If you've ever had to track down an elusive bad or intermittent connector - a computer card connector, an IC socket or even an RCA jack - Stabilant 22 is for you. The slightly 'goopy' liquid is sparingly brushed onto connectors or IC pins (or whatever) and becomes conductive when 'activated' by an electric current. The manufacturer claims S-22 'provides the reliability of a soldered joint without bonding the contact surfaces together.'
If you're worried about shorting out adjacent contacts with this 'liquid conductor,' don't be. S-22 is only conductive across a very narrow gap: The contacts must be in physical proximity for Stabilant 22 to work. (To prove the point, the manufacturer's trade-show-computer, housed in a see-through plastic case, has its mother board totally submerged in S-22!) Winner of Byte Magazine's Product of the Year Award, S-22 has for some time been the audio and broadcast engineer's secret weapon. It's useful from 'dc to daylight,' and one application lasts for several years. S-22 has thousands of uses in Amateur Radio, and is now available from the manufacturer in smaller, more affordable amounts. (Yes, it is expensive, but a small vial will probably last a long time. My miniature sampler vial has already 'tamed' an intermittent RTTY terminal plug-in connector and restored function to a 'potted' RF converter module that would otherwise have been unfixable.) Contact the manufacturer for information and application notes.
D.W. Electrochemicals,
97 Newkirk Rd N, Unit 3, Richmond
Hill,
ON. L4C 3G4, Canada;
Phone: (905) 508-7500.
- Kirk Kleinschmidt, NTOZ
Reprinted with permission from September 1992 QST; © Copyright 1992