continuing misadventures of a fuselage car

[commando1]

We used to simply use Vasoline.

 

[Big_John]

We used to simply use Vasoline.

Same stuff basically... I think most of the dielectric greases are silicone based so they won't break down with higher voltages. But yea... they used vasoline back in the day.

 

[70_NPORT]

Keep in mind what dielectric means. It's non conductive, an insulator.

It's good for sealing an electrical connection, and by doing that, it will help prevent corrosion. But here again, it's another instance of people not understanding it's proper usage. If you smear it all over the contacts, you have just smeared non conductive material on them. In practice, it will get scraped off when the contacts are pushed together, but you will still have a build up of non conductive grease on your contacts.

I personally would never use the dielectric grease to "pack" the connectors. A coating on the mating surfaces of the insulator makes sense to seal the insulator and insure that it slides together nicely.

Apparently any build up of resistance due to the chemical make up of the grease itself is nill or at best infinitesimal. I can't find any evidence of additional resistance (e.i. burns, melting) occurring spurred on by liberal use of dielectric grease. I think the positives far outweigh the negatives, plus it gives one a piece of mind. I want to keep out corrosive agents as much as possible and the grease has acted as a fantastic insulator for this. If your connectors are already at the point of corrosion and nastiness then the "Deoxit" is most likely the best way to go. Mine aren't, thankfully.....and I want to keep them from getting to the point. The dielectric grease has been absolutely wonderful for this.

 

[Big_John]

Apparently any build up of resistance due to the chemical make up of the grease itself is nill or at best infinitesimal. I can't find any evidence of additional resistance (e.i. burns, melting) occurring spurred on by liberal use of dielectric grease. I think the positives far outweigh the negatives, plus it gives one a piece of mind. I want to keep out corrosive agents as much as possible and the grease has acted as a fantastic insulator for this. If your connectors are already at the point of corrosion and nastiness then the "Deoxit" is most likely the best way to go. Mine aren't, thankfully.....and I want to keep them from getting to the point. The dielectric grease has been absolutely wonderful for this.

There are other contact lubricants without the cleaning properties of the red Deoxit. Just to use them as an example, Deoxit has a "gold" line that doesn't clean like the red, but provides protection from oxidation and corrosion along with lubricating the contact.

To say that the insulating properties of the dielectric grease is minimal... That's really not true. Your contacts have scraped through the grease.

The best definition I could find that doesn't make your eyes roll back in your head was on Wikipedia. Normally I don't like to quote them, but this is good. Pay attention to the third paragraph.

Dielectric grease is electrically insulating and does not break down when high voltage is applied. It is often applied to electrical connectors, particularly those containing rubber gaskets, as a means of lubricating and sealing rubber portions of the connector without arcing.

A common use of dielectric grease is in high-voltage connections associated with gasoline engine spark plugs. The grease is applied to the rubber boot of the plug wire. This helps the rubber boot slide onto the ceramic insulator of the plug. The grease also acts to seal the rubber boot, while at the same time preventing the rubber from becoming stuck to the ceramic. Generally, spark plugs are located in areas of high temperature and the grease is formulated to withstand the temperature range expected. It can be applied to the actual contact as well, because the contact pressure is sufficient to penetrate the grease film. Doing so on such high pressure contact surfaces between different metals has the advantage of sealing the contact area against electrolytes that might cause rapid deterioration from galvanic corrosion.

Another common use of dielectric grease is on the rubber mating surfaces or gaskets of multi-pin electrical connectors used in automotive and marine engines. The grease again acts as a lubricant and a sealant on the nonconductive mating surfaces of the connector. It is not recommended to be applied to the actual electrical conductive contacts of the connector because it could interfere with the electrical signals passing through the connector in cases where the contact pressure is very low. Products designed as electronic connector lubricants, on the other hand, should be applied to such connector contacts and can dramatically extend their useful life. Polyphenyl Ether, rather than silicone grease, is the active ingredient in some such connector lubricants.

Silicone grease should not be applied to (or next to) any switch contact that might experience arcing, as silicone can convert to silicon-carbide under arcing conditions, and accumulation of the silicon-carbide can cause the contacts to prematurely fail. (British Telecom had this problem in the 1970s when silicone Symel® sleeving was used in telephone exchanges. Vapor from the sleeving migrated to relay contacts and the resultant silicon-carbide caused intermittent connection.)

 

[70_NPORT]

ugh...too much...still made my eyes roll back Big John, lol.

 

[Big_John]

ugh...too much...still made my eyes roll back Big John, lol.

Ahh... my work here is done... LOL!

 

[Big_John]

Keep in mind that I'm not trying to start an argument about the way to do this. It's been really apparent to me that there's a lot of issues in the electrical systems of these cars that could be prevented without a lot of effort.

 

[70_NPORT]

Keep in mind that I'm not trying to start an argument about the way to do this. It's been really apparent to me that there's a lot of issues in the electrical systems of these cars that could be prevented without a lot of effort.

Sure, no sweat.