Topic: help! salt induced corrosion

[crawdaddy]

I am new to this site but it seems like some very knowledgeable people on here and hopefully someone can help me out with a problem. I live in MN and with the cold winter all the lake are still frozen, but I just had to get the boat out so I hit the road and drove to the Mississippi River for some open water fishing. On the way home I removed my units since the roads were sloppy and I try and do everything I can to keep my units out of harms way. I have a 998 at the stern (tiller boat) so I removed it and tucked the cords into a compartment. During the hour drive I must have hit a bump and the cords popped out of the compartment. Long story short, some road salt came in contact with my power cord. I didn't realize this right away, and the next time I used my unit I noticed that blue crusty corrosion on one pin of my power cord, as well as the corresponding hole where it enters my 998. I immediately wet a rag with freshwater and wiped them down and then sprayed both the plug pin and unit female hole with contact cleaner. There is still some blue/green corrosion on both after I did this. If anyone has any advice how to get rid of this it would be greatly appreciated! The hole and pin is so small I have no way to sand or clean it off! I guess I should have left the unit on and just cleaned the unit exterior when I got home....

[Humminbird_Greg]

It was the combination of the salt and the power being applied to the power cable.
It would be best to replace the power cable but it would cost a bunch to replace the socket on the unit itself (these are epoxied in place, so the whole rear housing would have to be changed out).
I don’t have any cleaning suggestions other than to plug and unplug them a bunch.
If you start having power issues you could try bending the two power cable pins (very slightly) away from each other to increase the contact between them and the sockets in the unit.

[George]

I do not know if this will help. but I use Coke to remove corrosion, it normally cleans it pretty well. 

If the parts are sealed it should not be a problem. 

To be safe I might use Q-Tips to wipe the connections down and follow up with distilled water on the Q-Tips ending with several dry Q-Tips.  You can keep the unit so the connections are facing down so the coke will not leach into the unit.

May have t do it several times.

George

[Humminbird_Greg]

Good idea George!  I didn’t think about using that.  Guess that I forgot that it will clean light oxidation and 'other things'.  The connectors are sealed so it should not cause a problem other than making everything sticky if he does not wash it off.

[crawdaddy]

Thanks a lot George and Greg! The unit still works good, so I will get a new power cord, and clean the unit plugs with contact cleaner and coke, then keep my fingers crossed! Thanks again,

Marty

[George]

Marty

Chances are the power cord is still good, dip it.  From your discussion it does not sound like the corrosion has had a lot of time to set in.

George

[RGecy]

Battery cleaner works best, but coke will do.  Just slower.  Wash thoroughly!

Robert

[Humminbird_Greg]

Not sure what is in battery cleaner Robert and this may vary by manufacturer.  I would worry about it interacting with the plastic of the connectors.

If it does not look like much of the pin on the power cable has corroded away I would clean it still use it like George said.  Just make sure that it is not connected to the battery when you do so.

[Rotus623]

You could possibly use some di-electric grease to increase conductivity and reduce corrosion. I like electronics spray cleaner from radioshack. Works wonders.....

[George]

Rotus623

I have used di-electric grease, but have not used it on my HB units yet.  Good information

George