General electrical mechanicing question - cleaning connections

mello dude

mello dude

Half genius, half dumazz whackjob foole
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A bit of an oddball question.....I discovered a bit of a leaky gasket dripping some oil on a connector, and the connector is not fully electricly great with the oil on it.
What is your favorite spray to clean up oil on a connector set?
 
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Once it's clean, fill to connector with dielectric grease (silicone grease) - it'll protect the contacts from corrosion and contamination.
 
mjc506 said:
Once it's clean, fill to connector with dielectric grease (silicone grease) - it'll protect the contacts from corrosion and contamination.
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This practice is especially important if the connector had any amount of corrosion...fluffy grey or greenish. 'Rust' never sleeps.
 
CRC also makes a number of highly regarded contact cleaners, as do other manufacturers. Any will work. A word about dielectric grease. This stuff is an insulator. If you spread it on a spade connector, it will indeed seal out moisture, and electricity. The connector will make electrical connection by mechanically scraping off the grease as you assemble the male and female parts. If the connector is damaged the scraping might not be thorough, and resistance will increase. Its best to use the dielectric grease after the connectors are mated.
 
If the connector's damaged, I'd rather find out straight away by the connected device not working, than after a while of heat buildup and further damage...

That said, not a bad idea to inspect the connectors following cleaning, and replacing anything that looks marginal. (perhaps with a waterproof connector!)
 
mjc506 said:
If the connector's damaged, I'd rather find out straight away by the connected device not working, than after a while of heat buildup and further damage...

That said, not a bad idea to inspect the connectors following cleaning, and replacing anything that looks marginal. (perhaps with a waterproof connector!)
Click to expand...
+1 A connector that's had its contact area reduced because of erosion caused by corrosion (or corrosion left unchecked and cleaned) has reduced capacity to conduct current and can and will heat up when the current draw through that connector is sufficient. This results in the heat buildup and further damage mentioned above.
 
Neither does (pure) water, but you don't want that in your connectors... it's the contaminate that the fluid brings with it that can either conduct electricity, or promote corrosion, or more likely both...
 
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