Electrical tape that doesn't get sticky over time

Question

Regardless of which brand I buy or where I buy it from, the electrical tapes always get sticky over time. As I use them on USB cables and my earphone cables, it irritates me because it is a "high-touch" point. Is there any alternative that won't get sticky, won't leave residue, and have electrical insulating properties? Please don't suggest Sugru - I used it on my earphones and the seal lasted less than 1 month on my earphones (where the flex is).

OR, is there any out-of-the-box treatment to prevent stickiness on electrical tape?

Answer 1

Heat-shrink tubing is effective and long-lasting. There is no adhesive to smear. The tubing can also be used over a tape wrap, which can be helpful if large-diameter tubing is needed to slip over a connector.

Apply heat gently so as not to melt cable insulation.

Answer 2

Gaffer tape, the higher quality tier stuff, provided it is not exposed to UV light for a long time.

Gaffer tape is literally for that purpose. Gaffers are lighting electricians who work in film and video. When they shoot in a CEO's office, they put camera lights all over, fed by cables, taped to the walls, furniture and carpets. And when they're done, they remove the tape and it comes off clean. That is what gaffer tape does.

Electrical tape is not for that purpose (binding multiple cables, especially not on the public side of the junction box cover). If you must buy electrical tape, buy the better tier 3M brand, which is the Sony/Stihl/Apple of almost any kind of flat pregummed adhesive. But electrical tape is wrong for this application.

Have you considered Velcro cable ties? While you're at the cinema supply getting gaffer's tape, take a look at Rip-Tie, being the Cadillac.

Answer 3

I have also found that electrical tape does not work well on USB cables and headphones. Heat shrink tubing is great for that sort of thing. You can also try using liquid electrical tape which you brush on and it dries into a flexible rubber-like material.

Answer 4

The problem with heat shrink tubing is that --- well, it's a "continuous circle" tube, and so you have to cut and splice the wire (or be able to access one end of the wire, which of course you can't do if you're just working on a cable mid-length) in order to slip the tube-section over it. Flat-strip tape, though, can just wrap around a wire without having to access its end, but then, as you say, this tape can come loose again after a while. Good news, though --- there are special electrical tapes --- such as "self-fusing" --- available that are more durable and long-lasting than regular plastic-and-adhesive electrical tape.

Answer 5

I only use self-amalgamating tape these days. It may be a bit sticky but it doesn't have glue or leave any residue. My experience with electrical tape that has glue is that it doesn't work. Often the glue fails to hold the tape, and then you have to remove it and see the glue left a residue.

The idea of self-amalgamating tape is that you cut a short section of it, then you stretch it. The act of stretching it acivates it. Then you wrap multiple rounds of the stretched tape over the area you want to insulate. Over time, the self-amalgamating tape fuses to itself, which means it won't undo even though it doesn't have any glue. It's essentially as good as heat-shrink tubing, but heat-shrink tubing is continuous (it has no ends except on the left and right, as it's a tube) whereas with self-amalgamating tape, you can cut a section of it then wrap it around itself. So self-amalgamating tape can be used in wires that have big connectors on both sides, so big that you can't fit a heat-shrink tubing over it.