Maintenance of waterproof plug contacts.

[Pioerpaolo]

Good morning guys. A stupid question, what kind of maintenance do you do on the contacts of your waterproof plugs, to remove the oxide and anything else that may happen during the show period??? I use the cleaning spray for electrical contacts, then once sprayed, in past years I made passes up and down with the opposite male or female, let's say to scrape away the impurities. This year I'm experimenting with pipe cleaners for drink straws, for the larger holes, while for the small holes I'm using dental brushes, which seem too soft to do the "scraping". What do you say??? is it too much, is the spray enough, or do you use some other more effective method than mine??? Thanks again to everyone, greetings from Ancona Italy, from Pierpaolo, a happy grandfather.

[Mr. P]

Honestly, in all my years I've never had an issue with waterproofing. My stuff is out three months of the year, October to mid January, and my landscape stuff is out year round. The most important thing about plugs is to keep them off the ground. If they are off the ground then they won't sit in water and the the rain will pretty much drip off of them letting the basic waterproofing work. When the season is over wipe everything down and maybe a shot of WD40 before storing, no issues.

Edited April 19 by Mr. P

[PlanetChrismas]

I used to try and seal all my high voltage connections but too many times a bit of water would sneak in and get trapped.  I gave up sealing connectors and let Mother Nature do her thing.  Rain would pass through the connections and dry up on a sunny day.  Do use common sense and don't let the connectors hang in a pool of water or put them in the path of an irrigation head.

If you are determined to keep the water away from the connectors during the show season then use some dielectric grease (found in the Home Depot electrical department).  It's a pain to wipe off during teardown but gets your job done. 

[Mr. P]

The funny thing about waterproofing is if water does eventually get in you are also preventing it from getting out or drying up.

[TheDucks]

2 hours ago, PlanetChrismas said:

I used to try and seal all my high voltage connections but too many times a bit of water would sneak in and get trapped.  I gave up sealing connectors and let Mother Nature do her thing.  Rain would pass through the connections and dry up on a sunny day.  Do use common sense and don't let the connectors hang in a pool of water or put them in the path of an irrigation head.

If you are determined to keep the water away from the connectors during the show season then use some dielectric grease (found in the Home Depot electrical department).  It's a pain to wipe off during teardown but gets your job done. 

Acidic cleaners need to be neutralized or they will cause their own issues later. (whty they do NOT use Acid Core solder on electronics. It gets into places that are not easy to flush.

The greas is a 2-edged sword. Yes, water is kept away, Yes, Dirt now sticks where you might not want it. I cap / plug the ends  (HC/X-connect) while setting up/ down. They only come off while being mated.

BTW check your O-rings and make sure the connector-collar seats fully so they can work

[k6ccc]

This is particularly true for higher voltage (think 120V AC) connections, but one easy and essentially free thing you can do is to zip tie the connector onto the top of a stake and cover with a cut off 2 liter soda bottle.

With that said, I have never had much issue with water in so called waterproof pixel connectors.  For my year round landscape lighting, everything is soldered and covered with two layers of heat shrink tubing (the kind with the goo inside that melts when you heat the tubing up to shrink it.

 

[ebrown1972]

7 hours ago, Pioerpaolo said:

Good morning guys. A stupid question, what kind of maintenance do you do on the contacts of your waterproof plugs, to remove the oxide and anything else that may happen during the show period??? I use the cleaning spray for electrical contacts, then once sprayed, in past years I made passes up and down with the opposite male or female, let's say to scrape away the impurities. This year I'm experimenting with pipe cleaners for drink straws, for the larger holes, while for the small holes I'm using dental brushes, which seem too soft to do the "scraping". What do you say??? is it too much, is the spray enough, or do you use some other more effective method than mine??? Thanks again to everyone, greetings from Ancona Italy, from Pierpaolo, a happy grandfather.

I use dielectric grease on all my waterproof plugs. I've never had to clean the connections.

[Orville]

40 minutes ago, ebrown1972 said:

I use dielectric grease on all my waterproof plugs. I've never had to clean the connections.

Me too, and I've never had to clean mine either.

But then I use that stuff very sparingly.  I use a toothpick to put a small amount in my HC/XConnect female plug holes and work the male connector in/out a few times to to spread the dielectric grease. 

On 120VAC connections, I lightly coat the male prongs and work them in/out a few times to coat the female connection. 

Then on any unused female plugs[AC plugs/CTB16PC dangles] I use a plastic child protector outlet cap to keep dirt, water, and debris out.  Did that to all my AC L.E.D. and Incandescent Christmas Light strings too. 

But since going RGB, I retired and gave away all my AC 120V powered light strings.  Only 120V items currently in use are a few Blowmolds, those still use incandescent standard, or C7 light bulbs.  Although considering converting them to RGB with a bit of modications.

Edited April 19 by Orville

[Pioerpaolo]

I see however, that I'm not the only one sick/crazy about these things. Obviously as a technician, the wires must be straight, the bends at 90°, otherwise we'll go crazy. ;-) Anyway, thanks for your shares. Greetings from Pierpaolo Ancona - Italy, very happy grandfather of three grandchildren.....yikes

[Orville]

2 hours ago, Pioerpaolo said:

I see however, that I'm not the only one sick/crazy about these things. Obviously as a technician, the wires must be straight, the bends at 90°, otherwise we'll go crazy. ;-) Anyway, thanks for your shares. Greetings from Pierpaolo Ancona - Italy, very happy grandfather of three grandchildren.....yikes

I never bend my wires at 90°, most have a gentle curve to them.   When I did the 90° bend outside, I tended to get bad connections, broken internal wires, and sonetimes even the insulation would split. 

So now I use more of an upside-down U shape or a very slight bend to route the wire, extender cables or extension cords where it needs to go.  Haven't had any issues using these methods outdoors in years.

But, I am in very hot, sunny Florida, and the Florida sun is murder on outdoor wiring if it's bent too far.

  At least that's been my experience with exposed insulated wiring, extension cords, and extender cables outdoors.  However, your results may differ depending on your climate conditions.

 

Edited April 20 by Orville

[Pioerpaolo]

7 hours ago, Orville said:

Non piego mai i cavi a 90°, la maggior parte ha una curvatura delicata. Quando eseguivo la curva a 90° all'esterno, tendevo ad avere collegamenti difettosi, cavi interni rotti e, a volte, anche l'isolamento si rompeva. 

Quindi ora utilizzo più una forma a U capovolta o una piega molto leggera per instradare il filo, i cavi di prolunga o le prolunghe dove deve andare. Non ho riscontrato problemi nell'utilizzo di questi metodi all'aperto da anni.

Ma mi trovo nella Florida molto calda e soleggiata, e il sole della Florida è un omicidio sul cablaggio esterno se è piegato troppo.

  Almeno questa è stata la mia esperienza con cavi isolati esposti, prolunghe e cavi di prolunga all'aperto. Tuttavia, i risultati potrebbero differire a seconda delle condizioni climatiche.

 

Hi Orville, it was just a way of speaking. In the sense that the industrial technician was taught to place the cables squarely, the professor came to check with the drawing square whether they were perfectly at 90°.... the technician's foibles......;- ) anyway thanks for your sharing it's always useful