Are corroded monoprice banana plugs still good?

[ironhorse128]

I recently purchased these monoprice banana plugs (https://www.monoprice.eu/products/m...r-wall-plates-and?_pos=2&_sid=c64965014&_ss=r).

These should be “24K gold plated brass plug”.

After handling of these for about one hour in my hand (just playing with it) it seems to be totally corroded. The right one is the corroded one.

Can someone please tell me:

• Can these really be gold plated?
• Should I still use it in this corroded form?
• Should I use these anyway (corroded or not corroded) or are they just bad quality?

Would be nice if anyone could help me out here and tell me what is going on.

 

[izeek]

find better plugs. monoprice is okay but if you're getting plug corrosion right out of the box...

 

[julian_hughes]

I would buy something else. I live by the sea and the salty atmosphere corrodes everything that can corrode but my *very* cheap banana plugs bought on ebay a few years ago haven't corroded at all. I wouldn't use those monoprice ones. If that's 24k gold plate then I'm a banana.

 

[Rip City Dave]

Looks like plain old brass to me. No plating, IMO. Man, you got some corrosive skin oils! LOL.

 

[DVDdoug]

Weird... And disappointing... The (tin?) plating on a "regular" banana plug doesn't corrode like that and of course gold shouldn't corrode either... I've got some of the silver-colored ones at work that are 10 or 20 years old.

It will probably "work" as-is but I'd try to clean the contacts. Maybe with some metal/brass polish. Polish would "polish-off" any gold plating but apparently there's not much gold anyway...

If it's brass, a quick-Google says you can use tomato sauce or you can make a paste with vinegar, salt, and flour. But, it's probably going to corrode again so of course it's up to you if you want to buy something else.

 

[Rip City Dave]

I've been pleased with these banana plugs:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Legrand-On...Rbo0bG5uD82EhGbNd9IaAirDEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[egellings]

Use a little 4-aught steel wool to shine them up again. I doubt that real Au plating would do that.

 

[ironhorse128]

Thanks all for the feedback. I guess I will try to sent them back.

 

[PatentLawyer]

Methinks someone left the Au out of the "gold" plating.....

 

[Helicopter]

The good gold ones often have a thicker layer of nickel under the gold. These are definitely not in that category.

 

[ouimetnick]

I bought those a few years ago. I replaced them with Amazon Basics ones. The amazon ones are insulated and better fitting and easier to install the wire. I tossed the Monoprice ones (some were still unused) in the trash.

 

[amirm]

I would send them back....

 

[Harmonie]

Honestly, even the left one with the Red ring doesn't look that good ...

 

[Grumpish]

If it is worth the effort, send them back - that looks like like raw brass to me (I am old enough to remember being expected to polish brass fireplace tools as part of my chores to earn my pocket money, something that would probably be regarded as child abuse by todays entitled brats).

 

[AdamG]

Acid Hands. It’s a thing. Ask any gun collector

 

[JohnYang1997]

That looks like non-plated brass.

 

[dfuller]

The (tin?) plating on a "regular" banana plug doesn't corrode like that

Usually nickel, if I recall correctly.

Acid Hands. It’s a thing. Ask any gun collector

Or any guitarist. Some of the people I know just eat strings unless they buy stainless strings (which eat frets, unless you get stainless frets).

 

[Shazb0t]

Just use some contact cleaner and plug them back in. Realistically they should still function fine.

 

[Angsty]

Blue Jeans Cables sells higher quality banana plugs.

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/indexmob.htm

 

[ironhorse128]

I tested two more banana plugs with my having it in my hand for an hour test. Both passed the test, there is no sign of corrosion.

The most right one is KabelDirekt (https://www.amazon.de/-/en/KabelDir...88&sprefix=kabel+direkt+banana,aps,180&sr=8-3) and the one next to it is a rather expensive Rembus (https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Rembus-L...bus+bananenstecker&qid=1627287240&sr=8-2&th=1 ).

Thus, these monoprice banana plugs are really missing a gold plating, even though they were described otherwise. I always thought monoprice is a trustworthy company.