Terminal Strip Mistake


N

Nightwing

Member
I bought two MRC Terminal strips with jumpers to wire up my illuminated buildings. In my mind, I thought connect the plus feed wire to one row of screws and the minus feed wire to the other row. Then by installing the jumpers, each row would be plus or minus, so I could connect the light wires to each side. Today I opened the terminal strips and each pair of terminals across each row are screwed to a solid metal bar. That means they can't be treated as an individual connection.

The only thing I can think of is to take my Dremel tool with an abrasive wheel and split the metal bars to separate the terminal screws.

I have done some research and it seems I need distribution blocks, not terminals. How are these supposed to be used as designed?
 
I've never used MRC Terminal Strips, only terminal strips from electrical manufacturers. They have a series of screws on either side of the strip which are connected there is a plastic fence that runs between each terminal. Each terminal is independent from it's neighbor. Could you use one of MRC's strips for positive and one for negative?

Here is what I used:

https://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Terminal-Blocks-Strips-s/3169.htm
 
Don't Dremel them. All is not lost. You didn't post how many terminals are on the strip, or how many terminals the jumpers could accommodate. Let's assume that the terminal strips are four terminals wide and that the jumpers are two-terminal jumpers. Add a jumper to one end and connect your plus feed to one of the now four terminals and you have four plus terminals. Do the same at the other end of the terminal strip with a jumper and your minus feed and you now have four minus terminals. Be aware that you can connect more than one wire to each terminal. I find that three is my practical limit with 18 gauge wire, thus you now have enough for one incoming feed and eleven outgoing feeds. Smaller gauge wire will allow more. If the terminal strips are eight wide and the jumpers are four, you have many more. If the jumpers are only two terminals wide, you would need three on each end to do the same thing...one between terminals 1 & 2, one on the other side for terminals 2 & 3, then back to the original side for terminals 3 & 4. Do the same on the other end and do not connect terminals 4 & 5 together.
Distribution blocks do not need jumpers.

Willie

EDIT: Mark posted while I was still typing. He posted a link to something similar to what I use. Using a separate one for plus and minus would work as well, just jumper all of the terminals to one another.

Willie
 
Last edited by a moderator:
santafewillie said:
Don't Dremel them. All is not lost. You didn't post how many terminals are on the strip, or how many terminals the jumpers could accommodate. Let's assume that the terminal strips are four terminals wide and that the jumpers are two-terminal jumpers. Add a jumper to one end and connect your plus feed to one of the now four terminals and you have four plus terminals. Do the same at the other end of the terminal strip with a jumper and your minus feed and you now have four minus terminals. Be aware that you can connect more than one wire to each terminal. I find that three is my practical limit with 18 gauge wire, thus you now have enough for one incoming feed and eleven outgoing feeds. Smaller gauge wire will allow more. If the terminal strips are eight wide and the jumpers are four, you have many more. If the jumpers are only two terminals wide, you would need three on each end to do the same thing...one between terminals 1 & 2, one on the other side for terminals 2 & 3, then back to the original side for terminals 3 & 4. Do the same on the other end and do not connect terminals 4 & 5 together.
Distribution blocks do not need jumpers.

Willie

EDIT: Mark posted while I was still typing. He posted a link to something similar to what I use. Using a separate one for plus and minus would work as well, just jumper all of the terminals to one another.

Willie
Click to expand...

This:

If the terminal strips are eight wide and the jumpers are four, you have many more. If the jumpers are only two terminals wide, you would need three on each end to do the same thing...one between terminals 1 & 2, one on the other side for terminals 2 & 3, then back to the original side for terminals 3 & 4. Do the same on the other end and do not connect terminals 4 & 5 together.

This is a solution!
 
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