66 blocks

[subman]

3 questions

1. Can you use stranded wire on these blocks?

2. Can you use 18 ,20 or 22 gauge wire on these blocks?

3. Are the 4 pin blocks continuous straight across. (continuity wise)

L-com has these blocks 50 pair for $16 and change. Part #S66M1-50-C5

These blocks are rated for cat 5 cable hence question 2

[cacole]

1. No, they are for solid telephone wire only. At least I have never seen stranded wire used on any of them.

2. No, they will take only 26 or smaller; standard telephone wire. They are usually used for 25 pair cable terminations.

3. Yes.

4. They are IDC terminals that usually require a special tool for pushing the wire into the contacts, and they are very difficult to work with without the special tool.

[nedthomas]

3. They come both ways 2x2 or 1x4. They make a slide on clip (bridge clip) to jump the rows but you cannot use wire on the terminal the clip covers.

The proper tool for 66 blocks costs more than $50. It has two blades, one to cut the wire and one not to cut to allow the wire to daisy chain to other terminals.

[jbinkley60]

3 questions

1. Can you use stranded wire on these blocks?

2. Can you use 18 ,20 or 22 gauge wire on these blocks?

3. Are the 4 pin blocks continuous straight across. (continuity wise)

L-com has these blocks 50 pair for $16 and change. Part #S66M1-50-C5

These blocks are rated for cat 5 cable hence question 2

1. Yes but you will get better results with solid

2. They are designed for 24ga wire. You can push 22ga into them but anything more won’t fit.

3. They come in two flavors split and non-split. If they are split 66 blocks then they are two and two. If not, they are 4 pins across.

I bought mine at L-Com and use them for terminating Cat5 cables for all of my Tortoises.

The white block is a split 66 block from L-Com.

[Don_Z]

3. Are the 4 pin blocks continuous straight across. (continuity wise)

L-com has these blocks 50 pair for $16 and change. Part #S66M1-50-C5

Since this is a 50 pair block, it is a split block. The 2 left columns of pins share continuity, but you’ll need to use the supplied bridge clip to carry signal across the block to the 2 right columns. How many blocks are you looking for?

Don Z.

[rrinker]

I will tell you I have a proper punchdown tool and it has both sizes of blades - for 66 blocks and for 110 blocks and it did NOT cost me $50. It’s actually possible to do connections on a 66 block without a tool but you’ll have overhanging bits of wire you’ll need to cut off - the tool is the right way to do it. You can also double up wires on each pin, the phoen guys do it all the time. Not the best though becauseeither the top one is loose or makes poor contact compared to the bottom wire. For wiring signals and so forth though they are great. Track power - I wouldn’t recommend it. Telephone wire is a bit on the small side even for short track feeders. For a briefcase-size Z scale layout - perfect type of wire. For signals and low power things like Tortoise motors - again, great choice.

–Randy

[jbinkley60]

I will tell you I have a proper punchdown tool and it has both sizes of blades - for 66 blocks and for 110 blocks and it did NOT cost me $50. It’s actually possible to do connections on a 66 block without a tool but you’ll have overhanging bits of wire you’ll need to cut off - the tool is the right way to do it. You can also double up wires on each pin, the phoen guys do it all the time. Not the best though becauseeither the top one is loose or makes poor contact compared to the bottom wire. For wiring signals and so forth though they are great. Track power - I wouldn’t recommend it. Telephone wire is a bit on the small side even for short track feeders. For a briefcase-size Z scale layout - perfect type of wire. For signals and low power things like Tortoise motors - again, great choice.

–Randy

I’ve used needlenose pliers many times to punch down wires on 66 blocks, when I didn’t have a punchdown tool handy. There is a technique to it and I wouldn’t recommend it but it is doable.