Dielectric Grease vs Electrical Contact Grease - Fiberglass RV
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Old 09-07-2012, 09:41 AM   #1
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Dielectric Grease vs Electrical Contact Grease

Here is one for the electrical Gurus to explain. I frequently see many here suggesting the use of Dielelectric Grease on our trailer connectors.

When I check out Wikipedia, it says that Dielectric Grease is an insulator, while Electrical Contact Grease enhances connections.
Silicone grease - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

etrailer on the other hand says to use dielectric grease when they are using Electrical Contact Grease in this video (embedding disabled, click top line once or video twice):


On edit, after reviewing the video I see that etrailer flashes a correction saying Dielectric is non conductive, a new video is coming soon.

Is it common to interchange the two terms? The way I see it we should be using Elictral Contact Grease on the actual contacts and Dielectric Grease on the rubber components.

Please explain.
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Old 09-07-2012, 10:46 AM   #2
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There is enough contact between the metal parts to allow electrical flow and the Dielectric Grease keeps the moisture and air away by sealing things up.

Should you use a Conductive product you would certainly have a problem on the bulb receptacles where the bulb has two contacts on the base (Running and Turn/Stop) elements and it could also produce a short directly to ground instead of going through the bulb on the double and on any other type of receptacle.
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Old 09-10-2012, 04:59 PM   #3
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I use dielectric grease from Corning, and I have never had a bad connection or corrosion issue since I started using it
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Old 09-10-2012, 05:51 PM   #4
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When I was a power lineman, we used Penetrox. Though it says not to use it on rubber, or polyethylene insulated wire. Most of the wire I use is PVC insulated.
http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-p8a
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Old 09-10-2012, 06:24 PM   #5
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I had a tech squeeze some in my 7 way plug and my lights stopped working. It took a lot of cleaning to get them to work again. I went to a manufacturers site and found nothing about use on contacts but lots on water proofing and sealing connectors. I know it has lots of followers but I am not one. Raz
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Old 09-10-2012, 07:04 PM   #6
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it can depend on the type of dielectric grease, I have seen some that harden right up, and become like cement, the corning type i use remains soft and removable
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Old 09-10-2012, 07:27 PM   #7
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I use Permatex diaelectric grease, no corrosion, never had contact problems with it
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Old 09-10-2012, 07:39 PM   #8
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Good, because permatex is what I just bought. Have not even opened it up.
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Old 09-10-2012, 07:45 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by P. Raz View Post
I had a tech squeeze some in my 7 way plug and my lights stopped working. It took a lot of cleaning to get them to work again. I went to a manufacturers site and found nothing about use on contacts but lots on water proofing and sealing connectors. I know it has lots of followers but I am not one. Raz
I suspect that the problem with your lights was due to the connector shorting out. If your 12 VDC power supply got involved, you may have ended up with a fire. The stuff is conductive. When I was a lineman, we used it on the large un-insulated terminals, like a breaker termination. It would probably be good dabbed on the connector before you tighten the screw, but think of it as a conductor.

Dielectric, (non conductive) grease kinda makes sense. When you push the blades of a 7 prong connector in, they make physical contact and the grease is basically wiped off the point of contact. The grease would prevent corrosion on the metal of contacts, where they would be otherwise, be exposed to air.
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Old 09-10-2012, 08:07 PM   #10
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I was advised by the party who replaced my last tow side connections due to corrosion problems caused by driving on salted roads to ski hills in winter to use the Dielectric on my connections. Havent had any problems since using it.
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Old 09-10-2012, 11:33 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by P. Raz View Post
I had a tech squeeze some in my 7 way plug and my lights stopped working. It took a lot of cleaning to get them to work again. I went to a manufacturers site and found nothing about use on contacts but lots on water proofing and sealing connectors. I know it has lots of followers but I am not one. Raz
I"m not sure what was put into your connector. If it was dielectric grease the cause of the light not working more than likely would have been caused by lack of contact pressure. There's a compromise between the pressure applied to the contacts when the plug is inserted and the amount of force it takes to insert the plug all the way. This contact pressure displaces the dielectric grease enough to make a good connection.
Any way, if the blades in the plug are not tight enough they wont displace the dielectric grease enough to make a solid contact. The contacts might not be making a nice solid connection after all the cleaning. The best correction would be to replace the cord end.
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Old 09-11-2012, 04:21 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by David Tilston View Post
When I was a power lineman, we used Penetrox. Though it says not to use it on rubber, or polyethylene insulated wire. Most of the wire I use is PVC insulated.
http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-p8a
Yeah, thanks a lot David. I have been out of the power industry (Power Systems Electrician) for over 16 years, and had finally forgotten about Penetrox, and how it coated everything I owned when doing connections. Can't begin to guess how many cases of that stuff I have used.
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Old 09-11-2012, 06:11 AM   #13
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seems like a conductive grease would be the same a short if it was spread between two contacts. i know i always used dielectric on ever plug i have ever had and never had a problem.
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Old 09-11-2012, 12:59 PM   #14
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Dielectric grease is an insulator. I have not found a manufacturer recommend it's use as a contact protector. You folks wish to use it that way that's ok with me. Raz
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Old 09-11-2012, 01:20 PM   #15
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OK, so I see a difference of opinion.

My Biology trained mind says to put a bit of the electrical contact grease on the males of any connection after cleaning. Then put some dielectric grease on the fittings on the rubber mating surfaces.

Is that a good compromise? Why or why not?
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Old 09-11-2012, 01:47 PM   #16
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I'm in the camp of using dilectric grease on all electrical connections like what we are talking about. Back in my days of racing off road motorcycles, we had to make sure that the bikes could run thru creek/stream crossings. It was common procedure in prepping a off road bike to use dilectric grease on each and every connection. I have never had a problem when using it.

I would definitely NOT use electrical contact grease on any connection such as we are discussing here. The problem would be that if/when any of that product migrated to a position where it could provide a electrical path to someplace you don't want ( another pin, or to ground ) you are going to cause a problem.

EDIT: the dilectric grease I use is made by permatex, and remains soft and flexible even after being in use for a very long time.

http://tinyurl.com/ygeptr
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Old 09-11-2012, 04:36 PM   #17
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I'll add a bit to this. Dielectric grease does protect electrical connectors. I was working on a project that used a small connector outside. The product was to be mounted on the mirror of a big truck. It was the second generation that used the connector (wheee, good thing it wasn't the first generation). We started getting failures, the pins on the connectors were corroded to almost not there. By the way the connector was supposed to be water tight. Time for an extreme test. Place two units in salt water, both running. One with dielectric grease in the connector and one without. Within a few days the one without stopped working and the connector was almost completely gone. The one with dielectric grease was still working when we stopped the test 2 years later.
That should answer any questions about whether dielectric grease protects or not your connectors.
NOTE.. I noted that there some stuff on the market called electrical grease, some conductive some not. The conductive type is not to be used in a connector where there's more than one connection. As with all grease it will migrate, then you could have all kinds of problems.

NOTE2... Concerns about dielectric being an insulator, the pressure between the contacts should be such that it will clear away the dielectric grease at the point of contact, leaving the exposed metal coated.
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Old 09-11-2012, 07:35 PM   #18
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The electric hot rod of our hot water heater stopped working. The problem was corrosion on the contacts. I put some dieletric grease on each contact, re-inserted the contacts, problem gone.

Now the mere re-insertion may have resulted in good contacts again but the purpose of the dielectric grease is to prevent more corrosion.

These contacts were behind the hot water heater door, therefore exposed to the elements. These were individual amp wire connectors.

The Dielectric Grease per package instructions is just for this purpose. Actually my tube was a freebie given at the FRV/Bullards Beach State Park rally.
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Old 09-11-2012, 07:38 PM   #19
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Basically, what would be better to surround an electrical connection, air that will allow corrosion to take place degree, or the grease which would eliminate this from happening. Electrical conductivity does not change in either case.
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Old 09-11-2012, 07:48 PM   #20
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Basically, what would be better to surround an electrical connection, air that will allow corrosion to take place degree, or the grease which would eliminate this from happening. Electrical conductivity does not change in either case.
Attempting to keep the weather out, moisture is a good thing to do. Note I said attempting, it's almost impossible without special bonding tape to cover the connection. Even then there's no a possibility of moisture getting in.

My ham radio antennas and rotor connections have both. Dielectric grease first then after the connection the connector is wrapped with a self bonding tape, several layers, then standard electrical tape over that. I don't want to take that 20' across antenna down because of faulty connection.

Most connector are meant to be connected and unconnected more than once, not all but many are. Therefore is more practical to use dielectric grease and not attempt to keep moisture out by other means.


PLEASE NOTE... We're talking about dielectric grease. Non-conductive. FYI dielectric means non-conductive.
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