"nesesu" wrote in message
...
On Sep 18, 8:28 am, GeneO wrote:
Have been Googling the proper way to clean plated electrical contacts
but either get nothing if use " or a lot of nonrelevant hits without.

Am interested in any suggestions esp how to remove the nonconductive
oxides.

If a connector is too damaged would also be interested in what are
considered the best type replacement.

Thanks

Gene

I get the impression that you are talking about pin and socket
connectors rather than 'button' contacts as used in relays for
example.
First of all, connectors have a very finite numbers of mate-unmate
cycles in their original design and once they reach that number
[either half] they are basically scrap. Further, if you mate a worn
out connector with a good one, you may contaminate the surface of the
'good' half and compromise it's future performance.
Except for connectors especially designed for large numbers of mating,
most commercial connectors are good for 50 to 200 cycles, and that is
highly dependent on the environmental conditions [dust and grit are a
quick death].

Neil S.


That seems a bit pessimistic. I have many lead sets in my workshop - phono,
jack, XLR, Speakon, SCART etc - which have been made up using fairly
'bog-standard' connectors from the likes of Maplin, Farnell etc, or bought
ready made from the same sources, and these are used several times, just
about every day, to connect up items that are in for repair. Many have been
in use for years. Musical instruments are jacked into amplifiers and mixer
desks many many more times than 200 in their life, and most such items
employ very 'standard' and inexpensive makes and designs of jacks and plugs.
I think that I would be pretty disappointed with *any* connector in a user
application, no matter how cheap and nasty it was, that was considered
shagged out after as little as 200 uses.

Arfa