Technical Dielectric grease usage?

We used Copper Shield on electrical connections for a few years, at the (major) bus company in the Twin Cites MN. The crap they dump on the roads here, magnesium chloride, + the usual road salt, works wonders on eating everything/anything metallic, & some plastics, too. It does corrode the copper in the Copper Shield, but it'll still protect - for a while. Tough to get off of what ever it's put on.
For the last 5 years or so, we've been using a silicone dielectric grease, named Super Lube. This stuff flat-out rocks. Put on a clean connection - & I mean clean - everything gets coated 1st, assembled & then liberally top-coated. Even a year later - including the ~7 months of winter/salt immersion/coating/caking, the connections come out clean. (We do elect insp {disassemble/clean/coat/reassemble} at least once per year on all major grounds, positive connections, wafer-fuses, etc; on each bus in fleet}. The battery fumes/acid doesn't phase this stuff. You can coat the entire bottom of a relay, & not get any electrical cross-leakage. I found out I couldn't do that w/coppershield. & the Super Lube has a pretty high heat tolerance also.

I've gone to using it on everything on my own stuff, including the wire-ends that get crimp connections. I still use a good glue-coated shrink-wrap on top of that.

Biggest problem is that it's slippery as STP, & it's hard to get off of your skin - or clothes. & it'll transfer to the inside of the washing machine & dryer, so don't clean the clothes/rags in wifes' washer! A really good brake-clean is about all that'll take it off.

As far as sealing battery posts, if a new battery, just clean the post area, then put a nice thin, flat, circle of silicone caulk on it, making sure to completely cover the lead/plastic joint area. Let it setup before clamping the cable ends on it. Keeps all the fumes from seeping out, & the posts/cable ends don't corrode very fast. Of course, coat them w.the Super Lube. If the battery is used, clean well 1st, then do as if it were new. The fix will still last a couple of years.

If it wasn't so messy, + expensive, I'd seriously consider using it for undercoating. But I wouldn't want to get close to the underside of that car, 'till it'd set-up for 2-3 years... .

FWIW.
Marcus...

 

I guess I don't use it as much as I should. Especially since I drive my 54 year round through the white stuff. What connections should I have this stuff on?

 

On my bike I use it on anything out in the weather. Around here anything that can be exposed to humidity could use a little extra help. The humidity will get to your electrical connections as much as the liquid salt does.

 

I use the stuff from electrical supply place. We used similar stuff on overhead line connections when I was a Lineman. Small dab on connections and no issues but it is hard to get off your hands and clothes-also use the felt washers soaked with thin oil on batt cables and brush on thin coat of the same stuff. Not much humidity here but alleviates corrosion and bad connections. Also on ground cables to engine/frame.etc. Don't put too much--it is conductive not an insulator

 

Electricity corrodes things without any outside help, it gets worse when you have unlike metals in your connections. Zinc, lead, aluminum, copper, steel, brass. All those metals plus electricity just don't get along.

 

Sweet, I'll pick up some. I'm sure the bikes need it too.

 

Amen Beaner-dissimilar metals need this stuff no matter the weather factors-it even used to come already inside overhead compression connectors-it was the gray stuff--No-Ox I think--can't recall been too many years.

 

I think they call it electrolysis (not the kind for your bikini lines) when two dissimilar metals are together the less noble of the two gets devoured by the other or something like that.

 

Well that is how it has always worked the nobility have used up the surfs and then got some more to devour.

 

Us peasants always seem to come out on the short end of the stick, even chemically.

 

LOL not always, I had an important person tell me once that I was less then important because I was just a mechanic. His car somehow ended up in my shop with a burnt clutch, I told him I'd get right on it which I did as soon as he left, if getting on the hood and napping counted as getting right on it. I kept pushing it to the back of the line until he told me that I was important.

 

[QUOTE="porknbeaner, post: 11009163, member: 1613" I kept pushing it to the back of the line until he told me that I was important. [/QUOTE]............................I love it, but then I can't tolerate arrogance in a man. I think Tommy Lee Jones said something like that in "Lonesome Dove."

 

I don't use it there. I pretty much only use it to lube the points cam in a points distributor and for lubing the rubber boots when making up spark plug wires. I can't recall ever using it elsewhere. (but I live in SoCal)

 

Me too but after reading this thread I may be using it more

 

funny how it changes when they have to find rides to work isn't it ??? as I would say to the paper minions in the office , we are a trucking Company not a office staffing business , the trucks come first and the drivers and mechanics are Next ,without them there is no need for you .

as for DG we used pounds of the stuff for the trailer and light connections on the trucks, chlorine and acid products eat copper up like a fat kid at a buffet

 

Hey, Inked Monkey;
I'd use it on every electrical-type connection that I didn't want issues with. Even the Packard-type connectors w/the seals benefit from it. As mentioned, direct salt immersion isn't the only problem. Salt fumes in the air cause trouble, too, as does battery acid, among other things. (look at folded seams on cars near the coast). I think it'd work just killer, laid in on the inside of seams - as long as they were painted 1st. You could also use it as an anti-corrosion coating on suspension bolts, nuts, etc. Or anything else that you want to get apart later w/o issue. Just lay on a good thick coat, & leave it alone. Still, as I mentioned, although it's slippery & annoying to work with, I still find it worth the hassle. Get a lot of decent non-chlorinated brake-clean & cheap rags for clean-up. You'll notice a whole lot less electrolysis issues, too. AFAIK, it's non-reactive. I do, however, use nitril gloves (& I double glove, but that is due to them tearing so easily when I wear only one layer, + it's easier to take one off then to try & clean the Super Lube off my fingers. FWIW.) when working w/this, or any other chemical - if at all possible. I don't have any financial ties to any of this stuff - but I'm beginning to wish I did... .
Marcus...

 

What's 'Brylcreem' ?

 

...............................Really? You guys didn't have that over there? Or are you too young to remember?

 

as a young kid aged about 11 or 12

we did have it, my father used it extensively, I was just stirring a little........... at least I didn't ask what dielectric grease was....

 

My whole car needs a coating!
Amazing that a thread like this can
go on for 2 pages!!!
The knowledge pool around here
is the best on the planet.
The humor is not far behind!

 

Oh BTW, my grandfather was a barber.
When I was a kid in the '50's he used
Stephens Barbers Butch Wax on my
GI crew cut!

 

I used Butch Wax all through elementary school and most of Jr. High for my Flat-top, but then I had to grow my hair longer to be cool!

 

I've been thinking of switching to dielectric grease from Brylcreem for the higher speed rating and much improved crash safety.
http://marshallmatlock.com/wp-content/gallery/mans-man-elvis/elvis presley motorcycle guitar.jpg

 

Maybe if I'd done that my wife wouldn't accuse me of having corrosion between my ears.

 

now that is a funny .... got to remember it around my older freinds ..

 

.
Marcus...

 

Definitely haven't heard of Butch Wax !

 

LOL I still have a real jar of real butch wax around here somewhere, I never needed it for a flat top, my hair just sticks up all on its own.

Clem think Pomade on steroids.

Hey show of hands, how many remember the old HAMB Pomade and cuff roll discussions. LOL

Anyway getting back toe Brylcreem principle, "Brylcreem a little dab will do ya, they love to get their fingers in your hair."

 

^^^^^^^Haven't heard of pomade either. Possibly different name over here.
Lot of stuff is different here. My son just got a box of treats from the States, heaps of stuff I have never seen or heard of...... Twinkies, chocolate with potato chips in them, some really different stuff...... At least we have hokey pokey ice cream.

 

What the heck is hokey pokey ice cream???