OT for a design group magic stuff

About a month ago the DVD player in the living room became erratic. So I t ook the cover off , unseated the cables from the mechanism and reseated the m. And all worked well again until today. So today I repeated the reseati ng of the connector I suspected carried the data. sprayed it with " Gold Mi st " and again all is well. But thought I would ask what people use for fr etting corrosion of connectors. Gold Mist is just what I happen to have on hand.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster
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I throw it out and spend the $30 on a new DVD player.

Reply to
krw

That seems to be the design intention. I have a nice Sony carousel 5 disk DVD surround sound player and all of the front panel indicators are dead but the player still works. I'm guessing it's a ground or one of those zebra strips because of how many LED's are non functional. What is the specified useful life of those foamy zebra stripe connectors? Even the old berylium bronze spring contacts get weak. Did they have a specified useful life span? I still like DVD's better than digital downloading movies. Call me old fashioned. I have an old roll of 60/40 solder too. How do they ruggedize LCD displays for multimeters and aircraft instrumentation? Bad zebra strips is a nasty problem.

Reply to
greegor47

At times, the answer has been Cool Amp, Blue Stuff, Cramolin (blue), Stabilant-22, and probably a dozen others that I can't remember. There's nothing safe that removes corrosion, though, you just have to take chances. For compression connectors, a bit of (very thin) tape to thicken the blade part can sometimes bring it back to function. Or, just reseat it again and again, until... it works.

Reply to
whit3rd

I have had good success with ordinary petroleum jelly (vaseline.) This trick from the 1930's was taught to me by engineers at a local radio station transmitter. They monitor the vswr on the antenna feedline, and when it gets too great, they shut it down, unbolt the copper sections, clean them, apply a liberal coat of vaseline, and put it back together. They say it lasts for a couple of years.

I use it on all connectors - usb, AC line plugs, battery terminals, and anywhere a low resistance contact is needed. Vaseline is a hydrocarbon, which means it removes dirt and corrosion from the surface, then coats it with a film that prevents futher oxidation. The asperites on the contact surfaces punch through the film and give a true metal-to-metal contact that greatly reduces the contact resistance. I have measured a 10:1 reduction in resistance.

It is especially useful on usb connectors that you keep plugging and unplugging. It provides lubrication that helps reduce wear, along with the cleaning and corrosion protection.

I once used it to fix serious fretting corrosion problems on a Kenmore front loading washer that used ordinary tin-lead coated contacts. The costant vibration from washing clothes wrecked the contacts and caused multiple wierd faults. Vaseline fixed it and kept working until I got rid of the washer and bought a new one.

Mechanics recommend putting vaseline on the lead connectors on your car battery. Clean the contacts down to bare shiny metal, apply vaseline to both surfaces, then tighten the connection. You will probably not need to do it again until you have to buy a new battery.

Reply to
Steve Wilson

Where is the fun in doing that?

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

The earliest study that I know of was done by Amp. They used mineral oil. And I thought microcrystaline wax. But I can not find any study by Amp using microcrystaline wax. Vaseline sounds easier than mineral oil and wax.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

So do I but CD drives are only a couple of bucks. I only use them to copy the CD to disk anyway.

Spend more money than can be afforded on a $30 DVD player.

Reply to
krw

I don't find repairing poorly designed consumer electronics to be much more fun than root canal.

Reply to
krw

It is a lot like figuring out what was wrong with a multimillion dollar missile test system.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

Knock yourself out. I have better things to do.

Reply to
krw

I beg to differ. Cramolin used to contain about 5% oleic acid for removing the oxidized crud from electrical connections. It works quite nicely but must be cleaned off after use or it will slooooowly corrode copper. You can drink the stuff if you want and it's "food safe":

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

What about this?

Guidant Corporation Carlos Ricci, Sr. Software Engineer

I have used Cramolin to solve countless problems with noisy or intermittent contacts ever since I got started in electronics back in the 70's. When I

very pleasantly surprised, because you improved on something that I thought was as good as it could get.

electrical-contact problem, and without fail, they always wonder how they ever got along without it.

Your products are unmatched by anyone else on the market, by a long shot. And I love all the available applicators; pen, needle dispensers, wipes and nonflammable sprays.

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--
 Thanks, 
    - Win
Reply to
Winfield Hill

On a sunny day (8 Nov 2017 05:34:52 -0800) it happened Winfield Hill wrote in :

OK, but what do you use to fix cracking volume potmeters?

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

That reads like a paid endorsement by Caig Labs. No specifics about how it was used, what specific problems it solved, or why DeoxIT is better.

The oleic acid was removed from the formulation because it attacks unprotected copper. Users were not very good about reading the instructions and cleaning off the old formulation after it was done cleaning off the oxides. So, there were some genuine complaints. I believe it was the old Cramolin company that removed the oleic acid and not Caig Labs, but I'm not sure.

As for contact cleaner and volume control cleaner, methinks the problems are quite different. Contact cleaner is usually just a surface oxide coating. Any weak acid will wash that off. Coca Cola (phosphoric acid), vinegar (acetic acid), fruit juice (citric acid), and such all work. Just remember to clean off the residue.

In my limited experience, a noisy volume control is caused by scraping the carbon surface of the resistance material. The resulting conductive dust mixes with grease or lube forming a somewhat conductive layer on the resistance material. When the slider moves over this layer, the erratic changes is resistance are perceived as potentiometer noise. Just about any solvent that will wash away the carbon dust and grease mix will work for cleaning pots. The pot has to be re-lubricated or resistance material will continue to wear. Alcohol for cleaning and sewing machine oil[1] for lubrication is what I use.

"Fixing Scratchy Potentiometers"

[1] Sewing machine oil, clock oil, and gun oil, all have a common characteristic. The viscosity remains fairly constant with temperature. This is highly desireable in potentiometers. For the potentiometer shaft, there are damping greases: which can be borrowed from anyone who repairs microscopes and telescopes. These greases are NOT cheap, but a small tube will last a lifetime.
--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

On a sunny day (Wed, 08 Nov 2017 09:10:20 -0800) it happened Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

Expensive, limited shiping to this part of the world.

Interesting, I have used WD40, but problem comes right back. Seems to have to do with some DC running through the pots.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

nt

Cola!! I was

ht was

ever

And I

Have you used Deoxit Win? That recommendation is from a Sr. *Software* engineer, not that some software engineer's might not know some other electronics. Googling "Cramolin or DeoxIT" It's not even clear that these are two different things... or only slightly different.

like this,

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George H.

(I've got a usb plug on my 'fav' 'scope that gets's flaky. My solution is to clean with a small cotton swap and IPA. That works for a few months or so.)

Reply to
George Herold

Try vaseline. It is ideal for usb. It is non-toxic and non-corrosive. It is used on baby's bums. Don't get the scented stuff.

The reason it works is it cleans the dirt and corrosion from the contacts and leaves a film that prevents further corrosion.

Just apply a dab with your finger and push the connectors in and out a few times to spread the vaseline.

The asperites on the contact surfaces punch through the film and produce a true metal-to-metal contact. This reduces the contact resistance. I have measured a 10:1 reduction in resistance on pcb connections.

The film provides lubrication to protect sliding surfaces. It is ideal for fretting corrosion, such as tin/lead coated connectors. I used it to solve random fault errors on a Kemore front-load washer. It doesn't dry out or evaporate, and can last for years.

It works ok on sliding wire telephone connectors that have become noisy. It lasts for about 6-9 months, but eventually the contacts become so worn that it is easier to simply replace the cord.

I use it for any electrical contact. Battery terminals, computer connectors such as power supply, RAM boards, SATA connectors, and anywhere else that needs a reliable contact.

Reply to
Steve Wilson

Ya, there is so much stuff to respond to on Usenet! Mikek

Reply to
amdx

I have used Cramolin. It works. Once I used it on memory connectors and t hen ran a memory test. Over maybe 30 minutes the errors found by the test went down until there were no errors.

This was with the old Cramolin, I think it was red in color. The techs did not like it because it smelled. Have not used Deoxit. But it is a later product from the same company.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

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