Vaseline on coax connection?

Jeff Liebermann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

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Great ideas. One other suggestion, I found some black, rubber-like, tape that bonds to itself. It comes on a roll with a layer of blue plastic separating the black tape from itself.

As I said, it bonds to itself. There is no adhesive on the tape. It stretches to conform to surfaces and seems to form a weatherproof seal. Not sure what it is called, but it might be a good substitute for the electrical tape you mentioned.

Once it has been put on, it is almost like it has been heat-shrunk in place.

Did anyone recommend heat-shrink tubing?

In message , bz writes

What you are describing is self-amalgamating rubber tape. That is exactly what I sometimes use for outdoor for splices.

First, spray the connectors with WD40, shake off the surplus, and screw the cables together. If necessary, give another spray.

Now, wipe off the surplus WD40, but not too enthusiastically, so that some still remains on the connectors. Then, with a bit more enthusiasm, completely clean the WD40 off the cable, starting at about an inch out from either side of the connectors, and working away from the connectors.

Now clean your hands so that they are free of WD40.

Wrap the splice with self-amalgamating tape. Start at one side of the splice, where the cable is free of WD40, and work progressively across the splice to the other side where the cable is again free of WD40. Keep the tape moderately and uniformly stretched as you progress with the wrapping, and make sure that each turn around the cable adequately overlaps the preceding turn. [Note that the tape will not stick to the cable (even where it is free of WD40). It will only stick - and soon fuse - to itself.]

I can guarantee that a splice made in this way will last for decades. If eventually the tape is cut off, the connectors will look like the day you made the splice.

Not friction tape; it's called Self-Vulcanizing tape. The rubber that the tape is made of vulcanizes to itself when it is wound over itself with a bit of stretching. Totally waterproof when used properly. The blue (or whatever color the mfr happens to use) is to keep the tape from self-vulcanizing into a solid mass on the spool. If you want to waterproof a connector, you need to be sure that the tape totally covers the connector and the cables. Sometimes that is a bit difficult when the connectors have irregular surfaces. If that happens, use a bit of silicone adhesive to help shape the surface to be covered.

'Gelled' underground coax is filled with silicon, and no matter what you do, it will weep from the joint and stain carpets, floors and walls. Vaseline will do the same thing, but if he OP wants greasy stains that are highly flammable, that's his choice. Who knows? The arson inspector may even miss it after a fire.

No, 'friction tape' is black tape made from heavy cloth, and a tar like adhesive. It was used to cover joints on the old 'Knob & Tube' wiring almost 100 years ago.

Isn't this 'friction tape'?

Michael

I call it "slime". Ma Bell uses it for all their outdoor splices. Once transferred to the hands, it gets onto everything and is difficult to remove. I think they used the same formula in the Steve McQueen movie "The Blob". The only difference is that the blob was black. Otherwise, they act the same.

Even more insidious is gel filled CAT5. It just keeps oozing and oozing out. I usually terminate gel filled CAT5 to a patch panel or intermediate RJ45 splice (to a CAT5 patch cable). If I plugged the gel smeared connector directly into the network hardware, I would have slimy gel all over everything.

Yep. However, my guess(tm) is that the OP was planning to do this outdoors, where corrosion and water incursion are common problems. It usually doesn't rain indoors and there are few homes with corrosive atmospheres. I think he's safe forgetting about the lube job if used indoors.

Been there. No Vaseline required to torch a tower:

Hint: Don't try to enlarge the hole in the antenna mast with a cutting torch. Coax cable and CAT5 are highly flammable.

Won't some of these things interfere with the electrical conductivity of the connection? It is the ground after all. It's got lots of area to make contact on, so it probably won't have any practical effect, but should we be messing up any electrical conductivity.

Have you tried silicon tape, also known as shrink tape. It's much thicker and is at least 4 dollars a roll, and and has a thin backing that has to be pulled off, but after that, you stretch it to twice its length or more than wrap it around and it pulls back, and sticks really well to itself and other things.

After a while, a few days maybe, not sure, it turns in to one blob, mummifying and waterproofing in one step.

The rolls I've seen look a lot like electical tape but have a white plastic tube that it is wrapped on, not the paper tube that plastic electrical tape has.

I think I have only seen this mail order.

That wouldn't be true of this stuff. Probably need a knife, blade up, to slit the whole thing to get back inside.

But it's great stuff. Better than heat shrink tubing, much heavier, and also able to be applied from the outside, wrapped around, when there is no way to slide on from the end.

If you are inclined to email me for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

That's what my other post, below, is referring to.

Where do you buy the stuff.

If you are inclined to email me for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

Right. It was also used to wrap splices, but as much as I like old stuff, it does dry out, especially when you start with a roll that is

Friction tape is what baseball bats were wrapped with, at least after-market, so one could maintain a good grip on the bat. Friction.

If you are inclined to email me for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

No. There is so much surface area involved that there's certain to be a connection. Even if the grease were a perfect insulator and conformally coats the threads, the capacitance between the threads would be sufficient to conduct all but the lowest frequency RF signal.

Sure. It's the RF ground. It has to pass signal at whatever RF frequency the radio is operating. You could put a capacitor in series with the ground lead, and it would still work.

Well, if you have a precipitation static or wind generated static problem, you need some way to bleed off the accumulated charge, so you will need a DC connection to ground. For such situations, there's usually a large (1Meg) resistor across antenna connection to bleed off the charge. Most radios have this built in.

If it has no effect (practical or otherwise) it should work.

Incidentally, I recently setup a big battery backup system. An argument ensued over whether to grease the lead battery posts and hardware to prevent corrosion, or to leave them clean to maximize conductivity. We eventually determined that compressing the connection squeezes all of the grease out of the connection, resulting in exactly the same connectivity with or without the grease.

Sure. There are two types. One is a sticky on the inside type used by the electrical industry. Incidentally, it's "cold shrink" and does not require heat to shrink the tubing:

I've used the stuff and it works. However, there are several problems. The seal is the sticky goo on the inside. It makes a mess and does not come off cleanly. You also have to get it right the first time, or you get to start over. The thick sleeving does NOT conform well to lumpy connectors or drastic changes in diameter. It's very stiff and does not bend at all. Not recommended.

There's also conventional shrink tube, with no sticky goo on the inside. This doesn't work very well. Without the goo, capillary action sucks water up the interface between the coax jacket and the shrink tubing. Not recommended.

I've used several versions of that stuff. One is like tar on a roll. Wrap the connector with the stuff and it all sorta melts together. One flavor forms a sticky mess that it totally waterproof, but impossible to remove. Another variation allegedly just sticks to itself, and not the connector. This has the capillary action problem, where water creeps up the interface boundary.

If you want an irreparable blob, that's probably a good way to do it. I prefer something that can be easily disassembled, doesn't suck in water, can be flexed without opening a channel for water, and is cheap.

Most electrical supply houses carry the stuff from various vendors. It's "self-vulcanizing tape". About $1/ft. For example:

The silicon version is sold in automotive shops as a "muffler bandage".

I'll confess to NOT having tried everything available. When I came up with the 1" Teflon tape trick, I stopped looking as I had found what I consider to be a universal solution. The biggest problem is using inferior electrical tape to hold the mess together, or accidentally using non-UV proof tape. The outside electrical tape doesn't do much, but it has to be properly overlapped as it won't stick to the Teflon.

I've seen and bought "self-amalgamating rubber tape" (same principle, maybe the same stuff) at my local Home Depot. I agree, it's very useful stuff.

The one caveat I've read is that some types of this self-amalgamating rubber aren't all that resistant to the UV in sunlight, and can break down with time if used in direct sunlight. The solution to this is easy, fortunately - first wrap-and-seal the connection with self- amalgamating tape, and then over-wrap with ordinary black plastic electrical tape to shield the inner layer from sunlight.

Another alternative is to use Coax Seal putty on the connector, and then overwrap with black plastic tape. Although removable, this stuff is rather messy to remove if you use it right on the connector (it gets into the threads, and tends to stain things).

I use a complete conformal coating of roofing cement (black flashing cement with glass fiber mix) over the tape; it hardens but remains flexible and is completely waterproof if done well.

Michael

Michael A. Terrell in central Florida,,,, I own a half acre of land in Interlachen,Florida, Putnam County, Florida.What do you make of that, you little boy/girl/Minnie Pearl, you little easy boy! I have my DD 214 too,,, you little Sissy Girl! Mississippi cuhulin

Michael A. Terrell in central Florida is a PUSSY.That BITCH will never get ahold of any of my auld computers! cuhulin

I'm sort of wondering if this is the 'real' cuhulin--annoying as he is--or 'the' imposter. If it's truly him, I wish he would be gone...if not, well they can both go. Neither has ever contributed anything material to this or any other forum that I have noticed.

jak

I wanted to use Vaseline, not for water proofing, but for making sure I have a good connection.

The *ONLY* reason you might consider greasing the connector is for waterproofing. You'll have a good connection with or without the lube. There's nothing better than metal to metal. However, if you're using dissimilar metals on the connector, you may have a problem that Vaseline isn't going to solve. I suggest you read some of the replies to your question. There's considerable good info and advice in there.