[Boatanchors] Relay Repair - Demagnetization Question

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

No.  At least not the military ones.  The problem with them, after decades 
of inactivity, is that the contacts are covered with a non-conducting layer 
of tungsten sulfide (or maybe supphate, I never looked up the relavent 
valences) caused by sulfur outgassing from the sponge rubber sleeve inside all 
the cans.  I've "fixed" hundreds of them.  You can open up the can and burnish 
the contacts but it's a lot less trouble to use an array of 120 volt 12 to 
40 watt lamps and the 120 VAC line to do the job.  

This works on all of the military vibrators except for the VB-5, which can 
only be fixed by opening the can.  Which always comes open in little pieces 
of brittle aluminum and has to be replaced.

In a message dated 2/2/2010 2:21:57 PM Central Standard Time, 
km1h at jeremy.mv.com writes: 
> Automotive and other vibrators do not have coil problems. The contacts 
> are 
> "welded" together from basic chemical reaction after decades of storage. 
> Applying 6-12VAC across the proper actuator contacts will get it swinging 
> again.
> 
> Carl
> KM1H
> 

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
MVPA 9480