an intention to allow some more time for development. And you can assume it was because of all the upgrades in HDMI. It is quite a jump from DisplayPort 1.4a. Its maximum bandwidth reaches up to 77.4 Gbps, 4K HDR resolutions will now have a boost to a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. The maximum achievable resolution for a single display is 16K running at a 60Hz pace. By that means, you will be able to run three 4K displays at once at 90Hz, or two 8K displays at 120Hz. Even though 8K displays are fewer in numbers, let alone 16K displays, seeing Display Port 2.0’s capability only shows us that it is all ready for the future. Don’t get too happy just yet because the actual release of DisplayPort 2.0 in hardware will be in 2020. I know, we are sad to hear that too! You will need the backward compatibility for newer DisplayPort to be compatible with the older DisplayPort tech. And the support for USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 is continuing as well. Overall, it has a good chance of being in use by masses when it will be time. For those not looking for a billboard-sized display in their home, DisplayPort 2.0 will be capable of two 8K displays at 120Hz with 30 bpp and HDR or two 4K displays at 144Hz and 24 bpp without any type of compression. It supports VESA’s new panel replay such as all-in-one PCs and laptops with higher resolution displays. Do You Need Display Port 2.0? HDMI 2.1 standard which just began to appear in TVs, for now, goes up to 10K resolutions. Hence, DisplayPort 2.0 has a slight advantage here of appearing in those devices. Plus, it is more useful where you will require multiple displays with separate monitors. If you are someone from the gaming industry, creating content, DisplayPort 2.0 is something you will love. Unless that, it won’t be something you have to have. But because of the continued surge in the usage of USB-C, which is a cable and connector type, DisplayPort 2.0 can look forward to widening its userbase. DisplayPort cables also known as computer cables will still exist in our systems. And you could connect a laptop to a monitor via USB-C cable and continue using DisplayPort technology underneath. You can transmit the data at the same time. With the maximum resolutions and refresh rates, it does have a knock-on effect. The display cables are going to exist and parallelly in the other universe, you could be using USB-C with the DisplayPort technology underneath it. Using it, you can transmit the data at the same time but it could have an effect on the refresh rates and max resolution. However, it doesn’t state that any old USB-C port will support DisplayPort. For that, you need the same technology built in the devices too. Some recent gadgets that have this tech are MacBook Pros, Nintendo Switch, and Samsung Galaxy S10 phones. Everything depends on major electronics brands. They are the ones deciding if the DisplayPort reaches the mass audience or not. And the people who actually prefer pixels over price will go for the DisplayPort 2.0 no matter what! And if you don’t want to wait for the HD resolutions, better data transfers, etc. you can check out our premium cable selection. The new standard DisplayPort 2.0 is here. And we have covered all the points. Read more to know whether to be happy or stay neutral with this release. If you found these blog post useful, here are some other blogs that may be of interest. Your Ultimate Guide to Displayport Cables Understanding the Significance of DisplayPort Cables Types of Computer Cables You Must Know About A Complete Guide to DB Style Connectors & Cables |
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