Bad Connections on Electronic Components

Corrosion on a Circuit Board

Connection problems are indeed responsible for many problems with electronic components of all sorts and types. What can you do about bad or loose connections?

What may seem to be a loose connection, could be just that. If caught soon enough, sometimes tightening a loose connection can solve the problem. But electronic problems are more often the result of a bad connection, rather than a loose connection and can be caused by:

• Oxidation of contacts
  
  
• Corrosion of contacts
  
  
• Dirty contact surfaces
  
  
• Cross threading
  
  
• Wrong bolt or screw
  
  
• Wrong connection sizes
  
  
• Broken conductor that stands away from the fitting
  

Tightening the connection in any of the above scenarios will not fix the problem and may, very possibly, make it worse. Connections that are disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled have a higher repair success rate and it should also be noted that tightening connections as part of regular maintenance can often be the cause of the problems, not the cure.

Truly loose connections result in higher resistance which creates excess heat, one of the biggest causes of electrical fires. Load terminals that are loose when under load may result in arcing which damages the treads and causes microscopic pitting. Then, even if the terminal screws are tightened, it will not properly compress the conductor to reseat the connection and you still end up with overheating and equipment that is not operating properly.

How often should you inspect connections on your equipment?

If the area where equipment is used is climate controlled, then clean once a year. If the area is hot, dusty and there is a lot of vibration, a more frequent inspection is needed.

Once you have performed your regularly scheduled maintenance and you find that you have a problem with a connector that has become Oxidized, or any of the above mentioned problems, please send printed circuit boards, drives, servos and other electronic components to an expert electronic repair/rebuild provider, such as Combotronics.

At Combotronics we rebuild your component to Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) standards and provide a warranty to match the OEMs in most cases. Our techs are the finest in the business and work on your components with the utmost care. Please feel free to visit us on the web or call one of our customer care specialists at 800-331-1561.

Combotronics is an Industrial Electronics Repair facility. If you need electronic repair, re-manufacturing, or rebuilding, call us at 1-800-331-5941, or email us at tech@combotronicsinc.com.

Find us on Twitter (@Combotronics) and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Combotronics!


-CJ