Has any other team had issues with corrosion building up in their PDP/fuses? We generally leave our robot in an unconditioned space during the summer months and we just noticed this weekend that we had corrosion building up and potentially the cause of some issues.
No, but…
Electrical grease is a good solution. Vaseline is a reasonable alternative. Every bit of bare conductive surface is coated with a thin coating. Best by hand.
No, it does not affect conductivity. Metal to metal contact occurs despite the coating.
As you already have the corrosion, clean up before applying electrical grease. On the fuses themselves, start with a pencil eraser to see if you can clean them. For internal pieces and if the eraser doesn’t get it*, a mild acid (e.g. white vinegar) on a cotton swab will do wonders. Follow up with something to counteract the acid (a mild solution of baking soda on another swab) to neutralize the acid, and allow to dry thoroughly before applying the protective coating.
Additionally, while rice isn’t all that great at actually drying out wet stuff, it does make a fair preventative desiccant. If you’re going to store these electrical components in outside air, try to use relatively sealed boxes and put some cloth bags of white rice or other desiccant to reduce corrosion. And swap the rice every year or so.
* It turns out that being shiny is a fair indication of surface electrical conductivity for many metals including copper, as the same free electrons which carry electricity reflect photons.
DeoxIT is a good alternative. I’ve used it all the way down to the myriad of pins in a older laptop docking station that couldn’t be cleaned any other way - on either the dock or the laptop. The one I used it on was so bad that if you looked at it wrong, things stopped working and ended up being totally moveable while on without any connectivity trouble once treated with DeoxIT.
I can swear that stuff works.
I’ll also swear that it looks just about exactly like Marvel Mystery Oil. At that price, it’s not worth messing around though and just go with the real deal.
That’s probably enough for a half dozen PDPs.
As mentioned by another poster, cleaning up the contacts on the breakers or fuses can easily be done starting with an eraser of going to something like a fiberglass sanding brush or even fine emery coth.
The sockets for the fuses and self-resetting breakers have a self-cleaning (wiping) action that will clean away oxides that build up over time. Pull the fuse or breaker out and reinsert it 5 to 6 times. Some shiny streaks should be visible on the blades of the fuses or breakers indicating where they have been cleaned.
DeoxIT or any other contact cleaner should work. I would avoid the ones that leave significant residue or silicone since they are likely to trap contaminants such as metal filings from the robot being worked on or drifting around the shop.
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/chemicals-cleaners/260?s=N4IgjCBcoCwAwFYqgMZQGYEMA2BnApgDQgD2UA2iAMw1VhIC6xADgC5QgDKrATgJYA7AOYgAvsQC0AJmQg0kXgFcipCiEajxIGZEooSA1phSsABCmz5MA-DxANRQA
If one wants to use grease, fill the receptacles with dielectric grease. I used to do that with my car headlight wiring harness because of the salt used on the roads in winters in Ottawa. Instead of being all crusty and corroded, the connections were bright and clean when I replaced the headlights two years later.
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