RJ45 corroding/oxidising after crimping

[th558]

A couple weeks ago I made my first ethernet cable. All seemed fine till I had a look at the connectors about a week later and noticed that something didn't look right. The gold plated pins didn't look like they originally did. The pictures below show a random pre-made cable I had lying around (top), The cable I crimped myself (middle) and the connector on it's own (bottom). As you can see the bare connector looks fine as it should but the crimped one has noticeable oxidation after a few days. Depending on the camera/light angle it can look anywhere from minor to pretty bad. In person I definitely can see the difference compared to the connector before crimping. I'm not sure what is causing this. It was stored indoors for a few days and not used. Could the crimping tool have damaged the gold plating causing it to oxidise fast? The connector I used costs about £2 for 10 so fairly cheap and the crimping tool was about £12. Here are links to both. Are the connectors or crimper to blame? The cable works fine but I'm worried that it could cause issues later on. I don't mind buying new connectors but I'm not spending £40-50 on a crimper which I'm only gonna use for one job.

RJ45 Connectors
Crimping Tool

 

[mindtrix]

Are you having issues with the cables? If not I wouldn’t worry about it.

 

[97JeepXJ]

https://www.amazon.com/American-Grease-Stick-Dielectric-Silicone/dp/B004BRAKGC/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?crid=3VHLLID9GXTXB&keywords=dielectric+grease&qid=1662502520&sprefix=diel%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1

 

[th558]

I have dielectric grease which i will use when I install the cams but what about the other side that goes to the NVR. That doesn't need grease right? I was just confused as to why it was oxidising just sat indoors for a few days. I've noticed that it's gone even worse now but it still works fine so I guess I'll just use the same connectors and see what happens. Hopefully it doesn't cause problems further down the line.

 

[97JeepXJ]

Dielectric grease should help prevent any corrosion, I believe this may help clean any that’s formed

https://www.amazon.com/DN5S-2N-Deoxit-Contact-Cleaner-Deoxidizer/dp/B06XP32299?ref_=ast_sto_dp

I’ve never used any grease on the NVR side, maybe others do

 

[looney2ns]

I would blame the RJ45's, low cost RJ45's, I'm sure they cheap out on the plating....if it really is plated at all.
The most important parts of your camera system, is the POE switches, the Rj45's, and the cable, those aren't areas that one should cheap out on.
Buy once, cry once.

 

[alastairstevenson]

As you can see the bare connector looks fine as it should but the crimped one has noticeable oxidation after a few days

Just as an experiment - could you take an unused RJ45 connector, plug and unplug it a few times into whatever the discoloured one had been plugged in to, and check it out after a few days?

 

[th558]

It was plugged into a pc and router for 1 minute just to test. After that it's just been sitting indoors away from humidity/water. Maybe the gold plating is very thin and was damaged by the crimper.

 

[mattp]

Speaking of not skimping, has anyone tried using No-Ox-ID instead of regular dielectric grease?

https://www.amazon.com/NO-OX-ID-Special-Electrical-Contact-Corrosion/dp/B00HDF9EXE/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=no%2Box%2Bid&qid=1662640655&s=industrial&sr=1-2&th=1

High Humidity & Salt Rust Preventative – Anti-Condensation Coating | Sanchem, Inc.

Stop rust and block metal corrosion with Sanchem’s NO-OX-ID anti-condensation coating products that provide high humidity & salt rust prevention. Call today!

www.sanchem.com

It's not fun to deal with, but has a pretty good track record.

 

[tech_junkie]

Its just cheap crimps. not a real issue.