Rust... :) .... had to 'repair' my key lol...

[captainslarty]

Just a note for us 'nautical' users
My pds 'key' stopped functioning.... so had to strip it and investigate....

Now, no worries, I appreciate there is probably no-one using it in a nautical environent

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The issue was slight accumulation of green 'substance' on the internal PCB and connector, that is what you get when you mix electronics with a salty (slarty ?) air...

Also, the usb casing is not corrosion proof... (I dont think any of them are.. )

Toothbrush and Servisol, 2 coats of PCB Laquer.... bit of insulating tape to hold the case together

All working great now... the case fell apart too lol,... but, back to A1...


I was worried for a moment

[Maverick]

You could pot the electronics part in clear resin and flash gold the contacts and receptacle , that should help proof it from boat conditions.

http://www.goldn.co.uk/ not cheap but sea air (salt) wont affect gold

[captainslarty]

You could pot the electronics part in clear resin and flash gold the contacts and receptacle , that should help proof it from boat conditions.

http://www.goldn.co.uk/ not cheap but sea air (salt) wont affect gold

Hi Mav

ACTUALLY, the gold plate is NOT good, I speak only through experience of gold plated (24k) contacts, on brass, for fuse holders that were supposed to be the b all and end all for 'yotties'---
bottom line, it caused MORE green 'gunge' than anything I have ever used before....
The trouble, and I know this is in your sphere of expertise, is galvanic interaction, when one uses 'wiring' , ie COPPER, then try to provide the best, ie, 'tinned', then, add that to gold plated stuff, you get some marvelous interactions lol ... seriously ...it is weird, the results, not what one would expect.

I can assure you that sea air DOES effect gold, but, in reality, due to the limited plating thickness and use of connectors that possibly displace the plating. And of course, the underlying metals.

It is a no win situation really... Tinned copper is recommended for marine use, however, it depends what you connect that to ? ...

When the boat was built, in 1978, it used standard household 2 and 3 core UK 1.5 mm flex cable.. and it lasted for darn year 30 years.. the replacement stuff was all Brit Standard, Kite Mark, Marine yada yada... and it has not held up well... Most of the issue is keeping moisture out.. often with, as you say, potting, or coating....

I don't think there is, yet, a solid solution... apart from epoxy lol...

it is just one of those small issues one has to put up with haha..

[Maverick]

hmm you'd expect a 24 carat gold plate to withstand most anything as its the most noble metal , maybe too thin a plate was to blame or what they touted as a 24 carat plate was actually 18 carat. Pure gold should resist galvanic corrosion quite well in theory.

[g6osv]

At least you are the first to go green on pds.
Iab G6OSV

[captainslarty]

At least you are the first to go green on pds.
Iab G6OSV

Lol ..

@Mav, yeah, I think you are correct, the plating is so thin, that attaching or removing things damages the plating, hence the corrosion from the underlying metals.