Thanks for the level-headed reply Bill. You described three functions - grease excluding moisture, zinc as a sacrificial anode, and somehow removing aluminum oxide by sanding.
Here on this list I have been persuaded that the grease excluding moisture is likely a good idea. Pick one that won't dry or bake out. I can't for the life of me figure out why a highly resistive dielectric grease (mentioned by others) is a better choice than a conductive grease...noalox is essentially a conductive grease given the Zn content. If you really do exclude the moisture then the zinc would be redundant, seems like. With aluminum, you just cannot expose bare un-oxidixed metal, it is not possible to do this, so I am not happy with the sanding idea. The sanding has to be helpful on some other basis if it is indeed helpful. Be interesting if someone has compared greased un-sanded to greased and sanded. I suppose if you used really fine grit paper you might actually improve intimate mechanical contact, but I have my doubts. I admit I have not yet used any cells with aluminum terminals. One pack has all the cells welded to stainless steel strips, the other are what look like stainless or nickel plated something, stamped and formed with a tapped holes (38120 size cells). I have a group of used Thundersky cells, but I have not used them yet. On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 11:17 AM, Bill Dube via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > Here is an article describing how to make aluminum to copper connections, > and when to use (and when not to use) oxide inhibiting paste: > http://www.stabiloy.com/NR/rdonlyres/AD9F20D3-FA28-4662- > A013-A154C569435C/0/AluminumBuildingWireInstallationandTerminations.pdf > > The cell manufacturer gives no guidance as to the use of oxide inhibiting > paste, so one must try it both ways. I tried it without Noalox, and then > with Noalox. > > I have installed cells without the light sanding and paste, and the > connections were unsatisfactory. They got quite hot. The car performed > poorly and had limited range. The cells would not balance well. I then > performed the "lightly sand and apply Noalox" procedure, and did nothing > else, and all those issues vanished. No additional torque. No added or > removed components. No change whatsoever than to lightly sand and to add > Noalox. > > Some time later, a friend had identical issues with his conversion, and I > recommended the same treatment. He performed the "lightly sand and Noalox" > procedure, and it cured his issues in the identical manner as it had cured > mine. > > I now routinely use Noalox and I have not had any high resistance > connections. > > The Noalox prevents galvanic corrosion between the dissimilar metals in > the terminal by excluding moisture. Additionally, it has zinc particles > that provide a sacrificial anode, further guarding against corrosion > between the copper, aluminum, and the stainless steel bolt. In theory, this > is what one does to prevent galvanic corrosion. It also appears to work in > practice as well. > > I have actually done the experiment, and the results agree with theory. If > anyone else has performed a similar experiment and had contradictory > results, then I would enjoy hearing about it. > > Bill D. > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/ > group/NEDRA) > > -- Put this question to yourself: should I use everyone else to attain happiness, or should I help others gain happiness? *Dalai Lama * Tell me what it is you plan to do With your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver, "The summer day." To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas A. Edison <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasaed125362.html> A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. *Warren Buffet* Michael E. Ross (919) 550-2430 Land (919) 576-0824 <https://www.google.com/voice/b/0?pli=1#phones> Google Phone (919) 631-1451 Cell (919) 513-0418 Desk michael.e.r...@gmail.com <michael.e.r...@gmail.com> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20140731/dc0ba8a0/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
