Select track lead socket

[Beeky]

Hi,

I'm going to be fitting a track bus to the underside of my baseboard and would like to provide a socket (attached to the bus) on the top of the board to plug in the supply lead from the Select, rather than have the wires travelling across and

under the board. Does anyone know what a suitable socket would be? Possibly I could get 2 plugs/sockets (one for each pin) to mount on the board if they aren't available as a pair.

Thanks,
Graham

[Beeky]

How do people connect their Select controller to the track bus? Is it a case of connecting to the track via the "power track" piece and then taking the bus from that piece of track?

[Rog RJ]

It's probably best to solder the track feed from the Select direct to the bus. Soldered connections are very reliable. If you need to, you can extend the track feeds. The connections from the bus to the track are also best done by soldering, otherwise

you're going to have "power tracks" or "power clips" all over the place.

[poliss]

You could take the two output leads from the Select and connect them to the bus using a terminal block (sometimes called a chock block) or other connector.
I'm not sure what you mean by having the wires travelling across and under the board?

[Beeky]

The board is in my Son's bedroom and folds up against the wall when not in use. For this reason, the Select would be "plugged in" to the track when being used but then unplugged and put away afterwards. I didn't like the idea of wires from the Select going

across the board to connect to a power track or hanging down under the board to connect to the bus, but rather a socket in/on the board edge that the wires could plug into, and then unplugged when put away. Maybe I'm thinking about this too hard?!!

[poliss]

You could use loudspeaker lever terminals, which are the same kind of terminals that are on the back of the Select. Available from the well known electronic components shop on your high street.

[walkingthedog]

How about 2amp plugs and sockets. These are small versions of the standard 13 amp plug but with round pins. Google '2amp plugs'

[poliss]

I thought of something like that WTD, but considered that they may be too heavy for regular use, if you see what I mean.

[walkingthedog]

They are about half the size of a 13 amp plug and very sturdy. Having 3 pins stops you plugging them in the wrong way round. I've got about 4 pairs of them in my shed. Fat lot of good that is for Beeky though!

[FinnerZ]

Sorry if I've misunderstood, but if you're worried about dangling wires under the board, it would be worth getting a cheap staple gun to hold the wires to the bottome (poundland do one that should be able to manage as long as your baseboard isn't made

of old chipboard with glue that has gone rock solid). I've recently been putting point motors on a layout at a club I go to and despite the wires being stapled to the bottom, we've decided to screw a bit of thin hardboard over the bottom of the board to protect

the wires. You could do something like that once you've finished wiring it up to stop them getting snagged or anything like that.

[Beeky]

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't realise the Select had separate wires, I'd assumed (I hadn't taken the Select out of the box!) that the wires were coupled together with a "plug" like on the standard DC controller. It's a Xmas present for my son which

is why I hadn't used it.

It's given me some thoughts though, so thanks.

Graham