First, your vehicle might fail to start due to dirty electrical contacts within the system. Image Credit: Effects of Dirty Electrical ContactsĪllowing electrical contacts to sit with dirt for long is not healthy for your automotive. As an automotive mechanic blog site, we view the contact dirt and oxidation as a constant reminder of taking care of your vehicle's sensitive electronics. Accordingly, it's impossible to avoid oxidation, but good thing you can control it easily. Ideally, debris can form around contacts due to self-extinguishing AC arcs during zero-crossing. Moreover, oxidation occurs even when contacts are protected under covers due to arcing.
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In most cases, oxidation is inevitable since it's caused by oxygen reacting with different metals that make the said contacts. As a result, such elements tend to disrupt power transmission, causing electrical malfunctioning.
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In cars, electrical contacts are often exposed to dust and humidity, which cause rusting and oxidation. Before we get to the concept of a contact cleaner, let's first understand the menace that affects electrical contacts. Therefore, before you clean contacts, you need to have the right repair information and the tools needed to avoid compromising the integrity of electrical equipment. Even so, contacts in electrical equipment are always found behind covers and should be handled carefully. Subsequently, we have prepared a guide to help you understand the cleaning of contacts in electrical components. Fortunately, you can clean electrical contacts by yourself and restore the electrical flow. Nonetheless, electrical disruptions are also caused by dirty electrical contacts. That said, most of us resort to calling automotive mechanics due to the fear of being electrocuted. Would still require camera disassembly and good soldering skills to replace.), sometimes they are custom membrane switches integrated into circuit boards (might be cleanable with contact cleaner or solvent or even abrasives, but in any case disassembly is required).Ideally, whenever there is no electrical output, there is a power disruption somewhere in the given system, power tools, or electrical appliances. The pushbuttons in modern electronics are SOMETIMES based on replaceable, standardized parts (google "tactile button". TL DR: Blindly spraying nondescript contact cleaner into anything you wouldn't disassemble, BAD IDEA.Įlectrical contact cleaners are usually designed for contacts that rub against each other in use - eg potentiometer wipers, sliding switches, rotary switches, plugs - you are supposed to exercise the contacts after wetting them with contact cleaner.Ī push button makes contact just by pressure, and cannot be exercised well.Īny contact cleaner that would be effective in removing oxide layers just by spraying on and soaking is very likely to a) be supposed to thoroughly have its residue REMOVED from the contacts after use, b) be orders of magnitude too aggressive and corrosive to be suitable for blindly spraying into a fully assembled device where it can creep in uncontrolled, also because it is likely to c) be electrically conductive - in the worst case even the dry residue is or will become conductive at the slightest hint of moisture, not to mention flammable, d) make stuff it is used on smell to high heaven :) If you can get hold of a repair manual, that will of course help a lot. if you're thinking of attempting the repair yourself you should watch some of those to get a feel for how the parts are likely to go together, where the screws are, etc. There are a bunch of videos online where people take DSLRs apart. (This may actually be the most expensive in the long run.) Your options to fix the problem, ranked from least expensive to most effective: The cleaning was effective, but caused a new problem such as causing the switch covering to deteriorate.
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The problem isn't actually the switch, but perhaps a loose connection between the switch and board, or something like that.There's a deeper problem like corrosion or arcing that has caused the problem to recur.The cleaning action moved some dirt, allowing the switch to work better, but it's since moved back.
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I don't know what the button itself looks like, but many small switches like that are enclosed, so even if you did open the camera it might be hard to really clean the contacts. If you didn't open the camera to get to the button, you probably didn't really clean the contacts effectively. In order for that stuff to work, you have to get it on the actual contacts. I applied the spray and it returned to work normally but after 2-3 days the problem comes back.