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I finally got a stubborn old autopilot to talk to the test set

Was working on a King KAP 150 from a '90s Cessna that kept failing its BIT. The manual said to check a specific pin voltage at the main connector, but the reading was all over the place. Out of frustration, I cleaned the connector pins with a fiberglass pen instead of contact cleaner, then put a tiny bit of dielectric grease on them before re-seating it. The voltage stabilized and the unit passed on the next try. Has anyone else found that old connectors just need a different kind of clean?
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2 Comments
jamienguyen
Oh man, tell me about it. Sometimes that old gear just needs you to get a little rough with it.
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mark_cooper
Honestly, is a fiberglass pen that different from contact cleaner? Both are just cleaning off the gunk. Maybe the grease did the real work by keeping moisture out after the fact. Seems like a standard fix for old, cruddy contacts to me.
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