I've asked about this within another thread but I think it may have got lost.
I'm a great fan of Copper-based grease and find that its greatest property is to prevent seized parts.
However, does anyone know if it contains sufficient Copper to provide good electrical conductivity, or do the other ingredients of the grease reduce this conductivity?
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Vaseline is a good conductor of course, but I don't know anything about its suitability as a high pressure (or long-lasting) lubricant.
Do you want copper ease to conduct or not dc? It's certainly excellent stuff. Anyone who has ever grappled with a sheared and seized brake bleed nipple can understand that. A little smear on the threads and it never happens again. Good for stopping brake pads from sticking too.
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you could "test" it using a "blob" a battery an a bulb! - but i'm sure i once read somewhere that it could cause "tracking" if used on electrical components, or was it battery terminals? - dunno! can't remember!
Billy
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Have just used it on the earth strap bolts on my uncle's camper van but don't know if the conductivity of the grease has helped or the simple act of cleaning up the contact surfaces.
Are you sure that Vaseline is a conductor? It is known medically as WSP (white soft paraffin) but I have no idea of it's conductivity. I use it on battery terminals but I feel it is more use as an insulator and protector of the terminals.
Really, the only way to tell is to smear these substances onto a surface and put an Ohmmeter across them. Might do that tomorrow and report back.
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Battery terminals covered with vaseline conduct well without being clamped, just by dropping the lead clamp over the terminal, which is certainly not the case with ordinary grease dc.
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Vaseline is not an electrical conductor and copper based grease does not conduct to any significant extent at automotive LT potentials.
The point about using vaseline on battery terminals is that it excludes corrosion and does not allow it to re-form, even in the presence of acid. Similarly, on connectors it allows metal to metal contact to take place and prevents tarnish or oxidation by sealing up the contact area. In both cases, you have to start with clean and conformal contact surfaces.
Silicone grease acts in a similar way but is not as effective as vaseline in the presence of acid. Its great advantage is that it can be used in hot areas (connectors on or near engines) and will not melt, unlike vaseline.
Copper based grease is a splendid anti-seize material but has no electrical applications and no acid resistance.
The above is a potted version of the conclusion of my graduate apprentice project with a well known and now defunct UK automotive electrical company (Prince of Darkness RIP).
659.
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659, I must admit that your opinion matches my own thoughts.
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Vaseline is a good conductor of course, but I don't know anything about its suitability as a high pressure (or long-lasting) lubricant. >>
Lud, in a previous existence were you the Nobby Spark who used to work the northern club circuit?
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I believe vaseline is hygroscopic (if that's the right word) in that it absorbs water.
IIRC, british telecom tried using vaseline filled cables around the sixties, in an attempt to exclude moisture. They found it had the opposite effect, and they had to pay staff 'dirty money' when handling the damn stuff.
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My internet research reveals that WSP (Vaseline, white soft paraffin) is virtually insoluble in water or alcohol. Thus it would be unlikely to be hygroscopic.
However, in an underground environment surrounding telephone cables, Goodness only knows what chemical changes would take place in it to make it an unsuitable medium.
Edited by Webmaster on 28/05/2008 at 01:55
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Hoever, it is ideal to coat battery terminals with as when it inevitably drips onto the battery casing, it does not not dissolve said casing as greases of all sorts do.
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Sorry DC, I didn't mean to upset you, just reporting what I hear.
I've a thirty-odd year old pot in the garage that I use exactly as suggested. I inherited it when the kids were out of nappies. I still put a smear on my lips in cold, dry weather. Perhaps it's the battery acid contamination that works for me ;>)
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Bathtub, no offence taken. My training is as a doc not as a physicist or organic chemist.
I just express my opinion with a bit of google help as is needed.
For medical use, WSP is a great moisturiser, hence it helps your dry lips.
Thanx for even thinking to contribute to my humble thread,
Chris
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Vaseline is a mixture of mineral oils, paraffin and microcrystalline waxes.
1. Non-conductive
2. Non-hygroscopic
As pointed out already, it's primary use is as a moisture barrier. On electrical equipment it prevents corrosion. On the human skin it melts and flows into the gaps in the lipid layer where it re-solidifies, thus preventing water loss.
This is according to the people who make it (who work about 500 away).
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Vaseline is 1. Non-conductive
Oh dear. Not for the first time, I have confidently made an assertion here that turns out to be incorrect... I suppose I should thank people for correcting me really, but I feel strangely ungrateful.
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Biker colleague and his mates told me to be wary of copper grease on moving parts as it is more abrasive than normal grease.
I know some use it on the caliper guide pins as well as the brake pad backing plate...personally I have always used silicone grease in the caliper guide pins.
Other than brakes only use it on wheel nuts and maybe top part of spark plugs.
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It is probably not a good idea to use any kind of grease on wheel nuts or bolts as it alters the extent to which the nut or bolt is tightened, especially if a torque wrench is used.
It is useful to use Copper grease on the contact surfaces between alloy wheels and steel hubs etc to prevent the wheel corroding on and proving difficult to remove.
I also would not use it on the calliper guide pins.
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I have never used it as a lubricant, just to stop bi-metallic corrosion (fusing) of aluminium and steel.
Battery terminals get vaseline.
Alloy wheel mating surfaces get copper grease.
Wheel nuts get cleaned.
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Silicone grease keeps getting mentoined. Can anyone suggest somewhere to buy it from. Thanks.
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Anywhere that sells plumbers bits and bobs.
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With respect to whether or not copper grease is conductive. There are plenty of copper-grease-substitutes which claim not to contain copper and not be conductive as sales point, but it may just be marketing bluff. e.g. Ceratec. www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m3b0s8p5574
"Metal Free - ABS friendly"
Edited by Hamsafar on 28/05/2008 at 14:57
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It is sometimes found in Halfords or other large motor factors, trouble is is that it doesn't always say Silicone grease in big letters, you have to look in the small print.
Maplins sell it online.
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I don't know if it's still available or not, but buried in the bottom of my toolbox is a tube of Morcol Elvolube Contact Lubricant (which also has "this is a Gulf product" written on the back)
From what I can make of the chipped and faded label, it was from Morgan Components, Cumberland Rd. Middlesex.
Probably banned now though as there is also a warning "Leaded Lubricant - avoid excessive skin contact, and keep away from animals & food"
Excuse me while I go wash my hands after handling it.
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>> Probably banned now though as there is also a warning "Leaded Lubricant - avoid excessive skin contact and keep away from animals & food"
Probably means it works a treat.
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Probably means it works a treat.
No doubt at all. Lead-based paint takes a lot of beating too.
And cars just love high-octane leaded petrol, or they did before the catalyser was invented. Best of all, you could judge the state of the car's tune instantly with a glance at the exhaust pipe after a few miles of open road.
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Try Rocol J166, which also contains graphite (ISTR it used to contain lead powder, too). It's fantastic. No idea whether it's particularly conductive, though. It might perhaps be of help if the particles of copper are squashed between threads or whatnot, I suppose.
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