conductive rubber paint? alternative?

[Como]

i need a miracle substance. Much like copper paint (rear-defrost repair) only rubbery.

Bad power connection inside the laptop. not on the board, its the center pin maing bad contact with ground.

Cant solder it for the life of me, but i can paint on it. ive used the rear defrost paint a few times, but it just dries and cracks off. (which cant be good, letting those conductive paint chips float around...)

i need something thats gonna STAY, and conduct electricity. ive tried a few so-called copper compounds, apparently none of them are conductive. Conductive epoxy would probably do it, but its a bit solid and might crack off... so the best thing i can think of is conductive paint on rubber.

Does such a material exist at a reasonable price? i cant stand holding this power plug at just the right angle anymore.

 

[four4875]

you could slab on some solder on the pin, to thicken it, or even wrap small gauge wire around it then solder it so it stays in place. or just replace the socket. possibly put a roll of foil inside the plug to snug that up?


as to what you wanted, i have no idea of something that could do that. maybe a silver paint would be, but i doubt it.

edit: and also, maybe squeezin it with a pair of needle nose pliars, so it starts to flatten out and get wider. just an idea, but might break it completely off or somethin.

 

[Como]

the problem isnt between the pin and the barrel plug, its a problem between the pin and the stupid little housing. theres really nothing to hold it in there, looks like the end of it was just flattened like a rivet. Cant get solder to stick to it though. at all.

Replacing the socket isnt too much of an option, its surrounded by delicate hardware, any means of desoldering and resoldering the entire plug would probably result in heat damage.

My father reccomended flux to try soldering to it. i have to admit, ive NEVER tried flux. Id rather not try and solder it because i have to take so much apart to get in to it to the point where i can solder it, but as a last resort im willing.

i can get to the back enough to paint it or even apply a substance, though.
Something else someone mentioned is JB weld. That would probably be perfect IF it was conductive, which i dont think it is.

 

[adamwinn]

Flux for sure. It makes soldering in tight spaces much much easier. Just gotta make sure that things are clean before you apply the flux.

 

[four4875]

i would suggest scratchin the surface nice and shiny before trying to solder as well.

 

[Reefa_Madness]

Something else someone mentioned is JB weld. That would probably be perfect IF it was conductive, which i dont think it is.

Its not...says so right on the package.

 

[Como]

heh, thanks. unfortunately the package that goes with the JB i have is long gone.

 

[Pyros]

How about using the conductive paint again and then using liquid electrical tape to cover it? shouldnt flake off then.

 

[Como]

might not flake off, but it will still break contact.... i suppose with LOTS of it the flakes would still condict electricity, but thats not good enough.

you see, because of the poor contact, its forcing the electronics to work harder to get power to the battery. this, in turn, is making the socket extreemely hot, and heating the plug as well.... to the point where the plastic inside of it melts, and it gets larger on the inside, which in turn gives more play room for the pin...which makes worse contact.... its a pretty gross cycle.
Somehow i dont think paint chips being held by electrical tape would transfer enough electricity to solve the heat...
this amount of heat is bad. it would easily melt the tape... so i dont think that would do. But i have considered it.

 

[Pyros]

Ahh, ok I didnt understand the problem completely I guess. Need to read better.

Conductive Silver Epoxy
http://store.yahoo.com/webtronics/epelconsil83.html
Another conductive epoxy they sell
http://store.yahoo.com/webtronics/2400.html
Heres the company page
http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8331.html

They list other retailers for the product. I just kinda picked one to give a example of cost.

Maybe one of theses can help. I dont know if they may flake off or not but you can contact mg chemicals to find out.


*EDIT* Found a flexable silver conductive epoxy, but no pricing. Sold only through the manufacturer. Looks interesting.... Dont know if they sell small amounts or not though.
http://www.masterbond.com/tds/ep21tdcsfl.html

 

[four4875]

can you bend out the spingy contact part so it contacts better? or stick a piece of metal down there to fill the space? it seems like the socket is just worn out. be best to replace it on the board, but that would be a total ***** to get the board out and all to do it.

i would also try to build up solder on the plug's outside so its bigger. and you could wrap a small gauge wire around it to give a nice spacer as well, so then the plug is bigger so it makes it contact harder. no?

 

[eobard]

Got pics so we can see exactly what we're up against here?

 

[Como]

no pics yet, but im considering it.
that silver epoxy is looking pretty well promising though cant afford it this week, but ill start savin.

the problem isnt on hte outside of the plug, building it up wouldnt help. the pin is making exelent contact with the plug, but the pin is not making good contact with the plate its supposed to ground to.

 

[Como]

alright, im done screwing around. just ordered that silver epoxy. thanks Pyros.

 

[Pyros]

Not a problem. Let us know if it works. I like the looks of that stuff and may have a use for it myself.

 

[Como]

used it the night before last, by last night it was allready acting as it did before. ill take it apart again later today to see what its looks like in there, i couldnt get very much on the area so its possible it just craked off as expected. im starting to wonder how the silver without any curing chem would do, this thing is getting sold soon.

 

[Como]

did a second layer of epoxy, which also cracked around the circle of where the pin goes in. Howerver, it basically eliminated ts ability to wiggle because the epoxy basically made the back end of the pin longer, and the metal base it was in longer too. it could still wiggle, and was still making bad contact.

at this point i used some more of that paint for a rear defrost repair (good stuff) and it seeped into the cracks of the silver epoxy (copper paint loves to do that) and i put a good few layers on it.
Then, i covered it in liquid nails. not conductive, but a hard rubbery substance. just happened to have it laying around from something....anyways if the copper paint decides to break it wont crack off and float around inside my laptop...which would suck

anyways were going on like a week here without problems now. its been a long time. hopefully i can get something small next time around

 

[RoadWarrior]

Yeah, that's what I would have tried if it was unsolderable, immobilise it mechanically with epoxy or JB Weld, make the connection with the paint, then more epoxy/JBW over the top to protect it.

Of course, the thing to watch out for is you get the power connector all beefed up with epoxy & etc, then a few weeks later it seems like a bad connection again, and you open it up, and it's cracked the PCB in a 1 inch radius semicircle all AROUND the power connector....

 

[SolidxSnake]

wouldn't AS Adhesive worked, or is that only capacitive?

 

[jtlee75]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104395&cp=&kw=circuit+pen&parentPage=search

I have this and it stays fairly flexible. Used it to mod Athlon xp's and such. Made a small circuit on a peice of paper to test it out and I always keep one handy now. But it is not thick. Would probably have to use several coats drying in between coats.