Clean your terminals.

[Sanwizard]

If

While the MG Chem silver paste that I started using a year ago is working VERY well for me when applied as the thinnest possible film after careful cleaning, I am always open to hearing about something better.

Thanks for the pointer, noenegdod. I’ve ordered a tube of the Chemtronics Silver Grease. I have a new large LiFePO4 bank to assemble soon, and I will try your stuff.

If your budget allows, the MG chem silver pen works wonders also. You can draw circuit boards with it. ?

 

[Johncfii]

If

If your budget allows, the MG chem silver pen works wonders also. You can draw circuit boards with it. ?

Too cool! Have you really made a functional circuit board this way? If so, what did you use as a substrate? Does it dry to a stable film or something?

 

[Sanwizard]

Too cool! Have you really made a functional circuit board this way? If so, what did you use as a substrate? Does it dry to a stable film or something?

Nah, just used it to assure good connectivity to my terminals.

But these guys did:

 

[Just John]

MG Chemicals 847 Carbon Conductive Assembly Paste

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MG9X3VG/

based on a while of researching anti corrosive terminal pastes, and feedback from this forum, and intuition, this is what i'm going with for my current builds.

I've tested OxGard, Noalox, and finally the MG 847 (carbon is actually what cheap resistors are made of). Using a 4 wire meter, I can't detect any difference in them when applied properly. But one is $4, and the MG is $36.

If you haven't already ordered one, I'd go for the cheap option, but all of them should work fine.
The objective is to put as thin a coating as possible to block oxidation, and inserting chemicals/elements of any type is not the objective.
Aluminum oxide is a very poor conductor.

 

[curiouscarbon]

If you look up MG Chem silver conductive grease you will find that there is no conductivity spec. Email MG chemicals and ask them why. I emailed them and asked and I was told it was not formulated very well and had poor conductivity. He said 847 is better than their silver grease.

I suggest this which has significantly higher conductivity than 847 ( <0.01 ohm-cm vs 23)

https://www.chemtronics.com/content/msds/TDS_CW7100.pdf

interesting.

carbon paste 847 volume resistance is 2,300 times higher than chemtronix silver paste.

if it cost 2x then it's still a bargain..

ordered a tube, this seems much more appealing to work with, wasn't 100% sure about carbon on terminals for long term, but silver is pretty much awesome

thanks for the tip. 0.01 vs 23 caught my eye

it's a fraction the cost of the cells, totally worth it for me to include an assembly paste to ensure stable long term performance