Contact cleaner preference?

I've had good luck with DeOxit, the red stuff. Only takes a tiny bit.

 

I use DeoxIT 5, I've had a can for many years. Looked them up on the web and they have a wide range of products you can buy online. Cleans the contacts but doesn't damage the plastic connector.

DeoxIT® D-Series

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DeoxIT seems to work fine here. I've used it for years with no observable bad effects.

For many years I used another Caig product called Cramolin... highly regarded in its day. We found that this formed an (insulating) varnish after a few years and had to be cleaned off of connectors (this was in pro-audio equipment, Neve mixing console, Studer tape machines.)

I've also had very good results with GC Electronics DE-OX-ID. This has a mineral oil in it, I think the purpose of which is to exclude air from the contact area. (The contact pressure is presumably enough to exclude the mineral oil from the connection.) It seems to be more aggressive than DeoxIT. Also no problems with this.

Finally, the stuff we use in production at work is called Novec contact cleaner from 3M. This is for aerospace hardware, it has approval for that application. Very good stuff. I get my personal supply from Mouser. They make a few different versions of this IIRC.

I have two cans of Freon TF left... wonderful stuff... I use this in personal projects when the goal is to measure things to 6 or more decimal places.

IMO, you won't go wrong with any of these. Just don't mechanically abrade the contacts. People do this, removing the plating in the process, and the base metal then corrodes rapidly and you are forever cleaning it until you finally replace the connectors.

 

I see they have these comments on their product vs Stabilant 22 which is for already clean connections.

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/ctype.KB/it.I/id.1977/KB.215/.f

I know McLaren uses Stabilant 22 on their street cars.

So any comments from folks on this?

 

Thanks for the info and tips!

In your opinion if connectors have developed an oxidation film from age is there little else one can do but to replace the connectors or will any of these products remedy that?

 

I have seen IT equipment destroyed by using contact cleaner. The point to remember is these products are insulators. Unless the contact pressure is sufficient to pierce through the film of the cleaner after its applied, the contact wont work at all.
The cleaners loosen corrosion and prevent additional corrosion from forming but if the surface of the connector has more than surface corrosion, replacement is the only answer.

 

I had two very recent examples in my home with high power connectors becoming slightly corroded enough to generate heat and melt all of the insulating plastic. I got to both just in time. But with the older cars that don't have severe corrosion and it's a FI or sensor connector I've been advised to use Stabilant 22 so as to reduce the gremlin check light incidents. I don't believe that product actually cleans? Audiophiles use it.

 

The answer is: it depends.

If there's just an oxide film, then DeoxIT should remove it. I prefer to just clean things, as opposed to putting various 'preservatives'(*) on the connection. Don't attempt to mechanically abrade the connector surfaces... you'll destroy the integrity of the plating and make things far worse.

Sometimes galvanic corrosion can occur due to junctions made with dissimilar metals. Typically this happens when the plating is worn off and the base metals or underplate are in direct contact. In this case, I haven't found much that will work and replacement seems to make the most sense. If you see green copper oxides (and possibly salts) when you spray the thing, then I'd replace it.

Movement of the connectors alone can introduce "fretting corrosion", you see this in tin-plated and other non-noble metals subject to movement. That's why gold is often specified in connections subject to vibration. (Note also that a lot of gold connectors are garbage, buy name brands from distributors when specifying these.)

If you're dealing with blade connectors (e.g. faston, the sort that connects to a spade terminal) then the connector can lose its springiness, then you'll get a high resistance contact, lots of fretting corrosion, etc. Many of these are rated for a disappointingly low number of insertion/removal cycles. Any attempt to bend parts to restore the connection is usually a waste of time. If one of these connectors is suspect, just replace one or both parts. (This is one of the faults in the fuseblocks found in many of the Fiat-era cars.)

I can't get into great detail here, there's a lot more. But these basic ideas should be helpful.

In summary:

1. Try cleaning first. No mechanical abrasion.
2. If the plating is worn, and/or you see green stuff when cleaning, replace.
3. If the connector is loose-fitting, replace.

Also, I'm not afraid of 'upgrading' old automotive connectors to newer/better stuff. There are plenty of Delphi weatherpack connectors in my Mondial QV as a result of this. A suitable action for a car that gets driven a lot and is not surrounded by velvet ropes at shows.

Charles

(*) I do use dielectric grease on my ground connections in an effort to exclude atmospheric stuff. I use external tooth lock washers to ensure an intimate and vibration-resistant connection. Measurement with a four-wire technique indicated that the resulting connection is good, and essentially unchanged after years of environmental exposure.

 

Thats probably the worst possible endorsement of a product!

 

I assume you're kidding?

 

Thanks once again.

 

Add me as another happy DeoxIt user. Been using it for years.

Back when I still had Alfa's. Lots of people were using Stabilant 22, which is also great stuff. But, Alfa guys are notoriously cheap. Someone found that DeoxIT had the same (or better) properties as Stabilant, but cost a hell of a lot less. There was a table somewhere comparing the properties of the two products- It used to be on CAIG's website, might still be there.

 

I was using Alcon Opti-Free. I tried the suggestion here (DeoxIT) and my eyes are burning like crazy. I can barely see to type this.

 

Mulo has the most accurate post on this subject. We Ferrari people have been through this back several decades now. We have the solution dare I call permenant. But history is that no stone has been unturned trying to stay OEM Ferrari. Staiblant 22 was the magic genie for a time but failed with time. Products like de ox it actually remove crud that is good. But leaving anything behind does not work for these cars. Best treatment proven was cleaning gently with brush trying not to damage the 8 micron plating, clean with something like de ox it, then clean off de ox it with pure electronic contact cleaner that leaves no residue. This process worked the best lasting maybe 6 months before you chased another ghost. Weatherpak connectors and the like are awesome but are not OEM and can't be connected directly to some sensors which require jpt style Bosch connectors. So Dave helms scuderia rampante innovations came up with a gold connector kit that is constantly evolving. The gold pins he uses are OEM sized and have huge on off cycles with superior pin clamp force. I have shown 100% open tin pins on two Ferrari 550 OEM ecu female plugs. This clamp force is a huge OEM problem. Tin gold connection are not ideal but the great clamp force seems to overcoming that potential issue. Where possible gold gold connections are made. More gold gold pins are being sourced or produced every month. This is a huge amount of tedious work to change every pin but there are many of us who are having great results and great running Reliable Ferraris. This changing of pins is as close to permenant as I have seen in 30+ years working on these cars.

 

Another strong vote for Deoxit here. Deoxit claims that it doesn't just clean, but that it chemically treats corrosion to improve conductivity. That sounds like something from an infomercial, but in my experience it works a lot better than any other product. I've found it fixes many connections when other cleaners (and alcohol, erasers, abrasion) have failed. I had a decades old Fiamm horn relay fail and treated it with Deoxit only (no abrasion whatsoever) and it works perfectly now. I'm confident it's fixed permanently because everything I've fixed with Deoxit has stayed fixed.

Caig has a lot of different products and pretty cryptic names, so it's a little hard to tell what's what. I mostly use the brush version of their product because it's often easier to apply precisely than the spray and a 7.5ml bottle lasts forever. The D100L is "cleaner only" and the "Gold" G100L is the cleaner/conditioner that leaves a lubricant and projective coating. It's important to use Gold for sliding contacts so there is lubricant after cleaning. Any regular contact cleaner (without lubricant) will strip whatever lubricant was there originally and the lack of lubricant will cause sliding connectors to wear out very quickly.

I think the spray versions are called D5 and G5 -- I have those also, but 8 out of 10 times the brush version is easier and more precise to apply. Of course, there are times when spray is better suited (a deeply recessed contact for example). I think that the brush versions have a much higher concentration of cleaners/conditioners than the sprays, but I'm not positive of that.

 

I've used Stabilant 22 for years...

 

Yes but then hasn't gold and lots of it always been the solution to a good running Ferrari?

 

Good thread!

 

One more vote for DeoxIT.

 

For contacts that you can access, I've always used an artist's or soft eraser, works wonders without abrasion.