refurbishing copper tubing

[Kevin Stenberg]

Long story short. I have to clean up some copper sheeting from corrosion that has accumulated on it from air contact. The copper will be used for marine battery connections. If I simply clean the copper with 000 steel wool to take the corrosion off of it. How can I keep the corrosion from coming back and making a loss of electrical contact?

 

[RicinYakima]

Dip the connection in a cup of baking soda and hot water. When done foaming, rinse and do it repeatedly until all the acid is neutralized. Finally, rinse in distilled water. Go to the auto parts store and buy battery terminal spray protector. Apply according to directions.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Not sure what you are attempting to do. Copper is a good conductor and it doesn't need to be bright to be a good conductor but it does need to be clean. Tarnished copper is not the problem.
Once you get the copper bonded to whatever you are electrically connecting, you can spray the connector with battery terminal spray to seal the connectors and keep air/water away from the metal.

When I install a new battery in a vehicle, I clean everything, attach the terminals and then spray the connectors to seal everything. That works well and I've had excellent results over the years.

 

[Tom]

Long story short. I have to clean up some copper sheeting from corrosion that has accumulated on it from air contact. The copper will be used for marine battery connections. If I simply clean the copper with 000 steel wool to take the corrosion off of it. How can I keep the corrosion from coming back and making a loss of electrical contact?

Dielectric grease should protect the contact areas for quite a while. Unless the sheet is paper thin I wouldn't worry about the rest of the sheet. Citric acid dissolved in water keeps tarnish at bay on brass, not sure how passivating would protect against corrosion or if it works on pure copper as opposed to pure copper.

 

[Ian]

Yup, dielectric grease. It beats that spray crap by a mile.

Citric acid solution cleans copper just like brass. Dissolve a tablespoon full of Lemi-Shine in a quart of warm water, pour into a spray bottle, and keep the copper wet with it for a while, then scrub with a wire brush and rinse clean.

 

[RicinYakima]

Chemically, using acid to loosen the corrosion is self defeating. You need a base (alkaline) to make the copper clean and neutral. It is my understanding the the stuff in the spray is simple dielectric grease in a thinning agent. FWIW

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I’m not entirely clear on what the OP is attempting to accomplish. He speaks about copper tubing in the title to the thread, copper sheet and marine battery connections in the actual post.

Most battery terminals (posts) are lead. The ends of the cables that attach to those posts can be lead, copper, brass, etc. The surfaces where those items (battery post and cable ends) meet and physically touch need to be clean and tight for a good electrical connection. Dielectric grease can be used between those two surfaces but it’s not needed provided those two surfaces are clean and tight.

Then we have all the exterior surfaces of the cable ends and battery posts that don’t involve any electrical connection. Basically, all the parts that you can see after the connection is made and just the exterior surfaces of the cable terminals and posts.

There are several methods used to keep those exterior surfaces from corroding. Some type of grease or some type of spray on coating are popular methods to protect those parts. I’ve used both but I prefer the spray-on sealers. Once you slather grease all over the battery terminals, you are pretty much committed to using grease from that point forward unless you want to go the trouble of removing all that grease. The spray-on sealants from a protective coating on those exterior surfaces and in my experience – are a lot more durable than grease. This isn’t Holy Writ, if you like using grease to protect battery terminals and that works for you – great.

 

[JonB]

Depending on what corrosion you have, I'd brush it off (steel bristle brush), then soak in hot Citric acid.
Dielectric grease sounds like the cat's meow.
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Car battery cable terminals:
For years and years, I've used plain of lithium grease when I install a new battery (after I clean the terminals). BUT, I've had to put up with my friendly neighborhood Mechanic, when he is working on my car, it's typical to disconnect the battery, and I always get the "what in the hell did you put on the battery terminals...YUK! "

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I've used both methods but I gave up on using grease on battery terminals years ago.
The problem with grease is that it: 1. Dries up eventually, 2. gets all over everything, 3. Once you put grease on the terminals, there's no switching over to the spray on sealer unless you de-grease everything, and that's a PITA., 4. you have to re-apply that grease from time to time.
I suppose one could carefully apply dielectric grease to JUST the surfaces that actually contact each other (the outside of the post and the inside of the terminal) and spray the rest, but that seems like a lot of unnecessary work.

You pretty much have to pick one method or the other and I picked the spray on sealer.

When I install a new battery I wire brush the posts & terminals with one of those round brushes made for that job. Attach the terminals, tighten them down and then spray the sealer on. Once that sealer dries, (takes about 1 minute) it stays put and everything stays clean.

 

[RicinYakima]

Glad I don't even have to think about that any more. I have the mechanic put a new battery in every four years.

 

[Ian]

Chemically, using acid to loosen the corrosion is self defeating. You need a base (alkaline) to make the copper clean and neutral. It is my understanding the the stuff in the spray is simple dielectric grease in a thinning agent. FWIW

True...in some cases. Regarding stainless steel and copper alloys, citric acid actually reduces the oxides just like grease/oil/wax or flue gas reduces lead oxides back into elemental lead. then (and I don't quite understand this part), the resulting layer is passive like bluing or nitriding steel.

The battery terminal protector sprays are either paint or foaming, porous grease in a solvent carrier. Neither are worth a damn for barring sulfuric acid or fumes thereof from the surface of metals. Silicone dielectric compound will stick, not melt or freeze off, and stays there for pretty much ever creating a robust coating on the metal to prevent acid attack or oxidation.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I am fortunate to have a very good local battery shop nearby. My truck went 7 years on the last battery and I replaced it last fall not because it was bad but out of an abundance of caution.

My tractor battery is at least 6 years old, maybe 7 ? An automatic battery tender really helps.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

The battery terminal protector sprays are either paint or foaming, porous grease in a solvent carrier. Neither are worth a damn for barring sulfuric acid or fumes thereof from the surface of metals. Silicone dielectric compound will stick, not melt or freeze off, and stays there for pretty much ever creating a robust coating on the metal to prevent acid attack or oxidation.

You do you, I'll do me. I'm done with putting grease on battery terminals.

 

[JonB]

Taking into effect, I tend to buy-sell-trade cars often, usually buying something with 150Kmi (or +200Kmi with my last two toyotas), I put about 50Kmi on them, then sell.
If I have a car long enough for the cheap box store battery to become 4 years old, I install a new one. I use enough grease, that it doesn't dry out (hence my Mechanic grumbling about it)...it does get a little dusty/dingy, but when 4 years old, it's still greasey and protecting from corrosion, and since I started doing that (somewhere around '99 or 2000), I've never had the acid corrosion like I did previously, usually showing up in 12 to 18 months of use in MN (without lithium grease)..it's frozen half the year, so maybe that's why it doesn't dry out?
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My Last car I bought ('08 RAV 4) came with a tiny battery with no date punched out. I was gonna swap it out right away, but since it wasn't going to be my primary vehicle, I just let it slide. Then of course I forgot about it. It was a O'riellys brand (super start). I finially decide to check into this, last fall, and go to the local O'riellys to have it tested last fall, still tested good. The kid tells me there is a round date sticker on it (12-16, meaning 2016), that sticker is store delivery date. I read on some toyota discussion group, that there was a 'Bulletin' about battery size for that model, and the 'book' said to change to tiny battery group but don't recall reason why? So I suspect the previous owner had that tiny one put in there six or seven years prior, and the installer had to bend the mount down bracket and add some rubber to clamp that tiny thing down.
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So, I do some measuring and buy the biggest battery I can find, that will fit into the mount down clamp (after I straighten it out), which is my typical modus operandi...for living in MN. It seems that besides the tiny battery group, there are two or three options of sizes for my RAV 4. The one I decided on, by my measurements and by what was on Menards' shelf...and it was one of those listed. I doubled checked clearance of terminals to hood, there is at least 4 inches, so that's good...Plus the plastic thingy on the Pos term.
...Now why did I tell that story? Oh well, there must have been a reason.

 

[popper]

Lead/acid batteries 'leak' acidic H2O and that is the corrosion component. Grease will solve the problem.

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

I had a 1" dia. copper pipe which I split and opened it up. For a flat piece of copper sheet.
Ian you came to my rescue again. I have Lemishine from my brass cleaning. So I have everything on hand for the cleaning process.
Thanks everyone for all of your suggestions! Kevin

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm still still not clear on what you are trying to do.
You have some copper pipe that you have turned into a sheet of copper by splitting it.
Now what?

 

[JonB]

My Guess is Kevin is making a buss bar for power connections. Or if it's a non-metal boat, then two buss bars, the other being for common/ground connections.
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If I am correct, a flattened pipe metal will work, but kind of thin. If you happen to travel near Glencoe again, I have some 1/4" thick copper scraps/strips that would be better.
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thinking a little more, I'd think SqD ground bar from a power distribution panel would be a great option as well, I think they are readily available at a home improvement store and not expensive at all.

 

[fiver]

sqd is square-D
they make house panels [boxes] for your circuit breakers.
you can simply buy the middle bar.
i know Kevin won't go buy one,, but i just wanted to clear that up.