KEEP GETTING GREEN PASTY CRAP ON POSITIVE POST WHEN CHARGING

[Muddy]

Hey Fellas I have a Everstart group 27 deepcycle battery. This is for my trolling motor, which is my only source of propulsion, since I fish a TM motor only lake.

 The last several time I charged it I have this greeen, pasty/putty like stuff around the positive post, where the butterfly nut is that the cables go to. What is this? How do I clean it off? The Battery is holding a charge and I scapped it off twice but it keeps coming back with every charge

[Wyattsdad13]

I have had a couple batteries in the past do that persistently when they were going bad. That may have just been bad timing I dont know. What I did find out is that we are not supposed to use bare copper lugs on the battery terminals, they should be plated with silver, that is most likely the cause, copper does funny things with dissimilar metals and electricity. You can put that protective spary on them, but it will still be a problem.

[Muddy]

Thanks I usually get 3 years out of them, and the battery may be done after this season. Come to think of it the last battery did the same thing at seasons end and would not hold a full charge the following spring.

I just screw these down onto the copper wires from the TM, so you are saying not to do this

Fishfordollars and my friend Miguel told me to clean it off with Coke( The liquid kind) because the acid in the coke will take care of the acid residue.

[Wyattsdad13]

i have beeen doin a lot of digging since my current ride will carry a 36v setup and i want to take care of my investment, i crossed paths with a guy that does solar power backup systems and he was the one that clarified with me the importance of the silver plated/tinned copper lugs, you dont have to do it, but i agree with him after noticing how they performed on some of my later model stuff, my truck, the garden tractor and generator have them, when the tractor battery died, it corroded, it ate off some of the plating, i cleaned it  and sealed it with the battery terminal spray protector, any battery place will have it, as far as a counttry cleaner, coke will do a lot of things, but you are much better off making a paste of baking soda and water, this will get things really clean, rinse with water and dry thoroughly, seal with the red spray when you are done, we used to use grease when we were young, the spray is a lot cleaner way to go.

[Muddy]

Thanks. Miguel suggested ( He mananged a Truck repair shop for years) that I first clean it with something acidic, as like dissolves like,coke or white vinegar. Then to wash both terminals with the baking soda, as this will stop the corrisive effect of the acid and he did give me a can of the post protector stuff

My next battery will be a sealed gel/mesh system!

[llPa1nll]

Thanks. Miguel suggested ( He mananged a Truck repair shop for years) that I first clean it with something acidic, as like dissolves like,coke or white vinegar. Then to wash both terminals with the baking soda, as this will stop the corrisive effect of the acid and he did give me a can of the post protector stuff

My next battery will be a sealed gel/mesh system!

Muddy

I have found if you purchase the felt battery terminal cleaner/protectors shown here. They can be found at any decent auto parts stores in your area and here they are about $2. Clean off your terminals and connectors and slide these on and tight down connectors to the terminals and they work real well hope this helps.

[Bad Fish]

Most likely a loose or dirty connection,,,,clean them with terman al cleaner and then spray with corosion inhibitor (Auto parts store) after tightened..

[Muddy]

Thank you much. The corrision is not taking place on the terminal posts but on the screw on little posts, which are sivler metal in color and i think the issue of the bare copper wire ends going onto them maybe the issue.

[Wyattsdad13]

There are a couple other things, bare copper in any humid/moist enviorment is not a good idea. Marine wire and lugs are normally tinned and have a better insulation to resist corrosion. Cost is the big factor for most of us and maintenance can help us avoid the top dollar tinned wire and hardware. My concern is that you noted that you had wrapped strands at a post, I take that to mean no lug on the end of that wire. This needs to be corrected to a permanent and sealed lug connection as soon as possible. That green pasty corrosion unchecked, will wick just like a candle up under the insulation and ruin that wire, it may even cause it to fail leaving you stranded best case, worst case which could result in a fire. It also sounds like there is not a breaker in your system to break the comnnection when needed. A suitable breaker should be added when you make up the lugs. I dont mean to fuss, but fire on the water is scary stuff, I dont like to risk that one in any way.  I had a fusible link burn in a car one time, it takes no time to make a heck of a mess and on a boat it could be worse.

[Raul]

Muddy you can get a small pack of terminal grease at any AutoZone, that grease stops the salt build up.

[kikstand454]

go to your local electric supply house and ask them for penatrox. u have to use it by code for aluminum wire to lug and aluminum wire to copper (when would you ever do that?) connections when wiring houses. (commercial buildings dont use aluminum...).

this will protect your terminals from corrosion. also make sure your connections are tight and that there is no bare copper. tape it up.

im an electrician, and i approve this message ;D

[Muddy]

You may be an electrician and I appreciate the input , but boats and houses are 2 different animals.

  I have owned Motorcraft and Min Kota TM's, both brands have copper wires going from the motor to little copper terminal clips. These clips go onto the battery which is made out of some sort of silver butterfly type lug/post deal, next to the charging posts. It really is not that unusual for alumium to touch copper in these situations