Well, this was one of those "easier than it seems" projects. First, I fired up the shop vac with a crevice tool. A little dust came out, but there were still grains of sand that were visible, trapped in the "female" prongs of the seven sockets.
Next, I fired up my air compressor with a narrow tipped air blower attachment. Bingo! I was worried that the stream of air would drive the sand grains deeper into the sockets, but nope. Out they flew.
My guess is that the air jet created back pressure within the body of the socket, blowing the grains of sand outward. (And no, none of it got in my eyes.)
Since that was so successful, I checked out the "male" fixture on my truck. It, too, was sandy. A few moments of compressed air, and it was clean as a whistle.
Someone above suggested "why bother cleaning this?" Maybe it's just my ultra-cautious mindset, but my response is that having sand and grit inside an electrical connection can't be a good thing. It'll interfere with the on-the-road performance of the seven pin assembly, and it'll abrade the components.
Plus, to be honest, what else have I got to do? Maintenance on my rig is always more fun than doing chores around the house!! ;)
