Shortening pins on 8 pin connector?


K

Ken Portner

Member
I have an Atlas MP15DC. There is very little room under the hood, but it does have an 8 pin socket.

I got a very small Soundtraxx decoder (not sound) that has an 8 pin connector, no harness. But the pins make it still sit too high.


So, do you think if I shortened the pins by snipping off some of their length id break the decoder?
 
Yes they can be shortened without damaging the decoder. The only problem is that these pins, when shortened, could be crushed some, making it harder to plug it in. I would use a Xuron wire cutter, the one with the short sharp cutters, not the rail cutters. I would also be prepared to reshape the ends with a small jewelers file to file down any of the pins that got crushed as they were cut.
 
Morning Ken. If I may,another option,that would work would be to get one of the Train Control System's M1-P15 decoder. It is designed for the Atlas MP-15,and I have that decoder in four of my MP-15's. TCS's website is WWW.TCSdcc.com. . William.
 
shortening the pins won't change the clearance. The socket they plug into will still be the same depth. The plug just wont go in as deep if it fits at all after crunching the ends during cutting.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. You're right that clipping the pins won't help. Upon further review, the decoder board, small as it is, is still too wide and hits a piece of the Pc board in the loco, preventing the shell from seating down completely. I'll have to return the Soundtraxx decoder and try the TCS one suggested. Thanks again.
 
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