Electrical grease

[motorandy]

Hello Gang,

It's my turn to clean all my electrical connections. I know to take one apart, clean it and put it back together. *grin* But, I had read somewhere about an electrical grease that prevents corrosion and conducts electricity. It's not the dielectric stuff. I know that doesn't conduct. I'm looking to do this job just once and it seems like the conducting grease along with a good cleaning should do the job. Questions are:

1) Can I buy this grease online and where?
2) Does anyone make a small round wire brush to fit inside the female bullet connectors to clean them out?

As always, I appreciate everyone's input here. It's a great forum!

Randy
79F
Phoenix, AZ

[randy]

Randy

I've got the conductive grease. It's copper powder suspended in a dielectric grease.

$2.50 a tube

Randy

[motorandy]

Randy,

How do I buy a tube from you? And, how do YOU clean the inside of the connectors?

Thanks,
Randy

email address:
motorandy@yahoo.com

[randy]

I just PM-ed you with the details.

I clean the inside of the teeny weeny connectors with a few bristles of a wire brush and a bit of the old in-out, in-out. Or, you can roll up a piece of sandpaper and ream 'em out. If you use a wire brush, be sure to disconnect the battery. Some of the connectors near the rectifier and fuse box are live all the time. Don't ask how I know.

It's painstaking but effective. I also understand that you can use a vinegar solution on brass and it works well, but most of our connectors are tinned, so abrasive cleaning does a good job.

As a last resort, you can replace a connector that's gone. There are posts here about sources, or try here:

Look under Electrical / Connectors and Terminals

Cycle Recycle

[xssiveone]

Originally posted by motorandy
And, how do YOU clean the inside of the connectors?

I found some small round brushes that were used for cleaning the small parts of a paint spray gun that work pretty good.

[randy]

And, motorandy had a good idea. He's going to look for small bore gun cleaning brushes. Do they make them for BB or pellet guns? That size would be about right. Anyone know?

[don07tncav]

Don't know about no -a-days but a few years ago Wal-Mart had the bore brushes that fit BB guns.

[motorandy]

Follow up information

Well gang...

I've completed the task. And, EVERYTHING works great now! My tach was working intermittently, sometimes the headlight wouldn't come on and the turn signals were erratic. Well, all the gremlins are gone. All the lights are bright and I'm a happy camper.

Things I learned a long the way that may help others:

1) .17 rifle bore bronze brushes are available at Walmart (~$1.50). These work great to clean out the female bullet connectors. Only buy one, if it gets too smashed down, take a pair of dikes and cut a bit off.
2) Small #2 china brushes (model car brushes) are great to apply the copper grease. A small amount on the tip of the brush, then insert the brush in the connector and work it around. I even 'painted' the male pins or spades.
3) The copper grease is GREAT stuff. A small tube is more than enough to do the whole bike. I probably used less than half of the tube.
4) Neatness counts! You cannot let the copper grease bridge between two contacts. As Randy said, it's VERY conductive.
5) Patience and allow time. You don't want to hurry though this job and miss a connector.

It was time well spent. It took a few hours and less than $5 to chase the gremlins away.

Thanks to everyone's input!

Regards,
Randy Sanderson

[randy]

Randy,

Glad it worked out. I've been using this 'secret formula' for years and it works great. Thanks for the tip on the bore brushes. Leaving for walmart now!

[Geezer]

Originally posted by randy
Randy

I've got the conductive grease. It's copper powder suspended in a dielectric grease.

$2.50 a tube

Randy

That's not a bad price but you don't want electrical conducting grease on connectors. The grease is there to protect the terminals and the strength of the terminals pressing together makes the connection. If you have electrical conducting grease it can short between the terminals of a gang plug…

Geezer

[randy]

Geezer,

That's true, if you're not careful.

[Geezer]

In a pinch you could use anti-seize compound to prevent corrosion on terminals. However it also conducts and could cause shorting.

I mention this because everybody should have some anti-seize compound in their toolbox...

Geezer

[randy]

Yes,

OBI-WAN!

[Geezer]

Originally posted by randy
Yes,

OBI-WAN!

My the Schwartz be with you...

Geezer

[powerram50]

Originally posted by Geezer


My the Schwartz be with you...

Geezer

space balls rules....