I was having some problems with a flickering light bulb and I read that using Vaseline on the contacts can remedy this problem. I tried this and worked great. Is this okay to use long term? Or would some kind of grease made specifically for electric purposes be better? If so, can anyone recommend one?
Thanks.
Yeah, and putting a penny behind an old fashioned glass fuse will keep the fuse from blowing .
Seriously, I'd first try chagng the bulb and if that didn't work Id change out the socket.
I sure wouldnt coat the contacts or bulb threads with vaseline.
There is a dielectric grease used in autombiles for the plug wire boot to spark plug connection. Id have more confidence in that to withstand temperatures and current flowthan I would mere vaseline, which, IIRC, liquifies at relatively low temperatures and which will ignite.
I don't know if vaseline will give problems or not, although I think it would be easy enough to clean after the problems start.
There was a long thread about this in sci.electronics.repair within the last 18 months iirc. You can find it with groups.google .
The simple answer is that you can get what you want at an autoparts store, and it's called electrical grease, or something. If that's not it, the clerk should know. IIRC it was between 5 and 10 dollars which is a lot for grease! It's used a lot in parking and tail lights, or high current switches.
In my case, I was trying to repair an auto heater fan speed switch. My favorite speed, 2, didn't work. The other three did. My first repair, where I just cleaned the contact and moved the grease around a little, worked fine until the final step in reassembly, and then it was as bad as before, so I wanted to try again and maybe replace the grease. I took it apart again, spread the old grease around again, and when I put it back together, it worked fine, and has for a year now.
Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.
Sure it is ok. Worst case, if the temperature is too high, it might char and the bulb could start to flicker. But, a lubricant on bulbs is used mainly to keep bulbs from sticking in the socket. A high temperature silicone grease, e.g., spark plug boot grease, is usually suggest as the best. Costly but all you need is very thin smear.
Vaseline works fine for this. You just need a little bit. Back in the
60's my dad had a motel down in GA. Big sign out front must have had a hundred bulbs or more and the installer reccomended using vaseline on the bulbs. Never had a stuck bulb or corroded socket. Where I work we use silicon dielectric grease, again a little dab will do ya. Keeps the contacts from oxidizing and keeps the bulb and socket from siezing.
You might, after looking up "fretting corrosion."
Nick
I would suggest that a better solution is to clean the contacts of the lamp and the socket (center contact and threads). Of course you need to make sure the power is off.
It is a sad fact that many lamps today are using cheap poor materials for the lamp bases. Usually aluminum rather than the brass that works well. They even often color it to look like brass. The result is poor contacts and overheated sockets.
As for Vaseline, I have heard that it can cause problems (corrosion). If you are going to use a product like that I suggest the dielectric grease made for electrical contacts. It is available in many auto part stores in small inexpensive sizes.
I fix office machines for a living.
vaseline when heated can turn to rock:(
Its a bad idea, clean the contacts of the socket or replace the socket BEFORE it causes a fire!. sockets are generally cheap
die electric grease is ok but non conductive, the original poster is probably using the vaseline as a minor conductor.
had a idiot customer grease 10 machines drive systems with vaseline,. geez what a mess.
had to clean them all with gasoline
he was greasing VCRs with vasoline too:(
He hadnt got the bill for that one yet when I last saw him. on my next visit he wasnt around, i asked they said he is no longer working here/
he probably got fired:(
WD40 is another no no its not a lubricant either and turns to crud ater awhile
the dielectric is supposed to be non-conductive. We use a couple of greases in auto industry. When you have 100 pin connectors, you need to be able to connect them easily.
You should also be able to get dielectric grease at Radio Shack, though last time I was there I couldn't find any. I also could not find any graphite to lube my doors...
Was he really? Or maybe he was just a greasy dude!?
yea I used this on my doors. Now they turn too easily and wont stay open :(
No, I wouldn't.
If I used a lube, as I said in my reply to the OP, I'd, in order:
Which seems to be the uniform response here among folks who have replied.
- Jim McLaughlin
Reply address is deliberately munged. If you really need to reply directly, try: jimdotmclaughlinatcomcastdotcom
And you know it is a dotnet not a dotcom address.
The flickering was probably being caused by the bulb threads galling on the socket threads and preventing the bulb from making that last little bit of turning needed to establish firm contact between the tip and the socket center contact. The Vaseline greased the way for it to tighten more.
But, for a light bulb lubricant......Do what I do guys...
Just use squalene, which is the oil which appears on the OUTSIDE of your nose.
Rub the base of the bulb on the side of your nose while rotating it a bit.
Squaline (nose oil) was being used as a lubricant by clockmakers long before the light bulb was invented.
Jeff
I can't see how Vaseline could cause corrosion. That's like someone suggesting that motor oil causes corrosion or that wheel grease causes bearing corrosion.
At high temperatures it can char and possibly cause conductivity problems, but in that case the Vaseline should be the least of ones worries.
Of course it does, as does any petroleum product.
Humbug. A large proportion of problems with sockets is the result of screwing the bulb to tight and deforming the center contact. Then the next person screws in a bulb and lack of good contact causes some sparking. In most cases, all you need to do is clean the center contact if it shows signs of burning and bend it back to where it is suppose to be. Most of these problems could be avoided by not screwing bulbs in like an ape.
Another humbug. Vaseline is non conductive.
I thought they used sperm oil (from the sperm whale). Gotta put this in the historical context of hunting whales and clock and watch making. People have had oil lamps long before metal clockworks were invented, so they all had a supply of oil some of which worked and some of which didn't.
You don't suppose the salt in whatever you wipe off your nose would corrode metal?
"Vaseline" is often combined with other substances, and that may not be obvious to the casual observer. You cannot ever assume that any given container labeled "Vaseline" contains a product that is non-conductive.
Here is a link that someone posted to this group a while back. I haven't tried this stuff, but it seems to be what you are looking for:
Some may laugh, but I have heard of that several times from reliable sources.
Frankly I don't have an answer to it. I have read it, I recall it being a reliable source, but I no longer remember the source and I do not recall the exact reason.
Don't laff at this one either, but If I'm suffering from dry chapped lips in the winter, using my finger to transfer some of that squalene from the outside of my nose to my lips makes them feel decidedly better.
Jeff
Nonsense. Vaseline is a tradename for petroleum jelly and is not combined with other products, otherwise it would not be Vaseline. Anything that says it is white petroleum jelly or white petrolatum USP is the same substance. It is nonconductive, just like most any pure oil or grease made from petroleum.
You have it backwards, it is other products that may not list the petroleum jelly. Petroleum jelly is used in lots of products such as mentholatum and vaporub, they may not say that the inactive ingredient is petroleum jelly.
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