I -mailed Litchfield station about a power pickup problem. He suggested a little “conductive oil” would help. I’ve never heard of conductive oil. Who makes it and here can I get it?
Thanks
CRC 2-26. Just a dab is all that is needed
Atlas makes something called Conductalube. Having worked in the electrical field my entire life, there is nothing better for electrical conductivity than clean and dry. Make sure all contact surfaces are clean, dry (no oil) and the contacts are exerting the proper pressure. An oily residue will cause arcing, even at the low voltages used in model railroading, and will lead to carbon buildup faster.
The crc product is made for electrical contacts. It stops carbon build up from arcing and prevents oxidation. That’s why litchfield station suggested that type of product.
Thanks a lot. Now where can I get this stuff?
I have used CRC products 2-26, 3-36 and 5-56 on lever contacts in signal interlocking machines, switch machines and automatic train stop equipment. It caused more problems with oily residue and carbon buildup that had to be cleaned more often than the required 30 day maintenance cycle. Using a TV tuner type cleaner with a lint free chamois cloth cut down on the problem.
One place I liked CRC was when my spark plug wires and distributor cap in my vehicles would have moisture on them on a humid day and cause the spark to leak to ground. A spray of CRC would last for a couple of weeks until I could replace them. In this case using CRC repelled the moisture and improved the insulation of the wires
Try WAHL’S CLIPPER OIL. It really does work at eliminating the arching that causes 99% of dirty track issues. You can get it at Walmart for under 5 bucks. One bottle will probably last you 15 years.
I was a skeptic years ago. How can dropping oil onto your track make everything better? It just didn’t make any sense. My club attends numerous shows through out the year and we usually clean our track 4 to 6 times a day. One of our club members read about clipper oil and we decided to try it at our next show. We went the whole weekend without cleaning our track and our loco’s lights never flickered. The next show we attended we never touched the track either. We went from constantly using a Bright Boy to nothing. Try it, you got nothing to lose.
CRC can be found at home depot.
Our club and others put a small amount down and let the trains distribute it throughout the layout. As a result we only clean the track a couple of times a year.