How Do You Clean Those Electrical Connectors?
 

It is almost impossible to clean the contacts by chemical means alone, the toothbrush will help. In really grotty cases I use a small "swiss" file, you can buy small file kits relatively cheaply. If you are tempted to chop the connector off and resolder a new one on, be careful, because you may find the wire itself has a small amount of oxidation and will not solder easily, although a bit of fine sandpaper may suffice to clean it.
To prevent vergris in the 1st place, i reckon the spray silicon grease that plumbers use is as good as anything, because it doesn't dry, doesn't rot plastics, is water repellent and you can really lather it on.
It is also possible to buy switch contact cleaner, it does help, but not in the really grotty connectors.
I find WD40 a tad overrated IMO, discuss.....

contact cleaner...
 

Thanks Joe........ Im gonna have a go with that.
My local ferretaria (hardware shop) sells "limpia de contactos electricos" (electrical contact cleaner) which should help clean up some of the snot.....

I take on board your idea of the toothbrush but also have another idea of my own.....( LISTEN UP>>>> THESE DONT HAPPEN OFTEN) you know those funny little "brushes" for cleaning between your teeth that you can buy in a chemist? they look like a rat tail file and have little bristles on em? come in packs of about 50 for 3 quid or so........ well one of those soaked in contact cleaner will fit inside the 'female' part of the plug.

Nice one on the silicone grease...but im gonna go for Vaseline.. it tried n tested in my book and I have loads of it already..... I had forgotten all about Vaseline.untill you mentioned silicone grease.:rolleyes2:

You could try the self cleaning flux used for soldering plumbing joints.
Smear it on and then use a *small* gas flame to heat it and all that crap may disappear... worth a try on a test sample.

J

the flame idea may have one snag, too hot, the metal ferrules will become sloppy fitting in the plastic housing. Little tooth cleaning thing sounds good!

The verdegris is the result of contact metal corrosion. Regardless of what chemicals you use (electrical contact cleaner is better but any good penetrating oil should also work), you need to scrub off the corrosion to bare metal. The bullet ends are no problem - use a small brass brush. The "female" receptacles are a different story. If you can find a very small cylindrical brush (think microscopic baby bottle brush - maybe jewelry or fine machinery supply?) that would fit, you would be good. In mild cases, just inserting the plug into the socket repeatedly cleans it up (but it sounds like you have a severe case). Trick is to liberally coat the connectors after cleaning to ensure future connection. I use Vaseline petrolium jelly; others use No-Ox jelly or the grease that you can find in an electrical parts supply - should keep the moisture out of the connectors.

It's called a proxa brush:cool4:

But it is not stiff enough to remove the really adherent stuff. You could use a 320 grit sandpaper cut into strips and folded to increase stiffness, then add the vaseline/silicone grease/spray to prevent further problems AFTER using compressed air to get rid of all the particles detached while cleaning.

Something else that might work with the "female" contacts - I just came across a BMX bicycle forum thread pertaining to the use of an oxialic acid/water mix that cleans rust off chrome and other metals without harming the metal (except aluminum) by soaking. No more scratching chrome with steel wool. There are some forms of this oxialic acid/water available in spray bottles (look for wood bleach in the household cleaning or paint departments - or make up your own mix from crystals) that might work - you could surround the area with paper towels, spray some on the contacts and let it soak for 30 minutes or so, rinse off, blow dry, add Vaseline and re-assemble.

Heres something I have tried a few times with good success.

Works wonders with car switches too. Especially electric windows switches..

Soak they components in soluable degreaser, the longer the better.

Then boil them in a pan of hot water for about 20 minutes. This dislodges all the crap and dirt.

Obviously you need to use common sense with what you can boil or not.

Most switches and connectors are perfectly fine but I wouldnt boil an ECU etc :cool4:

Remember to dry thoroughly !!

Build your own dissasembling thingy... I built one of my own so I could put a yamaha DT125R "lights, blinkers and horn control" that has an OFF smitch so I could turn off the lights :) Of course I had to work around with the cables..but you only have to use some logic and it will work 100% perfect!
you just need a scalpel blade... you have to work on the blade so it gets small enough and long enough to go in the plug on the smallest part of that cable you want to take off....

Follow as the numbers on the images:

#1-> In this one you can see the smallest part of the plug were you'll have to put the scalpel blade in.

#2 and 3-> Put the scalpel on the front of the plug on the smallest part and push in about 6 or 7 mm or what it takes so you can pull the cable easily.

#4-> cable pulled out.....

the last picture is of two equal scalpel blades.. see how it looks like...

Hope this helps :)

Happy riding!:thumbup1:

Don't laugh, I've had good success with vinegar !! Just plain old vinegar. Everything smells like a chipshop, but it's cheap, so you can use lots. It works great on copper connections. Put loads of it in a jam jar seal the top around the wiring loom with gaffer tape and shake it.

Oh... and if the plug doesn't plug into the plug after you're done cleaning it just lift the little metal tip so it looks as it follows:

You think that's weird? haha when my dad was young he lived in another island and he had a 2stroke suzuki...a boat had to go there every week to supply the whole island... one day...my father went to buy oil for the bike and there was none available...do you know what he put on it? cocking oil.. the one used to frie pottatoes... one thing was sure... it smelled like potatoes :scooter: :mchappy:

We had problems with this on temp probes on MTU diesel engines at work (rail vehicles). It is also known as "Black Wire" corrosion.

A lot of the wiring looms we had actually had the corrosion work it's way back up the loom.

Our final fix was a hard wired sensor.

In the mean time we tried Silicon Grease, but... Silicon is a semi conductor, so in warm environment of a temp sensor this was not such a good idea, and did actually make things worse(engines shutting down in service). So as a short term measure we made sure they were cleaned regularly and kept clear of moisture. As the moisture is a requirement for the corrosion.

I would say your best bet is to get it clean then keep it dry. I would be cautious, about silicon grease, perhaps there is a more suitable product?

Anyway, just thought I would share my experience in this matter.

Hey bacardi23 - can you give us a few more words about that "cocking oil" you used. It sounds useful.

NO .. not the plumbing flux! It is highly corrosive .. do not use on elecetrical connections .. Yes it will clean thse connectors .. and than keep going to eat them all away in 5 to 7 years time .. If you have used this stuff.. clean the flux all away .. then clean the flux away again!

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To seal the joints - dielectic grease is the stuff designed for the job. The job is simply to stop air getting at the joint .. no air =no oxegen = no corrosion. Petroleum jelly will do the job in non critical aplications .. and so will grease (wheel bearing etc) for battery terminals.

sandpaper
 

you can try some sandpaper on the corrosion till there all bright. If the corrosion has gotten in to the copper wire it may be to late and a new wire job is the right fix. Use Di-Electric grease and use more than you need to seal up the wires, leads, and the plug ends its not that expensive and will last years.

What a great thread! I think we've all had this problem at some point or other. Black Wire corrosion, eh? Well I never.

The oxalic acid idea sounds the best to me. I normally struggle with needle files and rolled up wet-and-dry abrasive paper - both of which have already been suggested, and which often leave a lot of contaminants of their own behind. I remember in the early eighties my father used to make electrical circuit boards by using an acid to etch a thin copper sheet bonded to a plastic sheet. I've noticed that the acid layer of black mud at the bottom of stagnant water also removes copper corrosion. In that case the acid is sulphuric acid (a biproduct of the sulphate reducing bacteria), so battery electrolyte should work too. Failing that, phosphoric acid definitely works on copper (and steel). I think you should be able to source some dilute phosphoric acid from gun shops as I believe it's what they use for gun barrel blue. Perhaps the salicylic acid used to treat veruccas would also work, and comes in handy tubes of gel.

One obvious thing to watch for would be traces of grease; those circuit boards my father made used wax to preserve the parts he didn't want to etch. Oil or grease would do the same.

ferric chloride is the stuff used to etch copper clad circuit board, entertaining stuff, not nice, and dyes everything YELLOW, not yellow.

dont even think about getting it anywhere near your electrical stuff, it eats copper, thats its job:nono:

Ah - that's the stuff! Does it eat copper oxide too? It would be poor if it ate the metal and left the oxide! On the otherhand you'll remove copper whether you etch it or abrade it, so surely so long as the contact is not sustained too long, you should be Ok....

However, there must be something that at least loosens the oxide. I understand that museum preparators have compounds that remove or loosen paratacamite from bronze artifacts, so there must be something out there?

I needed to clean some weatherpack automotive terminals in the shop the other day, and I asked my local tool truck driver.

He had these on the truck: Diamond Grip Terminal Cleaners which did the trick. Handy little set, and much easier than the above method.

Looks like IPA is the manufacturer, but they must rebrand these since I have buddies who have them under various professional tool labels.

I use a product developed by Boeing Aircraft to prevent corrosion. It is marketed privately now by a company called Boeshield T9. Search for it. I can attest that it works very well to prevent corrosion from even starting and it lasts once applied.

Easy..
 

Crappy covered connections are a pita.
chop them off, fit new original ones from here ..clicky.sorted.

They really are good
 

Ive rebuilt several bikes with original plugs and pins.
You may need a special micro crimper to fit the pins to the wires, with a dash of solder.I say dash, as you dont want the solder to flow too far up the cable and create yet another problem with a fractured wire.
Dont go too much by the colours of the plugs,its the fitment that matters.
I repaired a suzuki voltage reg with new connectors which melted a while back.
The plugs on the loom cant be bought from suzook, they want to sell you a new loom.

Re: How Do You Clean Those Electrical Connectors?
 

I think those melted on covers are done that way to stop the cover from sliding away,thus exposing the bare brass connector,the water still gets in the other end.
Wurth do sell new bullets,but you need the micro crimper to fit properly.It isnt the crimper you associate with red blue and yellow crimps.
Snap on do sell a tool to take apart the sealed multi connectors btw,it kinda looks like a sheriffs badge in anodised green.



Sent by funkytechnogadget

800 grit wet and dry, but use it dry, then Vaseline the connectors.
If the corrosion is too bad, or has reached the wire, cut off and wire in new connectors, often the quickest and best way.
Don't forget to heat shrink sleeve where possible.
Bikes don't have very complicated wiring, with the right gauge selection of wires you can rattle up a new loom in an evening if needed. Helpful for those awkward breaks in a single wire in the heart of the loom that take forever to locate!

Coke
 

This may be an old thread, but is a problem that'll always exist so long as copper contacts are used on machinery!

Someone mentions Phospohric acid, and there's a number of other mentions of various over-the-counter chemicals. None so far of good old Coca-Cola however (not to mention worldwide availability) - that's pretty much all Phosphoric acid; pretty good at making old copper coins look like new: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkVBMuTdEOQ

And ketchup easy to make it stick on connectors.

another good tool for cleaning terminals is a "prep pen" used for automotive painting prep - like this one: KTI Sanding Prep Pen Spot and Paint Chip Repair Tool Adjustable | eBay

the bristles are fiberglass and abrasive - can easily reach into sockets etc