Lubricate USB and Audio Outputs?

Boris_yo

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Messages
224
Hello, hello

Is there a lubricant for electronics?
USB and 3.5mm audio outputs are a bit hard to plug into. I would be fine with USB ones but not with 3 5mm audio. I heard how people had audio plugs breaking inside and getting stuck...

WD-40? Nah... Sewing machine oil? Carefully with qtip?
 

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Well, with a q-tip you get the risk of strands of cotton getting pulled off by the little elastic contact plates inside and act as an insulator.
While I haven't heard of lubricating audio ports for this reason, I do sometimes use a deoxidizing solution specifically designed and sold for this purpose. I also give it an hour to evaporate before use.
Mechanically, if you start prying apart the plates inside the socket, you can easily produce the opposite result - a plug not making full contact. Both ends will eventually adjust to one another with time and use, as long as the user doesn't handle them in an ape-like fashion.

Edit: most of the time, when I grasp a 3,5 jack audio plug with my fingertips, I do so right where they enter the socket. That way, I can pull the plug out of the socket while simultaneously having 'leverage' - pushing down onto the socket area with part of the fingertip. With wall power devices, I do the same, some fingers pull the plug, the rest push onto the wall socket so it doesn't rip out of the wall.
 
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While I haven't heard of lubricating audio ports for this reason, I do sometimes use a deoxidizing solution specifically designed and sold for this purpose.

This one doesn't meet criteria?
 

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This one doesn't meet criteria?
Yes I think that's the good kind.

I have a can of a cleaner that also smells like smuggled vodka (petroleum+alcohol) and is safe. It says the one you're looking at can remove flux, which is also an indicator it is probably analogous to the stuff I have - I use it combined with a toothbrush to clean things I soldered.
Mine is made in PL though, 300ml, I've been using the same can for like 7 years. And it also says it's an alternative to CFC.
So, yes, I think that'd be the best kind.
Safer to wait for anyone else to weigh in, though.
 
It is better than 70% alcohol because it gives lubrication?
It helps remove any dirt, dust, oxidation.
It's not supposed to leave anything on the contact surface.

Again, This shouldn't even be a problem, unless it's a very old system, or the port/plug is already faulty.
It's pretty rare to have the jack and socket mismatched so bad it needs any lubrication. As you can see in the pic, most have elastic contacts already. Nothing in there should 'scrape' badly enough to need lube.

If you're concerned about the plug simply breaking inside the socket, the easiest way is simply to leave some cable slack. Don't let it hang in the air and thus constantly pull at the plug.
 

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Elastic contacts have elastic coating?
he means the springs in that fancy audio jack pic. most jacks is just use a piece of shaped metal to act like a spring to hold the contacts in place. thats why i say they will only loosen up with use, you need to repeatedly flex em a bit so they arent as tight, by inserting/removing a jack.

xbox-one-s-controller-audio-headphone-jack-model-1708-replacement-port-35mm.jpg
 
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