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One of the pins inside my iPhone has corroded my dad said to put a little bit of WD40 on the contacts his an engineer but to me oil on electrical contacts sounds wrong my friend said use alcohol too, who should I listen to?

ben
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  • Are you sure it's "corroded"? Usually lightning connectors quit because of pocket lint. – Spehro Pefhany Feb 09 '20 at 03:43
  • @SpehroPefhany one of the pins on the male connector looks as if it has been corroded, it’s a dark grey instead of gold – ben Feb 09 '20 at 04:06
  • I've never had any issue with WD40. But ideally, power off the phone before cleaning. WD40 is totally dielectric. – Natsu Kage Feb 09 '20 at 04:19
  • If you’re going to put junk on it I would prefer silicone oil. – Spehro Pefhany Feb 09 '20 at 04:29
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    Don't use WD40. It can penetrate into and degrade certain plastics and it leaves a residue that will collect dust and other particulates. Use ordinary isopropyl alcohol (a.k.a., isopropanol) to clean the contacts and then dry thoroughly before reconnecting your charging cord. (FWIW, I worked for about nine years as an electronics technician in USAF Type IIA/IIB PMEL/metrology labs, and now I'm a practicing electrical and computer engineer. I've seen all kinds of problems in electronic equipment caused by persons who applied improper cleaning products onto electrical contacts/components.) – Jim Fischer Feb 09 '20 at 04:31
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    Back in the day, before anyone knew much about the impact on polar partial pressures of stratospheric species of oxygen, we'd just use a boiling bath of CFC-11 or CFC-12. But today, we don't want to do that. So Jim's comment about isopropanol is exactly correct. There are two common varieties: 70% and 99%. You want the 99% version and ***not*** the 70%. Unfortunately, in the ever-penny-pinching US, the 99% is increasingly difficult to find in your grocery store. But look for it, anyway. And if you can't find it, find a source that does carry it. You don't want to add water and impurities. – jonk Feb 09 '20 at 08:08
  • @Ben, you need to learn how to use capital letters and punctuation in the right places in your writing. – Transistor Feb 09 '20 at 10:02
  • Sometimes a lubricant on a contact is a good idea. Look up "fretting corrosion" to find out more. Although oil is an insulator people say the pressure of the metal contacts will displace the oil and make good contact. The oil then will keep oxygen away from the metal and help preserve the low contact resistance. One of the drawbacks of lubricating contacts on things like iphone connectors is that lint and dust get stuck on the contacts whenever disconnected. – electrogas Jul 06 '21 at 04:44

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As commented by @Natsu Kage WD40 is a dielectric and a mighty one, it has a dielectric strength of 35kV per 0.10" (2.54mm) (that is the maximum voltage that can be applied it before it goes into breakdown or loses its insulating properties), so applying WD40 on the pins of your phone will only help if they are currently wet, which I doubt, as WD40 stands for Water Displacer. Just take a look at this WD40 video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JKG2O5KXlI you'll be able to read at the end where your father probably got the idea that it could help.

What works wonders for me on corroded contacts (as long as there is still metal on them) is an ink eraser (the ones that come in two colors, one side is for pencil and the other one for ink).

In your case you might need to cut a thin piece of it so it can fit into the area of the pins, and then just carefully "erase" the dirt and corrosion off of it. The eraser being plastic, is not as abrasive as sand paper but it will still effectively remove the corroded top layer that is stopping the pins from making good contact. You don't need to do it to hard of too long, usually 4 or 5 passes are enough.

Just make sure to clear off any left over debris before attempting to plug it back in, you don't want to push in any debris, which the eraser will definitively leave behind.

ISL
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  • Welcome. Thank you for trying to help by answering a question. The abbreviation for kilovolts is kV, and the capitalization matters, because Kv is something different and KV leaves people guessing. Dielectric strength is measured in volts per meter (or volts per other unit of length). Saying that the dielectric strength of a liquid is 35 KV doesn't seem very meaningful. I am sure a thin film of WD-40, or even a thick film won't hold back 35 kV. – user57037 Jul 05 '21 at 21:12
  • Thanks @mkeith I updated my answer with 35kV per 0.10" (2.54mm) – ISL Jul 06 '21 at 02:18