Terminal Blocks \ Barrier Strips + Jumper Bars?

[justin1985]

I was watching a YouTube video where an American modeller (Ron's Trains n Things) uses a type of screw-down connector strip designed for crimped spade connectors which seems to have a few advantages over the "choc block" plastic connectors that are often used for joining up layout wiring.  I realise the ATX power supply conversion might not be regarded best practice, but to be honest that's not what I'm interested in here!

 

 

It didn't seem too hard to find the connector strips he used: they seem to be called "Barrier Strips", e.g. at RS: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/barrier-strips/8227216/ 

 

However in the video, he was using them in conjunction with some very neat ready made comb style jumper bars/strips that both made it super easy to join many connections into a bus, and because of the spade connector design, made it simple to connect BOTH the jumper bar and at least one spade connector to the same screw terminal, which would be a lot more efficient than. 

 

These jumper strips seem really difficult to find! RS, Farnell, etc., only seem to have quite specialised ones designed for DIN systems, rather than spade connector types. Pretty much the only one I can easily find seems to be from a Chinese seller on ALiExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001309933941.html

 

Are these things just common in the US but not elsewhere? I get a bit of a sense they might be (have been in the past?) an automotive standard?  Or is there just a different name I need to use to find them in the UK?

 

J

[Dungrange]

These type of connectors are available on Amazon UK - eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/Qishare-Position-Terminal-Postions-Insulated/dp/B076BR7RSH/ref=asc_df_B076BR7RSH/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=232004003187&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17082043765133225302&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007326&hvtargid=pla-440987953144&psc=1

 

But like you, I've not seen them in other UK vendors catalogues.  Others on here have indicated that they use these, but I've not got around to trying them yet.

[AndyID]

I think this is what you are looking for:

 

https://www.newark.com/molex/38002-1290/jumper-terminal-block/dp/72K1979?gclid=CjwKCAjw9MuCBhBUEiwAbDZ-7vyYDM2JEQ7x9EFvv6b64Aoo4JM4ZcWWsJ_VHZIWXWTyJSjGwNJXBRoCNiIQAvD_BwE&mckv=smtQNJQEB_dc|pcrid|434136793404|plid||kword||match||slid||product|72K1979|pgrid|100464450466|ptaid|pla-985509466520|&CMP=KNC-GUSA-GEN-Shopping-NewStructure-Connectors

 

These are by Molex who have distributors in the UK. I don't know whether the distributors in the UK carry them or not.

[Damo666]

44 minutes ago, Dungrange said:

These type of connectors are available on Amazon UK - eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/Qishare-Position-Terminal-Postions-Insulated/dp/B076BR7RSH/ref=asc_df_B076BR7RSH/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=232004003187&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17082043765133225302&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007326&hvtargid=pla-440987953144&psc=1

 

But like you, I've not seen them in other UK vendors catalogues.  Others on here have indicated that they use these, but I've not got around to trying them yet.

 

This is where I got mine last week, although the link you gave is for the 25A version, which is way more that we should need. I got the 15A version, although if they had a 6A or 10A that would have been OK too.

 

 

I bought a set of 6 position and 12 position terminal blocks as I thought that this would be ideal. It was only after installing that I realised that I could snip the connecting bar to make 2 smaller buses on the strip which was more versatile (see top right). 5 pieces of 6 position is currently £8.99, 5 pieces of 12 position is £10.99, but if you snip the connecting bar you can have 10 x 6 position for the same price of 5 x 12pos. Or 7-5 or 8-4.

 

Two 12 position terminal strips, as they come.

 

Snipping the connecting bar gives me a 4 bus and a 8 bus on the same terminal strip.

 

I snipped the connecting bar in two places so that I removed a small section of the bar, otherwise a single cut might still bridge the gap.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Well done, neat wiring, my nemesis.

Did you ring end or open end crimps?

 

Mike.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Enterprisingwestern
Question.

[justin1985]

8 hours ago, Damo666 said:

 

Snipping the connecting bar gives me a 4 bus and a 8 bus on the same terminal strip.

 

I snipped the connecting bar in two places so that I removed a small section of the bar, otherwise a single cut might still bridge the gap.

 

Excellent, thanks @Damo666 - that is exactly how I imagined using them - seems an ideal way to distribute a DCC bus to many individual connections in a way that is flexible / reasonably easily removable. (I'm working on a complex bit of trackwork on a section of trackbed that lifts out from the rest of it's baseboard - this seems ideal)

 

Seems like a the ones on Amazon are the same product available from a few Chinese sellers on AliExpress and eBay. The Molex barrier strips definitely look like the ones the guy in the video was using, but it seems like the jumper strip to match those is impossible to find outside of the US! (unless it's something silly like it comes with the barrier strip by default so not listed separately?) 

 

J

[Damo666]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Well done, neat wiring, my nemesis.

Did you ring end or open end crimps?

 

Mike.

Hi Mike, thank you.

 

I used the open-end (fork) crimps as I then only have to loosen the screw on the terminal to slide the fork in/out. I felt that the ring crimps would be slower as I'd have to completely unscrew (and potentially drop / lose it) as I was making adjustments / refinements to my wiring.

[Damo666]

3 hours ago, justin1985 said:

 

Excellent, thanks @Damo666 - that is exactly how I imagined using them - seems an ideal way to distribute a DCC bus to many individual connections in a way that is flexible / reasonably easily removable. (I'm working on a complex bit of trackwork on a section of trackbed that lifts out from the rest of it's baseboard - this seems ideal)

 

Seems like a the ones on Amazon are the same product available from a few Chinese sellers on AliExpress and eBay. The Molex barrier strips definitely look like the ones the guy in the video was using, but it seems like the jumper strip to match those is impossible to find outside of the US! (unless it's something silly like it comes with the barrier strip by default so not listed separately?) 

 

J

Hi Justin,

 

If you are new to crimping, I'm happy to tell you what I learned as I was new to this 2 weeks ago.

 

Crimps are colour coded.

Red covers 16-22 AWG

Blue covers 14-16 AWG

Yellow is for 10-12 AWG

Remember, the lower the AWG number the thicker the cable = larger the capacity (Amps).

 

(There was also an M4(#8), M5(#10), M6(¼) and M7 or M8(5/16) designation on some crimps. I never got to the bottom of this.)

 

Here's a note I made in OneNote, cannot remember the source, but it might help someone to see what common cables are in AWG:

 

Please note, like RMWeb, I've found different answers to the same question. In writing this post I decided to check and, of course, found more authoritative data, here: but for my layout I'm happy to use the above as a rough guide, it suits my layout wiring purposes to make sure I'm in the right ball-park.

 

For me, here is what I'm using:

 

This chart will show some variations of cable available for a particular cross-section:

 

 

For the crimps, I just needed the Red and Blue crimps and also got them from Amazon. It took me a long time to find just blue and red fork crimps without buying a lot of additional ring, spade, bullet crimps multipack in blue, red and yellow. Many of these multiple boxes would be about 70% useless for me.

 

A company called 'All Trade Direct' on Amazon sold packs of 100 for £3.29 of single style crimps. (Amazon prices fluctuate so there may be cheaper options when you look).

Edited March 19, 2021 by Damo666
Remove duplicate images

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Very informative and useful

You would think the electrical industry would realise we need black and red crimps of the same capacity, have they never heard of DCC?!!

 

Mike.

[WIMorrison]

How about just using one of these?

 

ATX power supply adapter

 

 

[justin1985]

7 hours ago, WIMorrison said:

How about just using one of these?

 

ATX power supply adapter

 

I wasn't really interested in what the original video was doing with the ATX power supply - just the connection strips they were using, that look ideal for linking many sections to a DCC bus.

 

That little adapter is interesting though!

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Thanks to you lot I've placed a shipping order for pliers, crimps and terminals! I'm going to replace the layout wiring wholesale, I can't make it any less neat, although TBPH I was never happy with the solder tag method I had used anyway.

 

Mike.