Conductive or Non conductive?????

'Dielectric grease is a non-conductive, silicone grease designed to seal out moisture and, therefore, prevent corrosion on electrical connectors. Being non-conductive, it does not enhance the flow of electrical current. This property makes it an ideal lubricant and sealant for the rubber portions of electrical connectors. Dielectric grease is typically a translucent, grey substance that is insoluble in substances such as ethanol, methanol, mineral oil spirit. It is important to note that dielectric grease will melt silicone rubber over time, and thus should not be used on connectors, such as o-rings, that are made of this rubber.'

From: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-dielectric-grease.htm

I keep a small tube in my spares supply and use it regularly on sparkie boots, exposed and non-exposed electrical connectors and the like with good result.

My advice is keep it away from electrical connection surfaces, it OK on the boot around the plug and on the spark plug porcelain but not onto low voltage metal to metal contacts. As it is a good insulator it can only hinder conduction. Better for that part of the plug to use DeoxIT.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Thanks guys. I had wondered how many times the" battery was dead" at work on boats & tractors from others coating the bat terminals with this stuff. Seems it gets between the terminal & cable end once it gets hot.

Actually opened/cleaned with electrical cleaner/spray and put dialectic grease on every electrical connector on my K, did I completely screw up? Wondering based on these posts?!?

TSBT do you mean you used it to coat the surface of each contact point before you joined them or you used it to cover the connection once it was cleanly connected?

K75cster wrote:TSBT do you mean you used it to coat the surface of each contact point before you joined them or you used it to cover the connection once it was cleanly connected?

Hey K75cster I may have misinterpreted someone on the thread, I coated the inside of the connectors.

copper grease is good for coating of electrical points.... however I would only use it on Battery terminals if i am honest... a good clean and coating with Deoxit everywhere else is what I do...

For clarity, Dielectric strength is the ability of a material to oppose electron flow or to act as an insulator, different materials have different dielectric strengths (or dielectric constant values, Air is the benchmark at 1, glass is 6 etc.) The unit is Kv/mm (kilovolts per millimeter)

TSBT it appears best to clean those connectors of any substance with deoxit and reconnect before using a protective coating of grease, the contact patches must be clean to avoid a high resistance joint that's resisting electron flow. Dielectric grease is if desired, to be placed over the connected joint to enhance the protection of the surface for electron flow over the surface of the wire and connector by its believed protecting the wire and connector surface from other bad conditions known to us such as corrosion which will do to a wire what sludge does to a pipe. turn the tap on and nothing happens is the same as turning on the key and nottin happins. I know power goes through the wire as in inside it but most of the electrons like the outside as its easier to travel on. So keeping it clean and free of grime is the go.

I use contact cleaner spray to revive the contacts and dielectric grease to keep the water away for connectors which are exposed to elements eg temperature and pressure sensors at the water pump end of things.

Dielectric grease is of high resistance to current flow so we can eliminate any possibility of "cross talk" between connectors in the electrics. Silicone grease is fine because it repels water and will not conduct current.

There are people who have evidence that dielectric material breaks down to form high resistance compounds at the point where arc is generated ... (i could be wrong about this), but to my mind 12V and low current should eliminate this problem.

I believe that DEOX or contact cleaner or dielectric grease is a good approach to prevent bad contacts and this prevent mysterious problems. the act of servicing is probably enough to prevent it from occurring.

My example of this was a misbehaving blinker relay... it turned out that that the problem was a crappy contact at the fuse panel. I now have a spare blinker relay. Live and learn

Ned wrote:I use contact cleaner spray to revive the contacts and dielectric grease to keep the water away for connectors which are exposed to elements eg temperature and pressure sensors at the water pump end of things.

Dielectric grease is of high resistance to current flow so we can eliminate any possibility of "cross talk" between connectors in the electrics. Silicone grease is fine because it repels water and will not conduct current.

There are people who have evidence that dielectric material breaks down to form high resistance compounds at the point where arc is generated ... (i could be wrong about this), but to my mind 12V and low current should eliminate this problem.

I believe that DEOX or contact cleaner or dielectric grease is a good approach to prevent bad contacts and this prevent mysterious problems. the act of servicing is probably enough to prevent it from occurring.

My example of this was a misbehaving blinker relay... it turned out that that the problem was a crappy contact at the fuse panel. I now have a spare blinker relay. Live and learn

The majority of arcing occurs when a relay releases because the colapsing magnetic field around any relay coils or even just wires introduces a far bigger voltage than the 12v that was used to opperate the relay. This is not such a problen nowdays because of solid state switching but when relays were used for almost all switching apps we used to design circuits that were momentarily across the contacts tp minimise the arcing.
With the old points ignition systems a better spark was attained when the points opened because the colapse of the magnetic field was much faster than when the points closed.

Rick G wrote:

Ned wrote:I use contact cleaner spray to revive the contacts and dielectric grease ....
There are people who have evidence that dielectric material breaks down to form high resistance compounds at the point where arc is generated ... (i could be wrong about this), but to my mind 12V and low current should eliminate this problem.
...

The majority of arcing occurs when a relay releases because the colapsing magnetic field ....
...

I think that this is absolutely right Rick. We all remember oxidised/pitted points inside things called distributors. I think that this tends to make a point, and that is, that we tend to use DEOX and dielectric greases to protect plugs and sockets connections from oxidation and corrosion in places where exposure to elements is inevitable.

I guess that I was thinking about the plugs/connectors like speedo sensors, temp sensors, instrument cluster, handlebars and so on. I don't know what the best stuff is but I've had success with both the DEOX and grease.

Nothing to do with bikes, but if you have a radio that crackles because of faulty switches, squirt some contact cleaner around and I guarantee that it will eventually penetrate and the thing will work faultlessly from then on.