Icky-pick or icky-pic is a gelatinous cable compound used in outdoor-rated

communications cable Telecommunications cable is a type of guided transmission medium. Telecommunications are based on transmitting and receiving modulated waves/signals through a medium. Types of telecommunications cable include: electrical cables when electric curr ...

s, including both twisted-pair copper cabling and

fiber-optic cabling An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

. "PIC" is the abbreviation for "plastic insulated cable". The cable is filled with an "icky" substance. The

filled cable In telecommunications, a filled cable is a cable that has a non-hygroscopic material, usually a gel called icky-pick, inside the jacket or sheath. The nonhygroscopic material fills the spaces between the interior parts of the cable, preventing mo ...

itself, therefore, is called an "icky PIC". Icky-pick has two primary functions: * Deter animals from biting and damaging the cable due to the smell and taste of the gel * Seal any nick or gash in the outer jacket if they do bite it, preventing water from entering the cable and damaging it by corrosion and freeze expansion The actual icky-pick compound is a very thick

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

-based substance e.g.

petroleum jelly Petroleum jelly, petrolatum (), white petrolatum, soft paraffin, or multi-hydrocarbon, CAS number 8009-03-8, is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons (with carbon numbers mainly higher than 25), originally promoted as a topical ointment for i ...

, and is only rated for outdoor use, frequently direct-buried in the ground. An outdoor cable spliced onto an indoor terminal block is prone to leak the gelatin, hence in many situations the icky-pic cable is spliced outside the building to a short run of normal cable which runs through a protective

conduit Conduit may refer to: Engineering systems * Conduit (fluid conveyance), a pipe suitable for carrying either open-channel or pressurized liquids * Electrical conduit, a protective cover, tube or piping system for electric cables * Conduit cur ...

into the building. The thick gel stains clothing and hands and is very difficult to remove. When fiber-optic cables are to be spliced, the gel must be removed with solvents and swabs to prevent fouling of the splice.

Paint thinner Paint thinners are diluents — solvents used to adjust the viscosity of paint, as well as similar preparations such as varnish and lacquer, by dilution. For water-based paints, such as acrylic paints, water is the primary solvent, but notably, ...

or charcoal starter is a frequently used and commonly available remover and clean-up agent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Icky-Pick Petroleum products Signal cables