Fixing the Kroll. Tales from the deep....

OK, I was just reading the other post comparing the Brinkmann and the Minimag and noted that someone measured 1 ohm of resistance in the Kroll.

I thought, Wow, that's pure BS. Especially for power hungry modules like my sandwiches...

OK, Some of this on my end is lack of initiative. I've been selling them and have never looked into the reliability and quality... So, here goes.

I take a junky Kroll. It's been lying around and has been used many times. I measure the on resistance at 12+ ohms. Wow!! Now that is real junk! Can this be fixed?

I reach back into my limited memory archives and pull up Daniel Ramsey fix for the Brinkmann. Nygel...

Here's what I did. I carefully pull all the springs off and out of the plastic housing. I clean nothing... I apply some nygel on all the contact edges of the springs before re-inserting them. (NOTE: The battery contact spring is majorly rusted or tanished...)

The measured on resistance is now 0.2 ohms and stable again.

The second thing I did was the thread contact spring on the side. I rotated it so that the bottom most spring is on the inner most portion where the tab makes contact. This only makes sense and could be a cause of intermittent operation.

Lastly, The side spring. Just plain stupid, but, I can see that the spring will ride the grooves of the minimag barrel as it is screwed in. I've heard some of my Krolls jump threads part way in. This could mean that the spring has now jumped upward to align with the threads and thus never make contact. So, be aware that fiddling with the side spring and shaping it so that it is as close to the threads of the battery tube before inserting will cause less spring jumping.

Lastly. the same nygel lube works great on Brinkman switch too. It makes it work more reliable.

Hope this helps and I'd like to hear feedback if this does indeed solve some of the Kroll switch problems and intermittent usage.

I actually think that once properly lubed and set, the Kroll is a very solid and reliable switch assembly. (IMHO) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Wayne

Wayne -

This is one of the fist things I performed (hey, and even told everybody!) when we started using these for the McLux. While I never have measured such an amazing resistance difference as you've found, I've solved all of my intermittent/flickering problems with careful application of Nygel. So, my vote now, as before, is that this is a winner. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Does Radioshack sell something comparable to Nygel?

Wayne,

Where do you get Nygel in a typical medium sized town? Is it a Radio Shack thing? If the problem is one of contact instead of conductor size then the fix may be worth attempting. On my 1 ohm measurement - it was a single Kroll sample. I didn't pull the 3 or 4 others I have around the house. The Kroll may have been at a disadvantage in my comparison. It had seen some use, but the Brinkmann was brand new. For now, I have MM+Q3 in the Brinkmann and a BB400Q3 in a Krolled Mag. I'll continue to use them both and see how things develop over time.

RadioShack sells something similar. I don't have the model number with me. That is what was originally suggested before Nygel appeared on CPF.... Hold on. *digging* *ruffle* *ruffle* I have a tube here somewhere.

There is a member here who sells the Nygel on a semi-regular basis to CPFer on the B/S/T. I think the post is still there. I'd contact him and get a film canister of the stuff. That should last forever.


*ruffle* *ruffle*

*ruffle* *ruffle*

rats... I can't find it offhand. It was near the solder as I recall in the store near me. Maybe someone else can recall the part number.

OK, the stuff is Nyogel 759G. The user is jtivat
and the BST thread is.

here

Jtivat sells the Nygel 759Gs on the BST forum... So you can check it out there...

Radio Shack Multi-Purpose Lube Gel, Part. #64-2326...

This is how I fixed my very flickery Kroll:

Directly under the conical battery contact spring, there is a gold spring that it contacts.
I turned the conical main spring clockwise, until the open end of it "threaded" onto the gold spring. The contact between these two springs is much better now, and there is no flickering.

I went and checked my switch, after reading this post. I zeroed the resistance of my leads, and I read 0.1 - 0.2 ohms (fluctuating).
With the switch installed in the Mini-Mag, and a clip lead clipped to the main spring (all leads zeroed), I read a fluctuating 0.8 - 0.9 ohms, from the clip lead to the inside of the head-end of the Mag.

Charlie I just went to the Radio Shack website typed in that part number and found the Gel, however if you click on the "view product manual" button and then click on the link about the product you get this

http://support.radioshack.com/support_supplies/doc32/32366.htm

Doesn't sound like it would make a very good conductor to me.

The RS gel lube is an insulating compound rather than a conductive grease. Look here for a bit more info from another thread: O-ring Lubrication.

I use DeoxIT by Caig Laboratories for most dissimilar metal connections, and one of the other Caig products (usually) for specific metals. They produce a really nice "sampler" of their products that is quite cost effective.

The conductive grease mentioned earlier in this thread would be good where you also need the heavy duty lubrication in your use. (There's a thread here that discusses the Caig stuff a bit, but I'm too lazy to search for it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

Caig R5 "Power Booster" works well. Also "Just a li'l dab 'll do you" on the ends of batteries eliminates that "turn on and smack it" syndrome on those obsolete relics with thermionic emmitters.