Aluminum to Copper interface
Red, yellow, and naval brass as well as aluminum bronze alloys are
marginally anodic with respect to copper so these alloys would provide
minimal corrosion protection. I know it might not be obvious, but steel
would make a better intermediate metal.
This will make sense if the actual voltages are included in the galvanic
series. These voltages are in sea water and with respect to a standard
calomel electrode.
Zinc -0.98
to -1.03
volts
Aluminum -0.70 to -0.90 "
Cast Iron -0.60 to -0.72
"
Steel -0.60
to -0.70
"
Red Brass, Yellow Brass, Naval Bross,
Aluminum Bronze -0.30 to -0.40 "
Copper -0.28 to -0.36
"
73, Barry WA4VZQ
Always use Antenna Grease or equivalent on Aluminum contact points to keep
the oxidation and moisture out. Steel is subject to rusting, so Stainless
Steel or Galvanized Steel is best for antenna hardware to clamp to the
Aluminum, and use tinned Brass or Copper loop-eye terminals soldered to the
Copper wire and bolted with Stainless Steel or Galvanized hardware.
Stainless should have a little Petroleum Jelly, NoAlox or Antenna Grease to
keep threads from seizing. I have used Stainless Steel hose clamps and they
work fine for quite a while.
Aluminum house wiring has been banned a lot of places and is a bad idea all
around.
The problem is that the Aluminum is weaker. As it is flexed and heated at
the connections, it will migrate out and the connection will get loose and
you will have a cascade of oxidation and increased resistance. The
recommended answer for that failure (If your house didn't burn) was to use a
copper wire pigtail out to a wire-nut connection to the existing Aluminum
wire with no-alox in the mix. Obviously, there is a loss of integrity and
"how to jam the wire nuts into the box" issues. If you have Aluminum house
wiring, you should keep an eye on line drops all through the house and run
new wiring for any big draw appliance addition.
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