Conductive and Dielectric Greases/Compounds Discussion by W8JI

[Johncfii]

We all depend on a LOT of electrical connections. There are a many mentions here of ‘conductive grease‘ related to connections, especially high current battery terminal connections.

Tom Rauch, ham call W8JI, is an RF engineer, and one of the most respected antenna experts in industry. He has a web site where he generously shares his knowledge. I read all of his stuff.

Here is a link to his web site page where he discusses the potential merits/problems of dielectric and “conductive” greases and his personal practices. (Antenna applications are somewhat like ours, in that they often involve low voltage connections, and exposure to weather. And he does talk about battery connection.)

Maybe this would be of interest to you.

Dielectric Grease vs Conductive Grease

 

[FilterGuy]

Thanks for the link to the great article.

 

[Substrate]

Generally good stuff. His application (and like mine at times) is primarily high-current rf in at most maybe two dissimilar metals. Or low-voltage, low current baseband distribution.

But perhaps ask him what he thinks about stacking aluminum, nickel, copper, stainless, and normal steel together all on one connection pushing 10s to 100's of amps through it over a long period of time.

When new, no problem. 4 years down the road, perhaps a different story. Simply check your connections under load, preferably with a handheld IR temp gun for convenience to spot issues before they become a problem.