Super Silver Treatment - Contact Enhancer

Anyone tried this?



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1499&item=5733848607&rd=1

 

Nope, but caig progold does the same job for rather less. I'm sure people will debate which sounds better...

By cleaning connections, I've measured a drop of around 0.6 ohms on a probe set at work, so it might be worthwhile for speakers. Not going to make much diff for I/Cs.

 

I think i would be very carefull about where i put that magic silver paste, especially if there is any chance of it migrating somewhere were it souldn't , such as a busy circuit board with lots of IC's, I would imagine that it could wreak havoc on a computer CPU socket

Surprisingly for me I really like the Caig cleaning and treatment products. We have started using both Pro-Gold and De-Oxit D5 on some troublesome switches and contacts on our Aircraft to good effect, the results are often measurable too with just a normal Fluke meter, It's certainly got me out of a few sticky situations recently. Even my strictly non-Hi-Fi work buddies are starting to swear by it, with no hardsell by me. I just happened to leave one of their product guides in the office one day, (this also means i get a free squirt if ever i need any ).

 

is it any wonder those on the east coast are seen as mean

 

i use it.

i treated with it all power male pligs (not IECs), interconnects, speaker cable's spades and power amp tubes' pins.

to be honest i didn't notice audible improvements.

it did fix noises that i had in some tube sockets - which is very good.

i also have to put it on preamp's tubes' pins - but i don;t have a nerve for this right now

 

I use the ProGold stuff at the moment. I'd seen the SST stuff before but now it seems to have gained a good review in HFW, comparing it favourably to Kontak, which is why I thought I'd see if anyone had used it. Interesting to hear your comments Croc, I'd in particular wondered about using in on mains plugs. Out of interest, why did you not use it on the IEC ends?

Interesting point Isaac, if you'd asked me before I'd have guessed it more important on ICs, but you're right of course. Any small resistance differences are going to be far more significant in the speaker circuit.

 

Interested in the topic (as an old polymer man), I did a bit of looking around and came up with this:

http://www.stabilant.com./appnt15h.htm

I hadn't realised that an inherently non-conductive polymer such as a polyoxyalkylene block copolymer (very common in the surfactants business) could, under certain circumstances (electrical field and very narrow gap) become conductive. Must look into it when I have the time...

Note that, according to the manufacturers' claims, because it will only be conductive in narrow gaps, and anything outside the gaps will not conduct, it won't matter if you splash on more than you meant.

 

"By cleaning connections, I've measured a drop of around 0.6 ohms on a probe set at work, so it might be worthwhile for speakers. Not going to make much diff for I/Cs."

Aren't the results going to depend on how dirty the connection is in the first place?
Buy the way a dirty interconnect does benefit.

 

I came across it on the web a few months ago. HiFi World has also recently reviewed it (Edit: Ah! should have followed the e-bay link first!), and was very positive. Note that it's not a cleaner but a contact enhancer i.e. it claims to conduct electrical current, and as such should be used very carefully, though Tones is no doubt right.
The website's here

 

spxy- yes, absolutely they will depend on how dirty things are to begin with. However, the number I gave was simply to demonstrate the sort of magnitude of change.

For an IC passing essentially zero current with an input impedance of tens of kilohms, a fraction of an ohm will have little effect. Other effects may be present.

However, for a speaker cable carrying significant current into a load of 4-8ohms, there is potential for a magnitude as high as 10%, which is significant.

 

Is this issue not complicated somewhat by the pressence of the silver flakes withing the compound? I had assumed it was this that gave rise to the risk of shorts the manufacturer mentions.

Eisenach - thanks for posting the link I should have bothered to track down when I started this thread! I see they're now selling, for double the price, a cryogenically treated form .

 

There is an enhanced version of this stuff, I've had some for a while, jury's out I'm afraid

 

The one in the link I supplied has no silver flakes whatsoever, just straight polymer.

The thing that puzzles me about the silver is this; it's in a compound, so the individual flakes must be coated with the compound. This must surely disrupt conductivity, as a layer of compound will always interpose itself between the individual silver flakes, unless the compound itself is conductive. In which case, why bother with silver? I begin to wonder whether the silver is purely a gimmick, and that the manufacturer is relying on the fact that silver is known to be the best conductor of electricity and for people to assume that this superior conductivity also works here.

 

Interesting point tones.

In the weird world of computer overclocking, silver-loaded pastes are used to fill out microscopic gaps between chip surfaces and heatsinks. These pastes are around 80% silver by mass, but they are non-conductive. They are, however, capacitive.

However, the reason silver is used in these pastes is similar... in addition to being the best conductor of electricity, it is the best conductor of heat.

 

Yet another potion that we have tried in our war against corrosion and bad contacts in the Aeroplane world. Have you seen how much that stuff costs !
You get a poxy little plastic container about the size of a big 'super glue' tube and a few little application brushes for about £60. I managed to 'borrow' a small amount one dark night from work, luckily it uses IPA as a carrier, so a little goes a long way. It doesn't seem to do anything apart from make all of your connections slimy.

My god I'm a potion Junkie without even realising it, i think i've tried them all now over the years If i had to spend money on any one , Hmm OK De-Oxit D5 is my choice. I still have the original can that i bought about 3 years ago, it lasts forever.

 

Wot you mean the defence of the realm could be hanging on what might be hi-fi snake oil? :duck:

 

Nah, I left the Air Force 9 years ago now, although i continued to work on Fast Jets (as 'Fighters' are commonly called ) for another 4 years.
I/We use it sparingly (and with full authority I might add ), on a different class of Aircraft, as a switch or electrical contact cleaner. It usually works quite well.

 

I believe Dr Malcom Hawksford tested Tweek [another similair brand] many years ago and found it did what it said on the tin ie same results as Tone has previously mentioned.

So who sells the cheapest/longest lasting of these contact improvers??