Battery terminal grease

[massivetg]

What's the best grease to put on battery terminals, as I recently aquired a starting dificulty which I put down to a bad earth. Partly caused by the grease I used which I suppose is non conductive as it was just normal marine grease. I was thinking along the lines of either copper slip, lithium or perhaps even nothing at all as then there would be no moisture held. I'm assuming theres something within the industry so anyone who knows could you please share. :)

[dank]

Re: Battery terminal grease

dielectric greese is the type you should use.

[CTXL1200]

Re: Battery terminal grease

I know it sounds too easy, but you can use vaseline. Primarily all the grease is doing is preventing moisture and air from corroding the terminal.

[massivetg]

Re: Battery terminal grease

Hi Dank, wouldn't dielectric grease be giving you a bad conection, i.e insulating the lead from the terminal. Or by dielectric do you mean conductive? Sorry if this sounds patronising but a dielectric is an insulator. Your help is appreciated, I just want to be clear that what you said is what you meant, if you see what I mean, and then I'll do what you say.Errrrr, now I'm confused dohh!

[1wetrider]

Re: Battery terminal grease

Permatex makes a spay on battery protector that you use after the connection is made . If you put grease on the battery terminal and then connect the cable you are asking for a bad connection. Please keep in mind that it is not necessary to put anything on the battery connections.

[dank]

Re: Battery terminal grease

dielectric is conductive and is for electrical connections.

This is what it does:
Non-conductive waterproofing compound.

Insulates electrical connections and adheres to most surfaces, sealing out moisture, dirt and corrosion.

[massivetg]

Re: Battery terminal grease

Thanx for that 1wetrider, in the end I just got as gooder connection as I could with it dry, then smeared a bit of grease on the terminals. I know this may sound hard to beleive but I am actually an electricity worker (i.e all the big transmition stuff). Would it sound right to you guys that a bad earth caused by me greasing the terminals before connecting them would give me the starting problem that I had, which was the starter not engaging with the occasional clicking of the starter relay. What gave it away was the fact that neither the starter was working, nor the electric bilge pump and since these are two seperate circuits, only meeting to connect to the battery, I figured it had to be this. The thing is, on the first occasion it did it, it was fine until I stopped for more than about 5 minutes, then it wouldn't start so after an hour or so I shook the battery and it went. I could not find a problem after that so I went out on it again the following week and it did the same thing, only this time shaking the battery didn't work. However, once removing the pump terminals when I got home it fired right up again and seems to be fine now. Like I said I'v cleaned all the terminals and didn't apply any grease until after the connections were made. Would you agree that I'v sorted it?

[1wetrider]

Re: Battery terminal grease

Sounds good to me. It doesnt take much to cause a bad ground (or Earth to those on the other side of the pond ) The definition for Dielectric is an insulating ,non conductive material. I have used it on the inside of connectors to keep water out . The only problem is if the pins of the connector are weak or dirty, then you have added that much more resistance.Silicone dielectric is a excellent conductor of heat (thats why it is used on the bottom of many automotve Ignition modules) But it does not conduct electricity.

[massivetg]

Re: Battery terminal grease

Yea they were all a bit dirty really. The terminals on the battery shined up nicely with a bit of a scrape and I went over the lead terminals with some sand paper, should fire up pretty (as we say here in cornwall).

[massivetg]

Re: Battery terminal grease

ran like a dream!:)

[DCHOPPERZ1]

Re: Battery terminal grease

Crisco workz good to. I use it