Corroded terminals

[Welsh Dan]

I started to get problems with my HID's striking, so I presumed moisture was getting into the terminals and filled the terminals with grease, the problem stopped getting worse.

The drivers side then stopped striking completely, so I took the plugs out and this is what I found:
http://www.xen0phobiak.f2s.com/novaload/corroded1.jpg
http://www.xen0phobiak.f2s.com/novaload/corroded2.jpg

The negative terminal has completely corroded.

What is the best workaround for this? I have opened up the ballast, but the innards are covered in potting compound so that they're weatherproof (aside from these terminals obviously lol)

The corroded/ing terminals are the 12V supply ones, not the high voltage output ones, would I be ok to clean up the terminal, use a spade connector or solder on a wire of my own, and then seal the terminal, or is there a better method?

Cheers, Dan.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

i dunno what the hell that is, but if youve got a small file or sandpaper wrapped round a screwdriver end, youll be able to clean that terminal up sweet, blam a bit of grease on it after and it should contact no probs.

[Welsh Dan]

Ta, its for a High Intensity Discharge light :).

http://www.xen0phobiak.f2s.com/novaload/hid.jpg

One of the 'proper' Xenon lights, if you will.

[mikey14sr]

Isnt the plug that goes into there supposed to have a rubber seal on it? Just clean it up best you can and make sure it's sealed up.

[Welsh Dan]

It does have a rubber seal, it was clean when I first fitted the kit, however the seal seems to be poor :(.

[meritlover]

perhaps the female plug terminals have bent and are not getting a nice tight grip of the pins. this will cause them to arc across the terminals instead of across the lamp! oh no!

[mikey14sr]

scrape the terminal clean, re-fit with a bit of sili**** on the plug?