General electrical techy question - is Araldite Conductive ?

OK I needed to cut off some of the daisy-chained extra Sata Power connections.
As seen below on the right they were unsightly ( bulky cable ties under heat shrink ) and got in the way, as I only need a single connection per cable on 3 devices.

Araldite is non conductive, not sure about your other questions tho

1. This wasn't the smartest idea you've ever had.
2. The pins move so they can make contact with the hard drive with a bit of tolerance.
3. No-one can give you much assurance, you really just have to plug it in and stand back.

Saying that, I doubt you'll have a problem. Just don't be touching the metal when you plug it in or turn it on.

Googling is a useful and easy exercise: "The conductive grade of Araldite AV 4415 + Hardener HV 4416 is a two part, ambient temperature gelling paste
adhesive"

So yes ONE kind of Araldite is conductive; another formula might not be conductive.

Why you wouldn't zip tie them together in the first place is beyond me! Not as though you will spend hours staring into the case. "C'MON Man"
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=XSYiSVRWIHU

Generally no Araldite and other similar epoxy resins are non conductive. The issue with normal multimeters is that they are designed to measure conductance rather than insulation effects. Using the highest range will give you the "best" reading possible from the device, but it's not really a useful reading. What you actually need for this is an Insulation tester. Megger is probably the most well known brand on the market. The difference with an insulation tester is the voltage that is sued to make the reading. The normal resistance readings taken using a multimeter usually use 9V at the most on the higher resistance settings, although a traditional Avo would use 20V (IIRC) and had a special battery for this purpose. In an insulation tester it is normal to use either 500V or 1KV (1000V). They use these high voltages as usually insulation breaks down at higher voltages first. The operating voltage of the device would normally determine the Voltage used to measure the insulation. Many Meggers use a wind up generator to generate the testing voltage, and you have to make sure you are winding fast enough to get to full voltage. Anyway if you really want to check out if it is adequately insulated that is the item of test equipment you will need. Unfortunately they are not cheap.

Back when I did my RAF trade training as a Radar technician we used to "play" with high capacitance capacitors and Meggers, with the 1KV variety being favoured. Using a 1 or even 2 Farad (that's a real lot of capacitance for a device that usually operates at the Nano or even Pico level) electrolytic capacitor, that had both contacts at the top end of a box shaped construction, charge your capacitor with your Megger so that it is now holding a charge of 1000V. Then quickly before it can dissipate take your capacitor and apply the contacts to the back of the neck of your chosen subject (victim). The effect is much like that gained by using a taser. It also seems much funnier when you are only nineteen years old.

Alan

M ohms to more sensitive then k ohms.

Assuming you have the pins correctly installed there shouldn't be an issue but on the other hand, if you do not have the pins correctly installed, you can't do much about it since you glued them.


Highly doubt anyone just has a Megger laying around. It's not a compact device and I use a 25A setting to test insulation. It's pretty sweet since you feel that vibration through the cable when testing. But in this case, it's low voltage DC power so insulation shouldn't be an issue like AC power.

BigAl007 wrote in post #17953414
Back when I did my RAF trade training as a Radar technician we used to "play" with high capacitance capacitors and Meggers, with the 1KV variety being favoured. Using a 1 or even 2 Farad (that's a real lot of capacitance for a device that usually operates at the Nano or even Pico level) electrolytic capacitor, that had both contacts at the top end of a box shaped construction, charge your capacitor with your Megger so that it is now holding a charge of 1000V. Then quickly before it can dissipate take your capacitor and apply the contacts to the back of the neck of your chosen subject (victim). The effect is much like that gained by using a taser. It also seems much funnier when you are only nineteen years old.

Alan

back when I was a trainee telegraph technician, we used to wrap wire around capacitors, charge them up & toss them around like grenades. It was less fun on the receiving end.
I do remember measuring the voltage across a capacitor in a powersupply I'd just built & thinking the polarity didn't seem right - and just at that moment the cap exploded...

back on topic, I do believe Araldite is not conductive, at least to +/- 12V which is probably the most you'd see on a motherboard.
Must say Araldite isn't what it used to be - you can't buy 24hr Araldite anymore...

joeseph wrote in post #17955550
back on topic, I do believe Araldite is not conductive, at least to +/- 12V which is probably the most you'd see on a motherboard.
Must say Araldite isn't what it used to be - you can't buy 24hr Araldite anymore...

Actually I always preferred Devcon to Araldite. The Devcon 5 min and 20 min formulas always seemed to have just a little more flex once set than Araldite, which was nice when building RC Model aircraft. Devcon liquid metal also makes great bedding compound for rifles. My Fulton's of Bisley converted Mauser K98 Target Rifle is bedded on Devcon.

Alan

tim wrote in post #17952056
1. This wasn't the smartest idea you've ever had.
2. The pins move so they can make contact with the hard drive with a bit of tolerance.
3. No-one can give you much assurance, you really just have to plug it in and stand back.

Saying that, I doubt you'll have a problem. Just don't be touching the metal when you plug it in or turn it on.

TBH it was my dumbest!
Once araldited I thought sh@t Ive locked the movement - I wonder if the connection relies on the bent spring pins or both that and the slight alignment movement.
But I had assumed with a 10 year warranty , spares would be available .... Wrong!

Well I tried it on the Blu ray writer and the connection went right in without difficulty, so hopefully I got away with it.

I had bad luck in that EVGA have replaced the original cables with really cheap and nasty ones. Not only really ugly - but stupid as well; as the cable tie bulk gets in the way of the SSD lying flat, as the onward cable comes out underneath, and the bulky cable tie is a problem ( oh well you get thick engineers now and then, ) and the cable tie bulk also makes the very, very tight bend inflexible invariably putting strain on SSD connections, when one has a stacked rack. And if you dont have a stacked rack like me on half of the discs then the onward daisy chain is too short to reach! Drrrr :-/

I am just praying that as the connector slipped on nicely, without any straining, and went on completely the electrical connection is good.

Oh well I guess Ill find out soon enough when the replacement MB arrives.

Wilt wrote in post #17952097
Googling is a useful and easy exercise: "The conductive grade of Araldite AV 4415 + Hardener HV 4416 is a two part, ambient temperature gelling paste adhesive"

So yes ONE kind of Araldite is conductive; another formula might not be conductive.

Sorry Wilt I need that quoted sentence translated ??

Shaymus wrote in post #17952318
Why you wouldn't zip tie them together in the first place is beyond me! Not as though you will spend hours staring into the case. "C'MON Man"
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=XSYiSVRWIHU

Actually I dont think you have a clue what my problem is? The bulky cable tied bulge lifts up the SSD, and the onward cable comes out underneath ? So unless I can re-engineer the SsD drive to flip over their electrical connection it gets in the way.

Sure it would be nice not to have a bunch of ugly crap, impeding the airflow but I could get over it. Its the physical problem of fitting it in.
If you had read the thread you might have spotted the real problem, see the a picture below showing the flat disc drive mounts.

RHChan84 wrote in post #17954512
M ohms to more sensitive then k ohms.

Assuming you have the pins correctly installed there shouldn't be an issue but on the other hand, if you do not have the pins correctly installed, you can't do much about it since you glued them.


Highly doubt anyone just has a Megger laying around. It's not a compact device and I use a 25A setting to test insulation. It's pretty sweet since you feel that vibration through the cable when testing. But in this case, it's low voltage DC power so insulation shouldn't be an issue like AC power.

Thanks just need to check M was more sensitive than K.
Fortunately I did not remove the pins only cut of one of the cables. I had hoped I could put a blob of glue over the cut end but it flooded over the end of the connection, effectivdly securing the 'floating" pin connector to the outer plastic shroud.
But hopefully in the right place.

Submariner wrote in post #17956162
Sorry Wilt I need that quoted sentence translated ??

I don't see a smiley...

Is araldite conductive? Yes if it is conductive grade AV4415 / HV4416.

Hi Sub,

I'm pretty sure that particular molex connector (67582) doesn't rely on floating contacts, I've seen many of them completely moulded, no play on the exiting cables - which is pretty much what you've created.

On a quick search it would seem standard Araldite isn't conductive and your testing seems to back this up, but if you want to be really safe just carefully cut a slot back through the Araldite to the original connector moulding between each wire, something like a junior hacksaw blade would do the trick.

Cheers

Kev