Battery terminal coating

[clyst]

Hi guys whats the best "grease" to protect battery terminals with ? Cheers Terry

 

[wonkywinch]

Used Vaseline for many years. Also good on solenoid terminals etc.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Fresh air. No need to grease battery terminals, it just makes a mess.

 

[wingcommander]

The application of grease dates back to when batteries were not as well constructed with dodgy leaky terminals. Modern day batteries as Paul mentioned simply don't need it.

 

[Yngmar]

Silicone grease is the best universal grease to have aboard. It's waterproof, clear, doesn't damage natural rubbers or degrade plastics (like vaseline does) and can be used on anything from electrical connections (commonly misnamed "dielectric" grease) over plumbing to winches (proper winch grease usually has some teflon in it and will perform marginally better).

A thin film on electrical contacts (including battery terminals or any plugs) will keep moisture away from the metal and therefore prevent corrosion followed by high resistance, heat and smoldering (or signal degradation/loss in data connections). Nothing on a boat is ever perfectly dry, if you just open the hatch on a windy day at anchor, there'll be plenty of salt spray coming in, so fine you don't even see it unless the sun is shining down the hatch just right.

 

[Halo]

Good contribution from Yngmr but I would add that Raminol has much better water resistance and is better for some applications other than battery terminals

 

[johnalison]

Silicone grease is the best universal grease to have aboard. It's waterproof, clear, doesn't damage natural rubbers or degrade plastics (like vaseline does) and can be used on anything from electrical connections (commonly misnamed "dielectric" grease) over plumbing to winches (proper winch grease usually has some teflon in it and will perform marginally better).

A thin film on electrical contacts (including battery terminals or any plugs) will keep moisture away from the metal and therefore prevent corrosion followed by high resistance, heat and smoldering (or signal degradation/loss in data connections). Nothing on a boat is ever perfectly dry, if you just open the hatch on a windy day at anchor, there'll be plenty of salt spray coming in, so fine you don't even see it unless the sun is shining down the hatch just right.

I put BluTack on any electrical wiring that is likely to be exposed temporarily, not the main batteries of course. For a more permanent seal on awkward shapes I just use a setting silicon. The tradition stuff for batteries was anhydrous lanolin but I haven’t used it for a century or so.