Hornby Select - Connecting wire fittings?

[Nictor]

Have just bought a Hornby Select to control my small eight by one foot DCC shelf layout. Simple unit but more than good enough for my little layout. I have however, encountered one very annoying problem. The connection to the unit involves threading the

 

two link wires via spring push clips at the rear of the Select. Fine probably for a couple of uses, i.e. Christmas day on the lounge floor! I use my unit partly flat on the layout and sometimes as a hand held. Three times now I have found that one of the connecting

 

wires will break where it enters the unit – usually leaving the stub end in the spring unit needing to be poked out. Surely on a fairly decent piece of kit Hornby could have made it a plug unit!

 

Anyone else encountered this problem of should I leave

 

it permanently on the layout and avoid picking it up?

 

[Fishmanoz]

You are right, they are not designed with constant connection and disconnection in mind. You may have to rethink the way you are using it as you suggest.

[RDS]

@Nictor

I used the Select for quite a while before upgrading to the Elite and I did not suffer the problem you are experiencing but I used to use some heavy duty speaker cable, rather than the normal wire supplied.

The select unit is the same unit

 

(known as a Walkabout) when used in conjunction with the Elite, so it is actually intended to be able to be moved, so you should not have to avoid picking it up. I would tend to use a thicker multi stranded cable, with about 0.5 inches stripped back before

 

inserting it as far as possible into the spring connectors. I also think that the cable is better not to have the cores soldered together because soldering tends to make the cores smoother and therefore more likely to slip out.

 

 

[AlanJinty]

As RDS says, use some good flexible Speaker Wire but use a long enough length so you avoid pulling on the wire, you could also put a loop in the wire which could go around your finger as you hold the controller and further prevent strain on the flimsy

 

connection.

 

At least your Select works, mine was faulty out of the box and I'm having to replace it (did get a partial refund from ebay seller though) but at the mo' it will have to suffice as all my funds are going into starting a layout, I intend

 

to solder all the track to a main Bus and then use the above method.