Article by Capt. Steve Katz
Congratulations to all the boats and crews who fished the Poor Girls Open tournament and the MidAtlantic. These back-to-back tournaments are fun but a tough few weeks.
On a daily basis, especially this time of the season, I observe a poor or failing electrical connection of some type. Just today, while troubleshooting a radar power supply, a new glass AGC type fuse was installed into the fuse block and still the circuit did not have power. We cleaned and tightened the fuse block clips and then had some intermittent power that went out when the fuse block was wiggled.
Again, we wire brushed and cleaned the supply wiring, cleaned the load wiring and finally was able to get electricity to flow through the fuse block consistently. While the fuse block did not look too bad, in reality, it had a buildup of corrosion on the mating surfaces, limiting the ability of the electrical current to flow. The customer says, “It worked last year! What happened?, The boat was on land and I did not even use it.”
Keeping electricity flowing on a boat is always a challenge for many reasons, primarily since salt water and electricity seem to attract each other and will not let go. In our coastal area, within miles of the ocean, salt air causes corrosion on most metal surfaces, let alone our boats’ electrical systems – and in this case, the fuse block behind the helm. How do we combat this corrosion? Spray, wrap, grease, coat, and paint. All of these may be part of a maintenance plan to combat corrosion. A walk down the dock or the isles of a marine store will allow you to see the many products targeted to help reduce corrosion, particularly electrical corrosion.
Like talking politics, discussing these products with fellow boaters may be a long and opinionated discussion, popular products include Boeshield T-9, Corrosion Block, CorrosionX, CRC Heavy Duty Corrosion Inhibitor, CRC QD, LPS 1, CRC 6-56, CRC Premium Electronics Grease, Tef-Gel, WD-40 and many more.
While I would like to tell you the best product to use, I cannot… there is no specific product that will do everything for every electrical situation. The above products have their place; you need to determine which is best for your application.
We will review the products and when to use which type of product.
If an existing electrical connection is problematic, in this case a connection is a joint, junction, terminal, plug etc. where electricity is designed to flow or conduct through the connection should be powered off, disconnected, and cleaned. Upon examination you may even find the connection is damaged and needs to be repaired. The best way to clean oxidation, corrosion, and salt etc. is to use a brush; nylon, wire, toothbrush, or even sandpaper or steel wool may be a good idea depending on the surface and accessibility. During this cleaning, I do not usually use any chemical spray etc., except an electrical cleaner, checking to be sure it is safe for the surrounding material such as rubber or plastic. A spray electrical cleaner can help flush away and dissolve debris, grease, oil, and dirt and even left over wire brush pieces. Now that you have a clean connection or even a new connection, how can you keep it corrosion free? That is the hard part, especially depending on the type of connector and where it is. Some of the above corrosion fighting products result in a thick film, and some are even leaving a waxy heavy coating meant to coat and seal connections and can even be used on circuit boards to help prevent corrosion. Some of the waxy products though can attract dust, dirt and debris and can drip or weep, so they might not be the best for exterior components.
Some of these products leave a thin transparent film, good for circuit boards and connectors where a heavy build-up is not desired. Often the heavy sprays are hard to remove when it comes time to handle or work on the parts, so if it is something you use or touch often, a lightweight thin protection may be the best. Be sure to check the product compatibility with nearby rubber and plastic, some products can quickly degrade these materials.
Another popular product is dielectric grease – a viscous non-conductive waterproof substance used to protect electrical connections from corrosion and dirt. Its use can be controversial since there seems to be some confusion on how and where to use this grease.
Dielectric grease is made from a silicone base and a thickener, it typically has a slightly translucent grayish or milky clear color.
Silicone is non-conductive (an insulator) of electricity. People often use this product on connections such as plugs and connectors to shield and protect the connection. Though this grease should not be used inside switches or devices where the conductive surfaces transfer electricity, in some applications arcing can occur (inside a battery switch, circuit breaker, relay, switch etc.) and the electrical arcing can result in the creation of silicon carbide, causing the switch to fail. A light film of dielectric grease could be used on gaskets and seals of electrical connectors, but it should be used sparingly or not at all on the actual mating surfaces of electrical connections, since it does not conduct electricity. If you have a bad connection do not apply dielectric grease, it will not improve a bad connection.
Be sure to check with the manufacturer’s recommendations on both the corrosion prevention product and the electrical/electronic product. They often have evaluated these products much more extensively than we have and know what works the best. §
