removing stale cigarette stench from an IEEE-488 cable

[graybeard]

I recently purchased a 13 foot long Dupont IEEE-488 cable from fleaBay.   The cable works well, and the connector contacts appear clean.   However the cable insulation jacket reeks from the stench of stale cigarette smoke.  I've had it sitting in front of a fan in my garage almost two weeks and it has not made a dent in the odor.  Do you have a suggestion for a way to remove the stench?

Thanks . . . . . Chris

[Haenk]

The plastic mantle of the cable has probably absorbed the oily stinky smoke. You could try an ozone generator, but I fear it's impossible to remove the stench.

[bob91343]

This is a common problem with used gear.  There is no simple solution.  Sometimes leaving it outdoors for a few months helps.  Washing it with all sorts of solvents doesn't really work, although repeated hot soapy water washes can often alleviate the stench.

[schmitt trigger]

As bob mentions.......There are few things better to remove bad smells than a bright summertime sun exposure.

Of course if humidity is low, the better.

[Syntax Error]

I know the problem!

You could try the old school trick of wiping the cable with hot vinegar and baking soda, but you'll probably get a cable that smells like a BBQ. Alternatively there's acetone or gasoline, but these are likely to dissolve the plastic 

Or just contact the seller to say it was not fit for purpose and give me my money back.

[Bud]

Can you imagine the aroma of that HP box the cable was plugged in to. 

[cheeseit]

The plastic har probably absorbed a lot of it as mentioned but try cleaning it with Windex on a rag. I've found nothing as good as it for removing residue and smell from cigaret smoking.

[coromonadalix]

Isopropyl alcohol ??  could help a little ?

[CatalinaWOW]

I know you want to use the cable, but my experience is that two to three years of outdoor exposure is required to really knock the stench down.  That is in a hot climate with long summers.  I would assume that it takes longer in cooler, short summer locations.  Exposure time will also vary with your sensitivity to the smell.

Presumably a high temperature bake out in a well ventilated oven would work, and probably quite a bit faster.  Something like 70C.

[helius]

The ideal solvent for cigarette residue is supercritical CO2, but it is difficult to apply for obvious reasons.
Second best would be triethylene glycol in alcohol solution. Isopropyl alcohol will do something, but may be slower than desired.
Ozone treatment can also be effective, but as it is corrosive I would not recommend using it on GPIB cables.

[james_s]

Wash it with Oil Eater or a similar degreaser. Nicotine is oily and coats everything, a good degreaser often helps a lot by removing the smelly oil. You could also try wiping it down with a pleasant smelling product like orange oil based cleaner, that will remove some of the nicotine as well as adding its own nicer smell.

[SilverSolder]

Wash it with Oil Eater or a similar degreaser. Nicotine is oily and coats everything, a good degreaser often helps a lot by removing the smelly oil. You could also try wiping it down with a pleasant smelling product like orange oil based cleaner, that will remove some of the nicotine as well as adding its own nicer smell.

Exactly - use an oil.   You could try an essential oil - peppermint, lavender, etc.   Who knows, maybe you'll make a new invention - scented cables?

[duak]

I've found that Oxyclean powder in warm water is very good at removing organic stains from fabrics.  It seemed to work fairly well on older clothing used by a smoker.  Some plastic containers I have picked up either some tomato stains or just a general funkiness that Oxyclean took out after some day long soaking.  Cables are less permeable than fabrics and similar to containers.  I would suggest coiling the cable into a round container with the connectors bagged and sticking up and then pouring  enough Oxyclean and water to make a paste and let it soak.  If if's doing anything, the liquid will change color as the crud is drawn out.

[graybeard]

I want to thank everyone for the helpful ideas.   I started with the least invasive idea of putting it out in the sun.



I put the cable out on the hood of our Black Miata were it spent two full days under the Southern California summer sun.  I brought it in just before sunset so no dew would settle on it.  In those two days the level of odor changed from an offensive smell if you were within a few feet of the cable to now not being able to detect odor putting my nose up to the cable.  My guess is combination of the elevated temperature and UV exposure did in the odor.

It seems to be better now, but I am not yet convinced it is a long term fix.  If the odor has diffused into jacket, it may return as it diffuses back out with time.   If the odor returns I will post again.   But for now it seems OK.

Thanks,
Chris

[Haenk]

Be aware that the chemical softener in the cable might damage the paint on your car.

[james_s]

Not only that, the high temperature can drive that plasticizer out of the rubber and cause it to turn hard and brittle.

Washing it is a much safer method.

[graybeard]

As I had feared, the odor has diffused well into the insulation jacket of the wire and is beginning to return.  Although it no longer reeks as before, I can smell it when I put my nose up to it and the intensity seems to be increasing.  I have no way to quantify the odor intensity, the only instrument I have is my nose, and that is the one that really matters.

[CatalinaWOW]

There are no win-win solutions.

Plasticizer diffuses out over time.  Heat speeds that process.  Same for the various chemicals involved in tobacco stench.

Both plasticizer and tobacco stench wash out with solvents.

In either case it is a race to see if the smell gets to an acceptable level before the cable becomes unusable.  Hopefully the application doesn't require frequent or extreme cable flexing.  If it does it is time to buy a reel of heat shrink and get busy with an Exacto knife.

[jh15]

I found a total cure and still can't believe it.  I bought a 2008 in 2013 Honda Element from craigs list. The girls owning it, were major smokers in it, and it was full of dog hair. I hate cig smoke, but the price was good and thought I'd air it out.

     I left the tailgate open for days neighbor asked if it had a dead pig in it, and removed the fake blue led cigarette lighter 'deodorizer, cleaned out hair, removed seats, blew out sand and stuff. No help, looked up fabreeze, steam cleaning, other car owners problems.

     One thing I noticed is commercial ozone process. Hotels use some machine or service to clean a non-smoking room of gig smoke. Also I saw stuff on car ozone commercial products.

     Being (I think I was in EEVblog then) a leg above, threw some experience in ozone diy stuff into mind.

     looking for ozone stuff (made things similar in youth from TV high voltage playthings) somehow I stumbled across a generator on Ebay.

     It is a neon sign transformer, and a ceramic plate with plated on spark discharge points similar to Dave's PCB discharge points.

Aline cord and power switch.

After worrying about how ozone will eat up all your car wiring, sour milk in your refrigerator, and make my male cat pregnant, I tried it.

Twenty minutes I tried it on dashboard, thought I'd do it again with fresh oxygen if needed. It uses up oxygen but in my suv, it wasn't like a cardboard box with microphone screens I was building for another project to try.

Gone! I was sure too good to be true. After winter, I thought for sure smell would come back when closed up next summer. Nothing!

I'll post edit here the thing if it shows on ebay or wherever I bought it. Think it was 20 something doll hairs. USD

It didn't melt all my wiring, and maybe with some woowoo my Element hasn't broken down.

Update: I don't see the unit I bought anymore. It is a small neon sign transformer with a ceramic plate. It was mounted on a wooden board with an electrical box, wall switch.

I see stuff on eBay you could wire up. the xfmr to line, and a ceramic plate with toothed electrodes. Reminds me of Dave's arc discharge video on PCB's. Never needed it again. Sorry some repeats.

[winniethepooh_icu]

Remove covers from ends and securely wrap and protect the metal ends from ozone, then leave it in a cardboard box with a miniature ozone generator for a few days to a week.
If smell comes back after a while do it again, should not take more than two treatments.

[graybeard]

The stink seems to be finally gone  It's taken about three months of airing out inside the garage at night and on the fence in the sun during the day.

[SilverSolder]

Sounds like a good argument for not smoking! 

[graybeard]

Sounds like a good argument for not smoking! 

Almost as good an argument as that it will make you die a slow, painful, suffocating death.

[james_s]

Not to mention the cost, it has always struck me as a rich man's pastime yet the poor statistically are much more likely to smoke. Never saw the point myself but it certainly seems to appeal to a lot of people.

[Gyro]

I think those vaping things are better (the cheaper the better) - all the excitement of not knowing when they're going to spontaneously combust on you, without high cost of adding gambling to you your list of addictions.