CRC contact cleaners.

gary7

gary7

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Ok. Was watching a video on cleaning pots on a Marantz. Mentioned carbon traced pots and that Caig's D5 should not be used. F5 should be used. This is something I never knew, not being an repair expert. No one in my town sells Caig's. Only thing available is CRC cleaners. There are 2 different types. CRC Contact & CRC Electronic cleaner. What's the difference & can it damage any of the usual pots, including carbon pots? How can I tell which are carbon pots?

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amazon sells caig.

i use the crc electronic cleaner along with d5 and f5 and 99% alcohol. i have not damaged a pot with crc yet. not to say that one day i may learn a hard lesson by using it but until it happens to me, i will continue to use it along with caig products on carbon .

different jobs require different chemicals, there is no 1 can fits all.
 
painttoad said:
amazon sells caig.

i use the crc electronic cleaner along with d5 and f5 and 99% alcohol. i have not damaged a pot with crc yet. not to say that one day i may learn a hard lesson by using it but until it happens to me, i will continue to use it along with caig products on carbon .

different jobs require different chemicals, there is no 1 can fits all.
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Well, I've used D5 for most everything. Faderlube for slides. I've never noticed any issue. As said, mainly use CRC now. The video I watched was first I've ever heard of carbon pots. As I seldom, if ever replace pots, I'm not surprised. So the carbon pots I used D5 might be a ticking bomb? How would I tell what enclosed pots are carbon or not? And as vintage receivers have about dried up around here I might not need worry. LOL
 
Both D5 and F5 have a certain percentage of solvent in them that can be damaging to some pots or faders. I purchase 100% Deoxit and Fader and mix them roughly 50/50 with 92% isopropyl alcohol and have never had either cause any damage. Another odd thing I have experienced was using F100 as a lock lubricant. I had a frozen lock in my sliding door lock. With nothing lock related available I lubed the lock with a little bit of full strength Fader. That was over 8 years ago and the lock is still fine.
 
I have both. I clean very noisy pots with crc and follow up with f5. Seems to work well.
 
I've used CRC QD for nearly all my service as its readily available and plastic safe. I think Deoxit can be more effective, especially with all the varieties available, but the CRC works. I typically soak, the work the switch/pot back and forth a bit, respray, vacuum and then follow with the CRC electrical lubricant (forget what it's called). Sometimes takes a few applications but I've never had it cause problems.
 
gary7 said:
...So the carbon pots I used D5 might be a ticking bomb? How would I tell what enclosed pots are carbon or not? ...
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I think most vintage audio controls (tone and volume) are going to be carbon. There are conductive plastic, cermet and wire-wound as well. Not sure, but the construction of the cermet (multi-turn trimmer) and conductive plastic may be more of a sealed container style.

The typical carbon would be the open style at the terminals. Wire-wound, I usually see, are open construction style for heat dissipation.

But I'm sure there are others. YMMV.
 
CRC QD Electronics works well to clean pots, but it doesn't replace the lube. They also sell a Precision Lube product, forget the number, that you can use a small amount of after using the QD to put that back.
 
A 2226 will have conductive plastic pots, not carbon. I can tell you from working on dozens and dozens of them that DN5 is perfectly safe on Marantz 22xx series pots.
 
The Caig site specifically states that the Fader F series is for use on: "Carbon-based controls (potentiometers) and membrane switches (mouse pointers, touch keypads)".

It is also used for "Lubrication/protection of plastic-to-plastic parts (faders)"

None of their other products specifically state that they are for use on carbon based controls. I used a small (25ml) bottle of F100 on all my pots for many years and it works great with no worries about screwing up a nearly irreplaceable potentiometer.

https://caig.com/fader-f-series/
 
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tarior said:
A 2226 will have conductive plastic pots, not carbon. I can tell you from working on dozens and dozens of them that DN5 is perfectly safe on Marantz 22xx series pots.
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Gonna make my head explode. That's what the guy on the video said. Starts about 15:00 into the video talking about it.

 
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