Blue Loctite

[vifferman]

Is blue Loctite (2440) electrical conductive or insulating?

The reason I ask, is I have a battery terminal that's a mental one, and has a stud screwed into the post, and the battery lead is fastened onto the stud with a nut and washer. The stupid thing keeps loosening up, providing an intermittent electrical connection, and I wondered if dribbling some loctite into it would help.

Alternatively, is there summat else I could use? Yes, I know I could get a new battery or get an auto-electrician to fix it, but the battery is newish, and I want to avoid spending money. It's my son's car, I wasn't there when the battery dude fitted the battery so he did a crap job. My son already owes me 17 bajillion shekeldollars so I don't want to increase that any more by chucking money at it. Besides, I'm very much a DIY kinda guy, even though I *hate* working on cars.

[vifferman]

The thread isn't the main conducting surface there, so should be fine.

Hmmm... that sort of what I thought.
Thanx!

[F5 Dave]

Just make sure it isn't leaving a film. It isn't hugely conductive. Play this game at work. (though very unlikely to be a prob on such large components).

[ElCoyote]

Just make sure it isn't leaving a film. It isn't hugely conductive. Play this game at work. (though very unlikely to be a prob on such large components).

It won't be long before Michael Cullen (Alfred E Newman) revalues (Stuffs) the dollar and you boy owes you 20+ gazillion dollars or we align with Ethiopa. Write it off now.

[Wired1]

Loctite in any quantity is an insulator so avoid getting it between the post and the lead or terminal. Other solutions would be a nylock nut instead of the standard one - it's probably metric - or a more permanent and harder to reverse option is to solder the lug on the end of the battery lead to the post. Use a big soldering iorn though and not a gas torch!

[F5 Dave]

It won't be long before Michael Cullen (Alfred E Newman) revalues (Stuffs) the dollar and you boy owes you 20+ gazillion dollars or we align with Ethiopa. Write it off now.

Thanks, that's probably fabulous advise & terribly insightful, . . but I have absolutely no idea how it relates to what I just said. I'd send you some bling, but I think if I think about this too much longer my head will implode.

[vifferman]

It turns out I was wrong about how the terminal was connected - it just appeared to be screwed in. In reality, it's a cap with a threaded bolt that hammers down over a standard battery post. But the guy fitted it badly, so I took it all apart, cleaned and tightened one up and hammered it back on.

[Fatjim]

don't forget to smear some vaseline from you emergancy kit over the terminals to stop that nasty rash.

[vifferman]

don't forget to smear some vaseline from you emergancy kit over the terminals to stop that nasty rash.

That'll have to wait until the new earth leads are fitted tonight.
The one with the positive jolts is fine - the clampy thingo (technical term) is gold-plated.