Protectant for unplated copper connectors?

[+Larry]

I have a 1200XL cartridge extender, and unfortunately, it came with no plating on the edge connectors that fit into the recessed cartridge port.  The connectors were left as straight copper, and it corrodes fairly quickly.  That necessitates cleaning with an abrasive eraser.  Is there anything that I can do to protect it from oxidation?  I've applied Pro Gold, but it doesn't seem to help much.  Any ideas?

[+Stephen]

You could apply the tiniest amount of solder, but remember - anything that gets added could make the contacts too thick which could then damage the cart connector.  I have done this in the past though.  What you can do, is when applying the solder with one hand, use a damp sponge to wipe it off.  This will leave the thinnest of coatings.

[Mclaneinc]

Yeah, be very careful of how much you use, at the very least it will force open the attached devices socket making that same device loosely connecting and another non adjusted edge conn, it might even make some of the connectors not connect and then you have to bend the sockets spring connectors risking breaking them.

[BillC]

19 minutes ago, Stephen said:

You could apply the tiniest amount of solder, but remember - anything that gets added could make the contacts too thick which could then damage the cart connector.  I have done this in the past though.  What you can do, is when applying the solder with one hand, use a damp sponge to wipe it off.  This will leave the thinnest of coatings.

Solderwick could also be used to reduce the thickness of the solder coating.

[ivop]

1 hour ago, BillC said:

Solderwick could also be used to reduce the thickness of the solder coating.

Haha, I was about to say that. It really works very well.

[+Larry]

Sounds like a good plan.  I'll practice on a dead cartridge.

[Panther]

I've seen a gold coating application for circuit connectors, but I don't remember the name of it.  Gold doesn't oxidize.

 

[+bf2k+]

There used to be this stuff called Cramolin. I don't know if it is still around but I used to treat my Road Mixers (band equipment) with it and it worked well.  I remember it was expensive.

[Chri O.]

I use this stuff on bare PCB copper it works like a charm but I'm not sure about connectors.

 

[Rybags]

Maybe liquid silver as in from a small vial or demister repair pen.

But I suspect inserting and removing would probably wear it off pretty quickly.

 

Of course for exposed traces there's solder mask but you can't use that were a conductive contact is needed.

 

Maybe dielectric grease?  Inserting would wipe most of it off but probably still give contact and protection at the same time.

[Draxxs]

I agree with Chri on the MG Chemicals tin plating. I used to make a bunch of pcb's at home.  Used that to coat and protect the boards.