Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 12:57:44 -0700
Reply-To: Dan N <dn92610@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dan N <dn92610@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Microscopic corrosion on electrical contacts
In-Reply-To: <240632471.38091.1686771688090@mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Richard... I agree with you 100%... Spraying a protective coat on any
electrical connector costs more to the manufacturers... They leave them
bare.
I use dielectric grease when I repair contacts.
On Wed, Jun 14, 2023 at 12:41 PM Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:
> I've recently been discussing microscopic corrosion that occurs on metal
> electrical contacts (with 2 engineer buddies, one at Apple, one at H/P).
> You know how sometimes something funky and unexpected happens to something
> electrical in your Vanagon? Might be a light bulb, might be a spade
> connector, might be a speaker connection, might be a door switch, might be
> an Emergency Flasher switch. I boldly surmise that in general, the
> component itself is not the problem.....it's getting electricity back and
> forth from it. Why? Microscopic surface corrosion....and it doesn't take
> much. When building a car or some electronic device, everything is bright
> shiny new, just attach things and everything works just fine. Over time,
> humidity in air and even worse when near an ocean, starts to attack this
> nice shiny metal. Corrosion. Increased resistance at best, failed
> connection at worst. Now, given that things need to be built quickly and
> most cost effectively, there is no corrosion prevention applied. Mostly,
> these situations are very easy to deal with; you clean them up, with
> varying degrees of intensity, and then apply a nice protective coating
> before connecting again.
>
>
> Vaseline. A most marvelous thing. Just a tiny smooth wipe.
>
>
> Yes, I've taken fuses out one by one and used steel wool to shiny up and
> then a very thin wipe of Vaseline on contacts and they glide right back
> into position. Every time I deal with some spade or barrel connector I do
> the same. Light bulbs?...yes, same treatment. Worried about shorting
> something out with grease?; nope, has never happened, and I just recently
> did similar corrosion fix on my Samsung smartphone battery and also HDMI
> connections on back of TV. I mean, I used a toothpick and magnification,
> didn't slather it on, but it fixed things immediately. Flashlights,
> battery operated wall clocks, remote controls, room thermostat....you name
> it.
>
>
> In cases like the Emergency Flasher Switch....well, you can't readily get
> inside....but spray Electrical Contact Cleaner and 50 times exercising does
> the job. Similar with other enclosed things.
>
> This is my opinion, and I'd love to hear comments pro or con. I'm a big
> believer in preventative maintenance; even if something isn't broken, if
> I'm in the nearby area I do everything I can to preserve it's life. It's
> always so easy to do at home, and always so discouraging to try to fix when
> on the road.
>
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