HOW TO CLEAN CORROSION FROM COPPER ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS USING HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS 

Worked a treat, saved me hours on two multiwire plugs. Thanks a lot

Aside of you fumbling with a the cell phone camera you created a very helpfull video. It was short and to the point. Your voice sound and volume was plentiful and clear. And the video had no annoying background noise, which is rather amazing since you were on boat. It motivates me to clean the connections on my CJ5 and not hit with an incinderary round. Thank you.

After washing the connector with water, you could dip the connector in Isopropyl Alcohol which will displace the water and then evaporate

My friend your video helped me with my problem I was getting false reading on my GPS and I though that I had to replaced my unit I did what you described on your video and bingo it works. Thank you a lot also your resort review are the best👍👍

after cleaning, add DIELECTRIC GREASE to prevent future corrosion! Thanks for helping me clean using a toothbrush... i would have never thought of that, thanks!

Thanks for the video...and for simultaneously recording and demonstrating. I was surprised that your solution included salt because of its corrosive qualities.

Could use some electronics cleaner spray and let it air dry, then add some dielectric grease to prevent that from happening again.

Instead of dialectric grease to finish off with, try ACF50 anti corrosion spray from any motorcycle shop. It should do a good job of displacing any wayer, and also wick down the wires. Its a good idea to use ACF 50 on any electrical looms or circuit boards from new so the corrosion doesnt happen in the first place.

Thank you so much. This fix one of my wireless cameras. Minus the salt. Got the camera backup in 20 minutes using this trick.

Great video, just bought an e bike and noticed simular so going to give this a go 🤘

It worked fine for me , thanks a lot.

Thank you so much - I'm going to try this on a connector inside my truck.

That solution works great for cleaning spark plugs as well..

This is amazing. Thanks a million

Thanx nice video. I might try laying the glass or other type of container like maybe a plastic or glass mustard or other container that has a smallish opening at its top with a lid. Remove the lid. With the container lying on its side a bit so that the connector can be laid on its side so the liquid can get up into each connector hole and the air would be pushed out. This way the fluid will contact each individual hole deeply.

I added evaporust in a small bag attached around the connection…. Rinsed it with dw40!!! Results: like new!

The reason for the salt in the vinegar is to convert the acetic acid in the vinegar to hydrochloric acid, which is a much more reactive acid that gets the job done faster. It does not change acidity or the amount of corrosion removed though, it just makes the reaction much faster & the job take less time. But the level of acidity in vinegar is very low so you only need a small amount of salt to completely convert the acid. The amount you used is way too much & is detrimental to what you are trying to achieve because salt caused the corrosion problem in the 1st place & applying too much again is going to setup the same reaction again. Sure, you can flush the salt out but you will have to use a lot of fresh water or distilled water to do that. You need only about 2g salt to 250ml vinegar to completely convert the acetic acid to hydrochloric acid. That is about 0.7 oz salt to 1 cup of vinegar. When all the corrosion has been removed, flush thoroughly with distilled water. Next flush again with Methylated Spirits (pure alcohol) to remove any remaining water and let it dry completely. You need to do this because water confined in the small spaces in the connection will not evaporate quickly & may cause problems, but alcohol will evaporate faster. It is likely the connector has been damaged by the corrosion & this will make it more susceptible to faults over time. I’d suggest spraying a good electrical cleaner/conditioner into the connectors such as Deoxit F5. These products seal the contact surfaces with a semi conducting coating that excludes air from the contact surfaces, preventing further corrosion. From over 30 years experience managing & maintaining an auditorium PA, I have found that this increases the life span of connectors and reduces their maintenance by about 5 times over simply a contact cleaning product. You may be able to find a marine grade product in this case, but F5 is what I used. If you do use an abrasive on electrical contacts, try to use the finest grade you can & then polish with a metal polish because a polished surfaces will oxidise the slowest & will remain working reliably longest. So avoid scuffing up contacts with files, knives & sand paper if at all possible. If it's an emergency so you have to do that to get home safe, replace the cabling afterwards because it's going to corrode fail you again & probably sooner than you think.

thanks sir, save my copper block

Use dielectric grease on all electrical fittings like that, and trailer plug, works great.

CRC has great products for this, I use QD cleaner and 2-26

Dielectric grease those before reconnecting. Also rinse that vinegar off with clean water before drying it off.

Yeah good job. Use some die electric grease on those connections and you will reduce and protect those connection on your fish finder.

I have been restoring rusty tools by soaking in vinegar and salt for years. I will try adding baking soda.

Thanks for your clear explanations.

Your great struggles in recording this video, Deserve like and subscribe.Good Luck!

Still had one green one.😁👍

One connector was still green and more corroded than others. It can be main power supply.

Gonna try this!

vinegar is acidic and will help eat away at the copper corrosion, baking soda is basic and will counteract the acid to stop more copper from being eaten away and voila'

Nice fix (UK)

Thank you Jesus

Just so everyone knows, vinegar and baking soda mixed = salt and water. A better way might be to use a slurry of baking soda and water, scrub it and work it down into the connector, then pour vinegar into the connector and using the brush work it around. That way the reaction is taking place on the connector, not in the glass. Then follow that with alcohol and let it dry.

My main concern with this is that residual acid might wick up the stranded wires behind the conector. That could potentially eat the wires behind the connector over time. It is much safer to use contact cleaner and a brush to clean the old oxidation then apply the dielectric grease to prevent re-oxidation...

The major problem is not the connector. It`s the "black" wires that comes with it. So a new connector (or pins) and cut wires until you find clear copper. Sometimes you have to change the whole cable becouse of corrosion.

Great idea

Thank you, 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

This works Great thank you!!!

Don't skip the baking soda step, which neutralizes the vinegar.

good tip

Nice vid, fyi I would have also changed that orange ring, the one that’s suppose to keep water out, that corrosion problem might come back

great video!!!

Better than vinegar on this type of connector is citric acid. The reason for this is that you also have rubber gaskets on these connectors that vinegar will attack. You can get away with vinegar a few times, but you won't have any issue with citric acid and in my experience citric is also better at cleaning copper. Neutralizing with a bicarbonate wash is ok but after scrubbing with your acid. Just make sure you flush well as you don't want any residue from citric or bicarbonate. Also, consider using interdental brushes for the female contacts. They will get deep in them and scrub well.

Vinegar, and salt are rusting agents but that doesn't matter much at all for copper. There is a good chance the wiring harness is made from steel/iron wiring though with the copper pads soldered on at the end. If you want you can put some dielectric grease on the connector to prevent it from happening in the future (the products intended purpose). It's non conductive and keeps water/air from entering. As long as you don't undo the connector it should last indefinitely.

Try applying dielectric grease on that connection that mite help

Nice to know about home remedies. But CRC makes an electrical Contact Cleaner spray can that works really well and dries pretty fast. I use it on my truck to tráiler electric connector

Muy bueno amigo gracias

Hi is that hot or water,,,,or cold water but looks like it works

I know it’s common sense to have it unplugged when doing this, but I think it should be mentioned for people who don’t have common sense

I see the need for salt and vinegar, but the baking soda just neutralized your acid so I don't expect that did much. I think just washing with water after the salt and vinegar would be just as good. I'm trying the same thing with ruby fluid, which is a flux for copper brazing...we'll see how that works.

Any corrosive liquid containing salts or acid is going to wick up into the wires eventually dissolving them. It's just a matter of time. Prevention is the best thing by making sure the o-rings are intact, lubricate with a little silicone grease and check the connector is fully tightened. There is a liquid product used for neutralizing salt for fishing reels that might be effective, but I have never tried it.

Acid takes time to work. Soak for an hour (or overnight.)

I'm going to try it without the table salt on my detachable face auto radio. Doesn't seem like the dissolved salt should be helping anything if the salt water caused your problem in the first place. I would have thought the baking soda and a toothbrush alone would have done the trick as it does on an auto battery terminal cleaning. But, hey! What do I know?! Thx for the idea.

might want to try it with the holes facing up so the mixture can go inside the holes, if you put a glass upside down in water you can see the water won't enter depending if air can flow though the socket but it appears to be molded. nice video, trying to desolve that green on a footwell module in a mini cooper

dielectric grease and it will prevent from happening to begin with 😊👍

CRC makes Contact Cleaner. One step, done

It’ll probably work for a while, but it’ll come back again. Rust/corrosion is like cancer. You have to get deep inside to clean it out. It’ll spread again

Omg don't use salt, vinegar is fine

If you add a bit of silicone dielectric grease to the connection it will never happen again ;). Do not believe that dielectric grease interferes with the electrical connection, it does not! It simply keeps air and moisture out of the connections and prevents future corrosion...

My friend... I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but, SALT is the reason your connector terminals looked like that to begin with. Now, to make things worse, you dunking the unmated (which means unsealed) connector into another salt bath. The terminals inside of that connector are most likely crimped, possibly soldered, to the multi-conductor cable that enters that housing. In other words, these terminals are not sealed off to the elements when unmated, thus, the copper end of the cable is wicking all of that salt up into the conductors. You may say to yourself, hey it got rid of my corrosion & i haven't seen anymore since. Well.. while i wouldn't recommend "washing" any electrical connector in that method, I'd wager to say, that if you haven't seen any corrosion since then, it's because you washed the salt away with your second rinse.. However, I would almost guarantee, if you cut that connector off or de-pin it & strip the individual conductors insulation back, you'll see blackened or even green fuzzy wire strands.. It's crazy how far back water/moisture will wick into a wire. If you don't believe me, here's a short example. I once used inferior heat shrink on a set of battery cables I made for my dual battery toy hauler. I knew better, but was in a pinch & needed to be operational. Well.. just two years later, water/winter road salt had wicked up every cable on that truck & almost the entire length of each cable. I've seen the same thing happen to unsealed splices in headlight wiring etc.. Water, Humidity, Moisture, acidic chemicals, whatever... All bad for wire & cable. Not only does the joint/connection go bad, but major lengths of the harnesses get junked too.. I would suggest, terminal cleaners next time as there are cheap tools dedicated to fixing problems like that. Carburetor tools can also work in a pinch for scraping corrosion.. just whatever you do wallow/stretch your terminals out with the tools or they won't make contact anymore. Just some food for thought my friend.

I don’t know water and electrical don’t mix .but great video

I wouldn't use Water & Salt (For me that's insane) 🤯 Definantly not recommended !!! 🧐😳 My preferred & method would be just use warm water with Bi-Carb Soda (Toothbrush is a good tip), then clean out with Electrical Contact Cleaner followed by a dunk in some "Corrosion X". This way will Guarantee not to have corrosion issues for many years or atleast several months to come. (Especially in the marine environment)

Sprinkle some baking soda and then add coke and let it fizz, flush it out with water, it will take the green off very easy

Cut lemon in half push it in leave for min or 2 then squeeze some juce in terminals wash repeat if nesiseri

vinegar pretty much does it alone

I'll bet that one still green female connector is a. the ground and b. the problem.

Few minutes? You mean 2 days?

I tried your way for RUST on my USB connector charging cable did't work . What did work is toilet bowl cleaning liquid . If you read the label some of them says removes rust . I tried it once letting it sit for a minute . On the outside removed much of it . had to use again letting it sit on inside of USB connection for several minutes . Rinsed it off then dried sparingly with heat gun . Now works .

Now it's raw and will corrode quicker, that's why you should use DeoxIT D5 because it coats it as well.

I wouldn't use salt in the solution, it could wick up the wires and cause further corrosion.

WHY NOT USE DEOXIT D5 AND G5

I know how the salt & vinigar works to clean the copper, but iv never applied this method to finer / thinner copper parts, and what does the h2o+ bicarb do? Is it to neutralise the effects of the salt/vinigar? cool vid BTW.

Video starts at 2:37

Vinegar with salt will definitely get copper oxide off, but how did it hold up???? You've got acetic acid and salt residue all up in there now. Did it corrode again? Also, do you know WHY you're using baking soda? Because it looks no better after you put it into the baking soda water than it did before. Which is what I expected since I think sodium bicarbonate isn't going to react with copper or copper oxide. I'm pretty sure the reason that step is there because you shouldn't have used acetic acid for this application and now you are trying to neutralize it. But it doesn't get the salt out. And it isn't going to reliable get all up into the stranded wires that got soaked with acid and salt.

Use vinegar and baking soda together that is all no salt

Yeeeeeeeaaaaa booooyy

Ok.. putting salt into an electrical outlet is a terrible fkin idea. The salt will dissasociate into Na and Cl which are extremely reactive with most metals. If you end up getting any of it behind a nook or pocket it can cause a short circuit later, especially if there's water involved. Adding salt to water makes it more conductive. You should've used dielectric/silicone grease to plug up that terminal from day 1. That's what the grease is mainly for. It helps seal out moisture and prevents the corrosion of bare metal.

Has anyone used this to clean NMEA 2000 cables?

does it work on RUST too?

I’m a bit lazy, can I use a electrical toothbrush??? 🤓😂

Salt will make it corrode even faster

I see green. G.R.E.E.N

That pin was still corroded

Use lacquer thinner problem solved

2:23 before you get to the useful info.

Or you can just get contact cleaner…. NEVRR use salt wth?

I’m confused you never put the baking soda in. You only used salt and vinegar

I'm surprised that two of the cleaning chemicals were salt and water (albeit separate)

Salt to stop corrosion? You must be kidding!

I wonder if this would work on cleaning a car starter solenoid copper contacts since the latter is sealed and don`t have the tools to break it open to efficiently clean them..ì`d try anyways, nothing to lose right? Or any othe Recommandations, anyone ? :)

Baking soda I got Baking soda

WD-40...

salt is what rust metal.. the thin salt in the air. don't know the english term for it, but its called salitre

Did you "salt to taste?" lol ;)

Anybody try CLR? It's copper after all and nonferrous.

Next time be free to buy contact cleaner.

Salt corrodes copper

Coke cola soda pop

...I recommend watching different videos, this guy has no idea how corrosion/oxidation and electronics work...also he cleaned nothing - it will happen again, because the corrosion spreads over time

just get some duster, take a few hits and say fuck it lol lollkeiefjife sleie si i am sofa kind re tode it now

Repetitive chatter is unnecessary and annoying.