Cleaning & lubing a NDI...

[Jambo]

Just recieved my NDI, finally...Been after one for a while and just picked one up.

My question is, the thread and o-rings seem bone dry. I have some Deoxit and I know it's supposed to be a cleaner and a lube, will that do on it's own on the threads? Also, can I use the Deoxit on the o-rings or do I need to use something else?

Thanks for any help folks!

 

[J!m]

I'm the new guy here, but I have always used silicone grease on my Mag Lite O-rings.

I am reading here some people using Kytox? That is super high-tech stuff we use in very high temperature plasma gun applications. Not in a flashlight! Too much money for lube!

Anyway, Silicone should be fine. I am not familiar with that stuff you mentioned, but clean the O-rings and grooves with a dry cloth, coat the o-ring with lube, install it, and also apply a light film to the mating surface the O-ring will ride on. I would leave the threads dry unless they feel like they need lube... More lube attracts dust and dirt.

 

[Marduke]

Clean, and do NOT lube the threads on the body on the head side. They have to be clean and bare to conduct electricity. A small amount of lube carefully applied to the front o-ring will smooth things up however.

 

[p1fiend]

Clean, and do NOT lube the threads on the body on the head side. They have to be clean and bare to conduct electricity. A small amount of lube carefully applied to the front o-ring will smooth things up however.

Until I got the NDI, I never actually lubed any of my lights. My NDI was dry so I liberally applied Di-electric grease (spark-plug grease) to the o-ring and threads on the body which mate with the head. Never had a problem with the light.

Since then, I've wiped and cleaned the threads to try the RadioShack grease. Applied to the O-ring and threads and again no problems.

I was careful around the bottom of the body, and actually wiped this area to make sure it was clean. Held the body perpendicular on a piece of cloth and spun it to clean the surface that mates with the "light engine" of the NDI.

Just lubed all my lights tonight, and all the threads received a coating of the grease. Much smoother action on all the lights now, and they all still light up.

 

[Marduke]

Lights depend on different methods for electrical contact. Sometimes they just need an edge of the body, sometimes they just need bare threads, but some multimode lights like the DI need both in tactical mode (on the head side only, the tail only needs a bare end). Once the lube gets equally distributed over all the threads, you'll probably start to notice the light behaving oddly in general mode, ramping up and down in brightness for no apparent reason, or flickering, or not working entirely.