Yesterday I pulled a genuine Leica cable for an 1100-series instrument out of storage. It had been in a box in my garage for the last 10 years, and the cable sheathing was sticky all over, as if the plastic was dissolving. In an effort to remove the stickiness, I gave it a quick wipe with a rag dipped in acetone. That didn't do anything for the stickiness, so I set the cable aside to deal with later. Today when I picked it up again, I saw that the sheathing was actually falling apart. (Even though the photo shows only a few places where the sheathing has disappeared, the whole length of the cable is affected.)
This is a Y cable that connects a TCRA1102plus to both power and serial. I'm not in dire need of its use, but I'm wondering if I can salvage it at all.
I've never had a manufacturer cable come apart like this. Anyone else seen something similar?
As to salvage - maybe you can strip off the deteriorating cable sheath and replace it with heat-shrink tubing?
I have never seen a genuine Leica cable do that in 35 years of Leica use. Maybe a knock off or something got on the cable to do that. I don't think there is any professional repair for that, maybe just wrap in electric tape to protect the conductors inside but tape doesn't do well over time with heat either it will be a sticky mess again.