Tip for Cleaning Brass Connectors on Your Fishfinder

The waves were very sloppy coming in to PC this past week and I got pretty wet coming in for the landing. I am always fighting corrosion on the brass connectors on the backside of the ff that link my ff to the battery/transducer. I've been using a small layer dielectric grease but even that will not always work. I notice today when cleaning the boat that one of the connector had rusted pretty badly.

Both the pins and the tiny holes on the connector are made or lined with brass. Brass is made of copper and zinc and it is the copper that rusts leaving that green/blue patina of copper carbonate on the surface. This is relatively easy to remove from the brass pins with a small wire brush but a real pain the arse to get out of those tiny holes. However, you can chemically strip the copper carbonate away using a weak acid solution such as household white vinegar. Using a dropper or toothpick to apply a singly drop of vinegar to the hole. It will bubble as the acid strips away. Rinse it once it stops with fresh water and repeat until the vinegar no longer bubbles. In the end you should have a relatively shiny connectors that will keep the electrons flowing.

I've had to do this several times and its worked great. Eventually I am going to run out of copper ions in the brass alloy and be left with zinc connectors but it is what it is.

Don't skimp on the dielectric grease.  I goop that stuff into the plug pin holes heavily every so often.  This has worked awesome for me so far.  I haven't seen any corrosion to date (beginning 2008) on my Cuda connections.

i'll second the dielectric grease suggestion.

I went heavy on the grease and I couldn't get enough juice to fire up the fishfinder.

If I put too much in the pin holes, and it impacts how far the connector seats I just work it in and out till it seats all the way.

I have huge problem with this. has anyone tried battery cleaner? Any thoughts on using that stuff?

uplandsandpiper.....you did not mention the brand fish finder that has the problem......

Since you have tried several things to prevent the corrosion and still have a problem......as a suggestion, why not contact the manufacturer and lay the problem in their lap?

If you can't get satisfaction with the manufacturer and you know it's only a matter of time until it croaks......I would take out my soldering iron and make permanent solder connections to the connector pins.....then epoxy seal the area.
Lastly,  cut the cables about 6" from the back side of the fish finder and solder connect "real waterproof connectors" so you can still remove the FF......at this point you have nothing to lose.

Had to order another transducer / wire combo for this very reason mostly due to neglect on my part. $60 I probably didn't need to spend. I'll try your suggestions when the new one arrives this week.

With the hardest part being trying to clean out the female connector of the cable assembly,  has anyone tried a torch tip cleaner  ?   Each wire has a slight file like texture to clean up the surface and bound to have one the right size to do the job I would imagine.

With the hardest part being trying to clean out the female connector of the cable assembly,  has anyone tried a torch tip cleaner  ?   Each wire has a slight file like texture to clean up the surface and bound to have one the right size to do the job I would imagine.

+1  .....then add a little soda pop (coke works the best) to break down the corrosion and you should be good to go....

With the hardest part being trying to clean out the female connector of the cable assembly,  has anyone tried a torch tip cleaner  ?   Each wire has a slight file like texture to clean up the surface and bound to have one the right size to do the job I would imagine.

You might need to clip off the first 1/4" or so of the tip cleaner, as some have a smooth section there to aid getting the cleaner into the torch tip.