Power Window Switches (again)

[Ed Kellock]

This is essentially what I ended up doing this afternoon.  Instead of
drilling holes and spraying, once I got that far into the job, I
remembered/realized that to clean the contacts directly does not take that
much more work.

Once you have the switch out, removing the visible push button is not
necessary.  Remove the "working guts" from the switch body, this would be
the bottom portion, the circuit board with the pins to which the connector
attaches.  Then just clean the contacts.  I did not have the dressing file
so I used some fine grit sandpaper.  The really obvious contacts are closed,
but when you press the button, you break that contact and cause another
below it.  I used a small screwdriver to hold this contact closed while I
moved sandpaper around between the two contact points.  I then sprayed some
contact cleaner followed by some Pro-Gold and reassembled.  The PG was
probably overkill, but I had it and was in there so, spritz.  

Ed

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Jordan [mailto:j8k3sp00n at gmail.com] 
> Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2006 12:36 PM
> To: 'Ed Kellock'; 'darrell m'
> Cc: AudiRob44 at comcast.net; quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: RE: Power Window Switches (again)
> 
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Years ago telephone companies used relays exclusively for 
> switching and they experienced the same problems we do with 
> window switches.  The phone companies developed a contact 
> cleaner that I've always wanted to use but have never seen 
> one.  Their cleaner hit each pair of contacts in turn with a 
> very short duration high voltage.  I don't know the values of 
> the voltage or the duration or how to make one, but it seems 
> that this would be preferable to other means if it could be 
> done practically.  The guy who told me about this is gone on 
> to the great Central Office in the sky.
> 
> It seems to me that boring holes in the switch housing only 
> allows more contaminants, dust, oil, coke, coffee, etc. easier access.
> 
> I clean my switches laboriously using a relay contact 
> dressing file.  The file is about 3 inches long with an emory 
> paper type coating that allows polishing and cleaning each 
> contact one at a time.  They used to be made by General 
> Cement, GC, and were available at electronic parts stores like Fry's. 
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Jim Jordan
> 
>