Cleaning grounding connections - reducing corrosion!

[Soul Mate II]

Morning,

One of my winter projects is to go through the boat and cleaning all the grounding connections. I have seen some corrosion that I want to address. The large zinc on the back of the boat has a corroded/ bad connection on the back of the boat and I want to start cleaning that up and working my way forward.

My question what would you use to clean the connections? I don't want to go to town scrubbing with a wire brush is the connections are coated. WD40 and a scrub brush? Brake cleaner and a rag?

After the cleaning would you use di-electric grease to protect the connection once reassembled? I want to do this once and not have to do it for a long while.

Thanks for any suggestions! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

 

[Lazy Daze]

Get a small, brass or SS brush. Never use a steel brush - it can cause rusting down the road. Brass, especially, is softer on the connector. You can get them in packs from places like Harbor Freight and such for a few bucks. I'm sure good 'ol Amazon has them, as well. The bristle size is about 1/2"Wx1-1/2"L (guestimate).

Best stuff to recoat (lightly) connections with? Tef-Gel. The little 2oz tub is plenty. Use something like a small, short-bristle, detail paintbrush to apply (like the kind used with building model cars).

 

[firecadet613]

CorrosionX works well as a spray to help clean it up.

 

[Captn TJ]

The brass version of steel wool works great as well. Clean both the terminals and the connectors. I coat everything with dielectric grease - you can get a large applicator at an auto parts store for just a few bucks.

 

[Soul Mate II]

On the coating of the connections - I want to get this right...clean, make the connection, THEN Tef Gel or Dielectric grease around the entire connection OR are you coating everything first and then making the connection?

CorrosionX for the cleaning portion...got it!

Thanks for the help!...HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 

[firecadet613]

CorrosionX will also leave a good protective film. I've used it on a rusty ground bar I could barely reach and was very impressed with it.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Both Tef-Gel and Dielectric grease are, by nature, an "insulating" compound. Meaning, they impede the flow of electricity. In the past, I had always made the connection and then applied dielectric over top the connection. When I got turned on to Ref-Gel about 15 years ago, I called the company and talked to them about this as the literature seemed to indicate to coat the surfaces FIRST (and after). They said YES - coat the connectors first - but just a small amount as a little goes a long way.

I'm paraphrasing here because this was 15 years ago... What happens is when the connection is made, the Tef-Gel molecules are small enough that they will squeeze out from between the metal surfaces (that mate perfectly). Where the metal surfaces don't mate perfectly, the Tef-Gel will stay there so there is "gap" for moisture to get in. I may not be explaining it well enough, but I was satisfied that it was a superior product to dielectric and will last longer. For what it's worth, it does have a different consistency - it's thicker and "stickier", but also seems to be "smoother"... if that makes sense.

This is NOT to say that dielectric is bad - it's not - it would be a perfectly acceptable product to use. Note that for any "push to connect" fittings, it's less of an issue since as the pieces are pushed together the "grease" will be scraped away and there will be good metal-to-metal contact.

 

[ttmott]

Are you talking about the grounding or bonding?
I assume the bonding (green wires). The issue with how SR does the bonding is they do not seal the crimp; consequently, the copper wire degrades faster than the terminal. After around 7 or 8 years the wire degrades and needs to be cut back and a new lug installed and sealed. With the lug disconnected from the end item you should get less than 1 ohm in resistance across the length of that wire; if not it should be reterminated or replaced. If replacing the lug get the Anchor Heat Shrink style.
If you find the wire harness is good to go then clean it up with a SST or brass brush then reinstall and spray Boeshield T-9 over it; Boeshield is essentially paraffin wax in it's dry form. I go around and recoat all of the electrical connections with Boeshield at least every two years.