Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Originally Posted By: brianl703
Originally Posted By: SubLGT
Dielectric grease is an insulator. Not a good idea to coat the post with it, and then have this insulating layer between the contact surfaces of the clamp and post.
It gets squeezed out from between the mating surfaces as you tighten the clamp.
I also use dielectrical lube on battery posts. Haven't had any bad issues. I use d-lube on connectors any time I replace a sensor or disconnect any male/female connectors for any reason. Sometimes you just have to disconnect things and move 'em out of the way to do other things. D-lube goes on B/4 reconnecting. Great moisture barrier too!
Call me crazy, but I think you should use an electrically conducting grease on the mating surface of the battery posts and clamps, and not an insulating (dielectric) grease. The dielectric grease is OK on the outside of the cable clamp, but not on the mating surfaces.
Examples of electrically conducting greases:
http://www.nyelubricants.com/products/elec_conductive.shtml
Note how these conducting greases have a volume resistivity of 30-300 ohm-cm. A dielectric grease, such as the one from Loctite, will have a volume resistivity of 2.6 x 10exp15 ohm-cm !! That is a difference in resistance of at least 8,700,000,000,000!!
http://www.rshughes.com/images/products/docs/AAiCq3EBWBcgExOqWnbNtw.pdf