RJ-45 + Dielectric Grease: No-Brainer, or Downside(s)?

[PeteCress 0]

I'm coming around to thinking that, in a seashore environment - even indoors - it's a no-brainer to fill every RJ-45 receptacle with dielectric grease.

 

Aside from the messiness and cost of the grease, is there a downside to this?

[Don Stephens 0]

If the end goal is just to weather/environment proof the connection, I would be asking why dielectric grease instead of something like a silicone based sealant.

 

I don't see a downside, but from what I understand of dielectric grease, I don't really see an upside either.

[PeteCress 0]

If the end goal is just to weather/environment proof the connection, I would be asking why dielectric grease instead of something like a silicone based sealant.

 

I don't see a downside, but from what I understand of dielectric grease, I don't really see an upside either.

Hoping to stave off recurrences of the likes of this: http://tinyurl.com/ppahkcp by virtue of the salt air not being able to get to the contacts because of the grease.

 

Silicone seems like a one-shot deal: once it's done, that receptacle isn't going to be used again. Also I do not know if it would interfere with the contacts touching electrically....

 

OTOH with dielectric grease electrical contact is generally assumed to be OK and I'm thinking that maybe there's some hope of re-use with enough CRC cleaner and TLC.

[Don Stephens 0]

The silicone based stuff will peal right off with your finger nail with very little effort but holds up to just about anything. I don't necessarily fill the connectors, they just get a heavy coating of the stuff; think of it more like putting on a jacket instead of stuffing your clothes with newspaper. Personally, I'm all for using very small junction boxes in salt water cases like this and add the sealant to augment them.

 

I've never had any issues with the silicone based sealants myself and I get good feedback from people who use it. It actually surpasses my expectations in a lot of different environments. Honest to God, I've sealed cameras (IP66) with this stuff before sinking them 100ft into the Atlantic and those cameras lasted around 3 weeks before the sealant failed (presumably from the salt). You just need to make sure you're ending up with the right kind for the job.

 

It's honestly never occurred to me to use dielectric grease. I don't see how using it could possibly hurt more than doing nothing. I think you're probably right about it's potential to be re-used. It's certainly worth trying as far as I'm concerned.

[PeteCress 0]

The silicone based stuff will peal right off with your finger nail with very little effort but holds up to just about anything. I don't necessarily fill the connectors, they just get a heavy coating of the stuff; think of it more like putting on a jacket instead of stuffing your clothes with newspaper.

You have convinced me.

 

I was missing the immersion-vs-jacket concept.

 

Got a problem installation where cleaning every contact and adding the grease got 3 cams back online..... for about 3 hours..... and now they're offline again.

 

Next time I get down there, I will swap out the POE switch, clean the grease off the plugs, and try sealing each port with silicone.