Anyone apply dielectric grease on the cradle pins?

Seen enough posts about corrosion , wondering if anyone applies a thin film of dielectric grease to the cradle pins ?

May be an unpopular opinion but I put dielectric on all connections with my ice electronics. No issue and have been doing it for years.

I put dielectric grease on pretty much every electrical connection I encounter. I saved a couple connectors on my F150 that the dealer wanted to swap the harness out to repair. The TSB even said to replace harnesses as the fix. All it took was to clean it up, bend the sockets slightly to make contact again and pack it full of dielectric to keep the fretting / corrosion at bay for as long as possible. Some say no grease should be needed and I say the only people that say that are those with no real world experience.

I have often wondered where/when the urban legend started that dielectric grease “stops” or somehow inhibits the flow of electricity. It’s really funny how many people believe this now.

In fact, it’s such a running joke on a YouTube channel I watch, that the host actually has a sticker that says “Pro-Electric Grease” on his bottle of dielectric so that people will stop commenting.

I use it all the time on any connection that could get wet.

Urban legend? The stuff is an insulator. It doesn’t conduct electricity. It won’t have any effect on electricity flowing through a solid connection, maybe that’s where the confusion starts.

They do make conductive greases. Sold under names like “Penetrox”. I use it in antenna construction.

SR

Steve is spot on. Dielectric grease was designed to not flow electricity so it could be used on multi pin connectors and the power wouldn’t bleed across the different pins. Other greases could use zinc or other lubricating things that conduct electricity.

You definitely don’t want to apply a conductive grease on a multi-pin connection unless you can keep the grease 100% separated.

And as long as the pins have good connections to the plugs the dielectric grease won’t cause any issues. Only help keep corrosion down.

Thanks guys good info

404 ERROR wrote:

May be an unpopular opinion but I put dielectric on all connections with my ice electronics. No issue and have been doing it for years.

I do this as well

Steve Root wrote:

It won’t have any effect on electricity flowing through a solid connection,

This is the point. It seems like a lot of people believe that applying dielectric grease is somehow like putting an inch of rubber between two conductors.

IMO it heads off a lot of problems.