DO THIS before your first trip of the season

Inspect your 7-way plug, power cord, and power adapters and take action if they are dirty.

Do any of them have green, yellow, brown, or blackish coloring on the metal connectors like this 7-way plug does?

If so, it's time to clean them.

If you don't keep the connectors clean on your trailer's 7-way plug, you could lose brakes or lights on the trailer.

The power cord plug – and any adapters you connect to it – is at risk of overheating or melting, like you see in the photos below. It can even catch fire, like our friends' nearly did, a few years ago. 

If your connections are dirty, you are not alone

Forgetting to clean the electrical connections is an easy thing to do. Even experienced Airstreamers can overlook it – until something melts. The burned adapters and melted plug in the preceding photos are both from people who have been Airstreaming for decades.

When it comes to electrical connections, learn to heed the omens:

• Have your trailer lights begun to work intermittently, or stopped working all together?
• Has the power cord nearly burned your hand when unplugging it – especially after you've been running the AC for a long period?

These are telltale signs of dirty power connections, and they happen most often during the summer. So start the season off right by cleaning the 7-way plug, power cord, and adapters NOW, before you head out this season.

Why bad things happen to electrical connectors

As you travel hundreds or thousands of miles and run the air conditioner during summer, the connections in your power cord and 7-way plug take a beating from the electrical current, and generate heat. Over time, this causes them to corrode and turn strange colors. Not if but when they become too "dirty," the plug and adapters will start to overheat. And once that happens, you are in big trouble.

All of this is true even if you have a SmartPlug. 

Over the last few years, Airstream and other premium RV brands began to install SmartPlugs on their products. These plugs are a big improvement over twist-lock plugs. But although SmartPlug has more robust connectors and is less likely to melt down, it doesn't mean it won't – especially in hot and humid conditions when the AC is running full tilt for hours on end. 

In fact, the above photo of the orange plug with the burned receptacle is a SmartPlug.

Simple steps for cleaning the electrical connections

We've been preaching the importance of cleaning the electrical connections for years, and we rerun a version of this blog every year to remind people.

Since this is the time of year it's critically important, we're scheduled to clean our plugs and connectors next week while doing some other prep work for an upcoming trip.

Here are the 5 steps to cleaning your connectors:

1. Inspect the connections on the power cord, 7-way plug, and electrical adapters

If you see green, black or other weird colors on any of the metal parts, the connections need cleaning.

If you haven't cleaned your connections for a while (or maybe ever), your connections may have turned yellow, brown, or black. If there is any sign of weird colors or connections that don't look like brass anymore, clean the connections immediately. 

2. Get the products and tools you need

These are:

• DeOxit
• A burnishing file
• dielectric grease

We include all of these in our Maintenance Essentials Kit. Or, you can find them at a local automotive or hardware store.

3. Squirt a couple of drops of DeOxit on the brandishing file

You don't need very much. A little goes a long way with this product.

4. Clean off the discoloration on all of the connections

Stick the file in each hole, and work the DeOxit in there, wiping it on all sides of the metal connections until they return to a brass color. Depending on how dirty the connections, it can take up to a minute or more in each hole to get things cleaned. Work the file in and out and scrape it on the sides to remove the discoloration.

If needed, add more DeOxit, a small drop at a time. 

Once you've finished cleaning the 7-way plug, clean the power cord and all of your electrical adapters.

5. [Optional] Put a little dielectric grease on each connection receptacle to protect it

After you've cleaned off all the corrosion from the 7-way plug, power cord, and adapters, apply dielectric grease to all of their connections to slow the emergence of corrosion, now that the connections are clean. 

Plug the connector in a couple of times to spread the grease on the metal connections. The pins will displace the grease at the points where they connect, which is ideal. (Even though dielectric grease is an insulator, it won't inhibit the connections you want.)

If you prefer a video that explains all this...

We collaborated with our friends Sam and Lauren from A Little Bit Unhitched to make things fun and show you how it's done. 

How often should you inspect and clean the connections?

We recommend checking your connections at least one or two times a year. But if you are traveling a lot during summer, inspect them every month or two – especially if the weather is hot and humid, or you have been running the air conditioning a lot.