Well, since I am installing an alarm at the house (pre-wired) and nothing was labelled, I figured I needed something to label the wires properly. I have an old brother label maker but it is something I would use for putting labels on a plastic drawer bins in my garage when I have screws or zip ties in them, not for wires.
I need something better…
After some research, in comes the DYMO Rhino 4200 Industrial Labeling Tool QWERTY Keyboard. There are more expensive and cheaper options, but this seemed to be just in my range. For just under $50 this label maker excels at handling wiring… which I just so happen to use when setting up light show stuff. Not only can it do normal flag and wrap labels, but it handles 3:1 shrink wrap labels… which is awesome for not worrying about adhesive sticking.
Now, the heat shrink labels are pretty expensive (about $25 for 5 feet) and I am not sure how weather/waterproof the text would be, but if I stick to inside the enclosures and house… I think this is pretty awesome. If anything, I could always be really industrious and put clear heat shrink over the flexible nylon label and be waterproof. I have ordered this flexible nylon and they claim it should do well outdoors. We will see.
Luckily I also have a ton of rechargeable AA batteries and a charger that I use to run most everything in my house now. This label maker will take 6 AA. We actually have 2 chargers because I couldn’t find the old one after the move, until… you guessed it… the day after the new one arrived. I cry a little inside when I think of all the huge battery packs we used to buy from Home Depot on a pretty regular basis for $12 or $16. I probably spent $60 a year on batteries for 10 years before going rechargeable.
Anyways, I have only had the Rhino a few days but it exceeds all my expectations so far in doing labels on the security wires. It is super simple to use with all the hotkeys they have above the keyboard, which run you through setup wizards for each application. I can barely wait to try the shrink wrap labels and use this for the light show. No more duct tape with sharpie that looks bad the next year. Also need to label my breaker box, which this can do via a preset.
If you want to see a video or two on this beauty:
CEDIA EXPO 2011 – DYMO Rhino 4200 and also NEW! Rhino 4200