Are there any cheaper options to the Accu-Lites Tortoise card edge connectors?
Our club’s problem is that we will be using a large number of used Tortoises that have had their original connections soldered directly to the terminals. We are reluctant to solder to the terminals a second time (actually a third time since the remnants of the original wires will have to be removed), and we are reluctant to spend another $9.00 Cdn per Tortoise for the Accu-Lites connectors with the screw terminals.
How do you connect your wires to the terminals on the connector? Do you solder them or is there some sort of slip on female socket connector that fits onto the individual terminals?
I’ve seen pictures that shoow male Molex pins soldered in a neat row to the Tortoise - however every Tortoise I’ve ever seen has the holes drilled staggered instead of straight across. That to me would be the best way, soldering the connectors on at the bench before installing the Tortoise. The Molex headers mate firmly with the plug so there is little change of anything working loose or an errant pull on the wire popping the connector loose. I guess to do this you would have to drill some holes in each one to get a row matching the spacing of the connector.
Another way I’ve seen it done is with a straight header, laying the solder side of the pins over the traces on the Tortoise and soldering it flat. That should actually work with minimal cleanup of any existing wires in the holes - just snip them off flush.
ANother way I always thought about doing it was making pigtails and soldering an RJ45 jack to each one, thus any interconnect cables can be made with some flat wire and a crimp tool. The only thing I ever saw wrong about this is that usually 3 of the wires are used local to the machine (frog power) and only 5 of the 8 need actually run anywhere.
The pins that solder on to the Tortoise and the pins that go in the shrouds where you attach the wires (they crimp on - but there’s a special tool for that) and the shrouds are all available from any electronics supplier like Mouser or Digi-Key for, I suspect, even lower cost, but these guys are selling sets of 25 for $105USD, or $3.95 each for orders of more than 26.
Never heard of these guys until it just came up in searching.
They’re not quite the same as the Molex but they should be interchangeable, for the price I’m going to order some. I’ll cut off the connector locking piece, that won’t be needed for the Tortoise.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
I’m not sure if the pin pitch on those is going to match the Tortoise though. ANd the headers don’t have much room to solder on like those right-angle ones.
Yes be careful with the e-bay listing the title and description do not agree the title implies straight through hole pcb mount, but the description says right angle.
The pin spacing is correct as 3.96 mm is .156 inch, which is the spacing on the tortise edge connector.
Randy the specs on the socket I’m using (Sullins EBM08DSXN) is .156” and matches the eBay connector specs. The eBay connector is an angle connector also, or at least that’s what the listing says.
It should work. Dave I’d say if you want to wait until I get my order I’ll do a follow up but remember it’ll be on a slow boat from China.
EDIT:
In reading over the entire listing a couple more times I’m not holding my breath, the listing has several errors from pin count to it being an angle connector. The picture shows a 8 pin straight the listing says #6385 and the description says #6359 8 pin Angle. 8P is the US standard for 8 pins so maybe that will be correct.
After I posted this thread, one of the layout design committee members has questioned whether or not we want to use Tortoises on every turnout. I’m in favour of being able to control all of the turnouts remotely, partly because I would like to see automatic route selection in the yard, and partly because we want to involve a dispatcher in the layout operations.
I’m sure there will be Tortoises on the layout so your information will be valuable when we are considering our options.
IMO the molex connectors are the way to go for long term reliability, if you don’t want to have to solder under the layout. The right angle ones are particularly nice because they place the pins (and the connector) into space that HAS to be open anyway, right under the bulk of the Tortoise. Soldering the pins on before installing each Tortoise couln’t be easier - a pair of alligator clips to clamp the outside pins to the Tortoise board, solder the other 6 pins, remove clips, solder last 2 pins. Any under-layout customization involves crimp connections that don’t need to be soldered if the proper tool is used. Miniature versions of these are used in many factory DCC locos. Cheap, too.
I have never understood the desire for a Tortoise edge connector. There’s just no need for it and it introduces a mechanical connection that could corrode, shift, or fail at any time by someone or something moving under the layout or yanking a wire.
An edge connector would be great if one was in the habit of replacing Tortoise machines constantly. Well, I can report that in the 15+ years we’ve been running Tortoise machines at my club, we’ve never had to replace one. And it’s not like we don’t have a bunch. Last I checked, we’ve got about 400 installed.
At my club, we solder a 1-foot length of 8-conductor cable to every brand new Tortoise machine on the bench. The loose end of the cable is stripped back 3 or 4 inches and each individual wire is stripped at the end. When the Tortoise is installed, we use a 9v battery for testing. After installation, we mount a 8-connector terminal strip near-by, and screw the 8 wires to it (everything color coded, everything mounted the same for each Tortoise).
What this means is that all soldering is done on the bench, all Tortoise machines are insulated from wires being yanked on due to the terminal strip, and only a screwdriver is required to be used under the layout (no irons). Tortoise machines can still be replaced quickly, but then they never need to be replaced, really.
In this particular instance of used Tortoise machines with wires already on them (and provided it’s a good solder connection to the Tortoise), I would simply solder on a length of 8-conductor cable to the existing wires (trimming them to a couple inches at most) and heat shrink the connections. Then use terminal strips.
Having just dismantled my layout, I heartily endorse the use of screw-connector terminal strips. I’ve done a few of my Tortoises this way, and found them much easier to work with later on.
Most of my Tortoises use only two wires for power, though, plus 3 more for the frog. I’ve connected the frog wires on the bench and the power wires back to the control panel directly at the layout, whether I used edge connectors or not. I use terminal blocks when I use the rest of the Tortoise connections for signals.
