Has any one used Dielectric grease, I have been cleaning the electrics on the old girl and after cleaning I would like to coat them and waterproof them, Vaseline is good but surely would be affected by engine heat so I was told about Dielectric grease or silicone grease as some call it, any good.


BIG D

There has been a significant amount of discussion on this subject in the past which I am sure you will find reading the old posts (a well worthwhile activity there is some really useful info there). My personal view is dielectric grease which is actually silicone grease should never be allowed within a metre of any bike except in the spark plug caps to stop the rubber sticking to the ceramic of new plugs.

The ideal material for treating electrical contacts are materials which promote conduction not insulate which silicone grease does. Treat them with DeoxIT and then if exposed to the weather treat with DeoxIT Shield from Caig Laboratories.

I know many people do use silicone grease (dielectric grease) on their bike contacts but I spent enough time working on the physics of low current contacts at Imperial College many years ago to know that silicone compounds are bad news on electrical contacts. But you pays your money and you takes your choices as they say.
Regards,
K-BIKE

+1

Some water repellent dielectrics are better than none. Water will cause corrosion, and in time, high resistance joints that can cause you lots of random and hard to diagnose problems.

Pay attention to earth connectors especially. Also connectors which are exposed... especially ones that are located close to the road level and exposed to water spray generated by tyres.

Any organic will do provided it does not conduct current... you can test that, but unlike silicone based materials, they have a low melting point so not suitable for locations exposed to high heat, as you know.

Im my case, every time I disconnect anything, I fill the socket with dielectric grease before reconnecting, just in case. It is a bit of an overkill in sydney as we don't have snow, salt or even long rain periods, but it does assist with water ingress resistance.

Thanks,

The info as usual is first class I will do my home work and make sure the job is done properly.

BIG D

Is this "DeoxIT" stuff available in AUS?

Ulrich_Grabau wrote:Is this "DeoxIT" stuff available in AUS?

I think so. I believe that Jaycar people have it. I am sure that Blakey knows.

Jaycar (2/175 High Street, Maitland) should have it.

There is a kit that costs around $25 and you get a couple of small bottles and some applicators, swab, cloth etc and you can also buy the stuff in small aerosol cans.

The red liquid (Power Booster) is used for cleaning and sealing connectors. The gold liquid (Pro Gold) is used on good clean/new plated connectors...such as gold plated connectors. The red stuff has more of a "cleaning agent" in it than the gold stuff. DeoxIT actually improves electrical conductivity.

Like K-BIKE said, there is a product called Shield to use on connectors exposed to the weather.

I fixed my indicator cancel button (wasn't making a good contact) without pulling the switch to bits and my old stereo had a dicky volume control that was fixed with a squirt of the red stuff.

It's worth the money.

Yes i used the Deoxit kit, pulled every connection i could find and cleaned and sprayed, had to get another kit. but fingers crossed..no electrical gremlins yet. Jaycar have it.