chrismeyer6 wrote on 2022-06-23, 16:07:

I've had really good luck leaving cigarette smelling stuff either outside for a few days with good strong sun or using uv lights to rid the smell

Mmmmm yellow cables, 😋

That is interesting though. Ionizing radiation does break up molecules.

I usually hand wash smoker parts with dish soap and a brush and have good results. But alas you already tried that. I'm sure it's not 100% effective though due to absorption and whatever else the horrific stink compounds do.

Clean then ozone

Peroxide and baking soda can be used also, if the cables are yellowed you could try retrobriting which combines peroxide and sunlight.
Take care with the conductors themselves though peroxide + steel can be bad.

Admittedly cigarette stink is quite difficult to remove completely but cleaning then retrobrighting might reduce the stench .

Soaking in white vinegar for 4 hours followed by soapy water and rinsing got it off, finally.
It also got rid of the shiny black finish of the cable which is now a matte charcoal color instead but I can live with slight discoloration if it means I can tolerate being in the same room with it.

Overall, success.

Excellent I'm glad you got that awful smell taken care of.

Quit smoking my dudes, you cause so much disgust around you, and even kill others with your smoke.

Glad you got it off the cable 😀 good job!

Plasma wrote on 2022-06-23, 07:53:

Maybe an ozone generator? Seal it in your car and let it run for 30 mins.

There are ozone generators designed to fit into 5.25" PC bay.

OK, I spoke too early. It was smelling very nice when I went to bed last night and I woke up to find that the stink had returned in the morning.. So the vinegar (in at least 4 hours) did not manage to kill the smell 🙁

I'll go to Rossman today and look for one of these odor killing sprays and see if that helps.. *SIGH*

What about replacing the cable?

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-06-24, 08:19:

What about replacing the cable?

It's a simple 5 core USB 2.0 cable soldered to THT terminals on the PCB end. I can easily do this. I'd just rather not. I'll also ave to check if I can keep the strain relief etc but this is my last resort..

That brought back memories though. Back when you could smoke in night clubs and it was difficult to see 2 meters ahead, we would get home and after undressing leave our sweaters and pants on radiators. The slow and steady heat would get rid of the terrible stink mostly by the next day. So I wonder if this could work, ie. putting it into a 35C or thereabouts oven for a few hours? I mean, it worked for fabric, not sure what it would do to plastic but still..

appiah4 wrote on 2022-06-24, 08:21:

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-06-24, 08:19:

What about replacing the cable?

It's a simple 5 core USB 2.0 cable soldered to THT terminals on the PCB end. I can easily do this. I'd just rather not. I'll also ave to check if I can keep the strain relief etc but this is my last resort..

That brought back memories though. Back when you could smoke in night clubs and it was difficult to see 2 meters ahead, we would get home and after undressing leave our sweaters and pants on radiators. The slow and steady heat would get rid of the terrible stink mostly by the next day. So I wonder if this could work, ie. putting it into a 35C or thereabouts oven for a few hours? I mean, it worked for fabric, not sure what it would do to plastic but still..

I suggested it earlier. heat tends to get rid of some smells by accelerating their dissipation.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-06-24, 06:30:

Quit smoking my dudes, you cause so much disgust around you, and even kill others with your smoke.

It can also kill computers btw. I've taken apart a LOT of computers and any that came from a smokers home usually have most surfaces inside become very sticky with especially things like fans tending to clog up until they can't spin anymore and cases more overheating (the hardware parts covered in this stuff also isolates and dust tends to build up into large sticky mats of particles, especially on things like CPU coolers). Also these systems will tend to have more dust build up in total because of the sticky smokers stuff.
A friend of mine had this transparent and made of some kind of plastic. As he's a smoker who smokes inside the house, the case became more and more yellowed over time. Also one of his Antec PSUs clogged up and eventually died because of overheating due to the dust buildup. Fortunately it didn't take any other hardware with it.

To clean it, I'll usually use a brush and water (with soap if it's nasty) but it's often not enough to get rid of all of it.
If cables become to sticky I tend to not even wanting to use them anymore.

Any smoker coming to visit me has to smoke outside, I got plenty room for that 🙂

appiah4 wrote on 2022-06-24, 08:07:

OK, I spoke too early. It was smelling very nice when I went to bed last night and I woke up to find that the stink had returned in the morning.. So the vinegar (in at least 4 hours) did not manage to kill the smell 🙁

I'll go to Rossman today and look for one of these odor killing sprays and see if that helps.. *SIGH*

For me, sealing the smelly parts in a trash bag with essence oil dipped cotton balls and newspaper for about 3 days did the trick. It will retain an overall pleasant smell derived of the essence oils (thus neutralize the nicotine odor). I used pine cone odor for mine 😜
Works very well with impossible to wash parts like laptop keyboards or any other fragile plastics best left as is.

computerguy08 wrote on 2022-06-24, 15:34:

appiah4 wrote on 2022-06-24, 08:07:

OK, I spoke too early. It was smelling very nice when I went to bed last night and I woke up to find that the stink had returned in the morning.. So the vinegar (in at least 4 hours) did not manage to kill the smell 🙁

I'll go to Rossman today and look for one of these odor killing sprays and see if that helps.. *SIGH*

For me, sealing the smelly parts in a trash bag with essence oil dipped cotton balls and newspaper for about 3 days did the trick. It will retain an overall pleasant smell derived of the essence oils (thus neutralize the nicotine odor). I used pine cone odor for mine 😜
Works very well with impossible to wash parts like laptop keyboards or any other fragile plastics best left as is.

Now on top of my list of next things to try 😀

I have tried airing, different soaps, drenching in IPA, airing outside for several weeks (when it is not raining). Only thing that got rid of the smell in my roland mt-32 was time. It took about 3 years for the smell to dissipate.

I recently picked up a bunch of smoky parts.

As time goes on they are slowly getting better. I’ve cleaned some of them, but there are a lot of parts and cleaning takes a long time 🤣.

I haven’t even scrubbed the mildew off the ide cables yet haha. That’s prob top on the list.

When I turn on the gateway 2000 the psu blows a puff pf gross.

But that also has been getting better with time.

If it comes to smell, then we can buy something called "Rodalon" here in Denmark. It can come in different strength and for different purposes. Mostly it takes away surface fungus, but it removes old sweat smell, cigarette smell, and urine smell if small children have had an "accident" in bed during the night. It is also usefull to get rid of cat pee smell.

The active thing in this fluid is Benzalkonium chloride
But be aware. It is not a toy, even though the indoor-use version is weak. Puppies and rabbits have died from owners using it too much.
However it works magic, if you make a rinse wash to get smell out of clothes.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-06-24, 06:30:

Quit smoking my dudes, you cause so much disgust around you, and even kill others with your smoke.

Glad you got it off the cable 😀 good job!

I smoke outside, and away from people. And I quit when I decide to do it.
My children come to stay with me every second weekend, and I have a rabbit in my apartment that belongs to my daughter.
Neighter the animal, nor my children have asked me to start smoking.

But that single day in the future, when we will get a dangerous storm and minus 30 degree celcius. Yes, then I will smoke inside.
No need to risk getting hit and killed by a roof tile or metal sign.