Power via terminal blocks

Have a conventional layout with 275 watt ZW transformer. Being older so as not to crawl under table I used ONO Terminal blocks starting from transformer and then to four sides of layout. From the blocks then used each sub block to the line at short intervals. Worked fine constant voltage throughout line one.

Seems no way to block some of the sub lines for lines 2 and 3. Is their a terminal block that can be separated into multiple lines. Been looking at DNI block

Thanks
Robert

Some of the wago-style locking connectors have a fanout up to 5 wires. Make an adapter with one 12 to 16ga solid between block and connector, then add lines as desired.

Welcome aboard, @Merbeau

Not sure if I understand completely, but I use these blocks. The pieces that connect all the terminals together can be cut, so that only those connected will go to one section:

All my connections are behind the fascia, so I don’t ever have to do under table work. Lines are dropped through holes in the table, and I can grab the lines and pull them to the side of the table to connect to the terminals. I can do all that work while sitting in a chair.

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Welcome on board, Robert.

I have seen these on Amazon. The ONO block has a line input called A for hot and B for common. In between are sub lines labeled a1b1, a2b2 etc. which can go to different parts of your track.

At the end of the block there is an output line and extension for A and B which can go to another block.

There are a total of 12 sublines on each block.

I do not see a way to isolate say (a6/b6) through (a12/B12) as you can with the ones like you posted. Sorry for writing can’t load image.

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You can kludge it by Dremeling out part of the bus in the terminal block and then using one of those multiple-spade connectors with the spade part trimmed rather than cut to a length. You can overlap the (insulated) spades connectors to get common terminals that aren’t sequential.

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Ok thank you. That should
solve my issue.

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I have used all of the above items on my layout. Another favorite way I join and branch wires (on the underside of my plywood tabletop) is with these crimp eye connectors. I just put a wood screw through 3 or 4 of them and voila! The wires are joined. It’s easier than wire nuts. I just recently discovered wago type connectors, too

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I wire the Baron Von Frankenstein way :wink: one block (upper) is 14 volt and the other is 20 volt for motorized accessories such as the airplane pylon, radar tower and Esso gas station which are only used at Christmas. I also wire the constant voltage for crossing gates to the 20. The 14 is for lighting only.

I don’t have the fancy doo dads I just wire my strips in an alternate fashion so each pair of adjacent screws is a complete circuit. That way I have several feeder blocks wired in parallel that branch out throughout the town. The individual street lamps, building lights and homemade lighted decorations are usually wired in parallel through a series of connected feeders to minimize connections.

It’s crazy complicated and darn near impossible to repeat but for temporary floor layouts it works pretty good. It’s also all 16 gauge stranded wire by the way.

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