just bought similar from Airic

Just bought 100 of the red (small) ones from a different vendor, Airic. They work great, very easy, and an alternative to suitcase style connectors. Not sure if they're a net advantage over suitcases, slightly more work involved because you have to strip the end of the male plug side, but pretty trivial difference, possibly better reliability. 

The big advantage is being able to disconnect and reconnect, in situations where you need that. 

Jeff Allen

They have advantages

Unlike the suitcase connectors with limited wire gauge options you can have a heavy 12 or 14 gauge main bus wire with a much smaller gauge (22 or 24 AWG) feeder wire tapping off.  Plus troubleshooting wiring is easier if you can individually unplug each connection to the track. 

Yes and Crimp Tools

These connectors have been discussed before on the MRH forum, and we have used a lot of similar connectors for adding drops to several layouts. As noted the ability to use various size wires and the ability to break the connections for debugging are big advantages.

As with any crimp connectors you should use an appropriate ratcheting crimp tool to get reliable, gas tight connections. These tools used to be fairly costly, but now you can get an OK ratcheting crimp tool for under $20 US. Many sets also come with additional tool inserts.

Get one like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Insulated-Cable-Connectors-Terminal-Ratchet-Crimping-Wire-Crimper-Plier-Tool-Kit/332055256190?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Not one of these:

Nice Tool, Good Price

Looks like a nice tool at a reasonable price

Trainmaster, I echo

the comments here.  

1)  These tap connectors are very useful for separating sub-busses so you can debug.  Trust me, if your wiring a mid to large layout, you'll need to do this sooner or later; whether it's a misplaced feeder, a shorted isolation gap, or a pair of pliers on the rails, sooner or later you'll have a mysterious short.  (I now solder all drops.  Finally gave up on using Scotchlok suitcase connectors for every drop, as the cost has recently become more than I'm willing to tolerate).  Also, it allows you to place an audible short circuit beeper on an isolated sub-bus, so you can wire feeder drops with an immediate audible warning when you mistakenly miswire a rail.

2) Get a ratcheting crimper for the female (tap) connector.  Your hands will thank you, and your connection quality will improve.  I avoided this for years, then had a high-current electrical connection (115V, 15A) fail on me, spectacularly, because I just couldn't put enough force into the crimp.

3) For the male (run) connector, I generally use a pair of 8" battery pliers.  Gives a nice even 'squash' feel as the fork passes over the wire, without crushing the whole plastic housing.

Just more feedback

Blair

a little clarification

This looks like a great solution. So can I mix and match the wire connectors to get the appropriate sizes to connect to one another?  Seems a bit unclear. My plan was to go with the good ol' fashion suitcase connector, but the range of gauges are just on the outer limits of what I need for those. These look like they could provide a more solid connection than those.

Watch out for low quality...

I used both 3M and other brands, and it makes a difference.

Many wasted crimp attempts with non-3M brand, thought it was the crimper, was the T connector hardware.

Many failures on the Buss wire connection with non-3M, distort and fail to give a solid electrical connection.

When working under the RR, you want it to work the 1st time, so name brand will give you the best results.  Real 3M has their name molded on the T connector, the crimp end won't show a brand name, but will be marked 3M on the bag.

ebay sellers will say 3M....but they aren't, so be careful.

Ron B.

Mixiing wire sizes

Matt, That is correct. You use the appropriate insulation displacement (IDC) part for the bus T's which will mate with any of the male crimp terminals. The IDC T's and the Male crimps are bot available  to fit 22-18 (red), 16-14 (blue) and 12-10 (yellow) wire sizes. For the most part we have used 12-10 (yellow) IDC t's  on the buses with 22-18 (red) for the drops which will cover> 90% of most layout needs.

I had posted 3M and Molex references  in an earlier post - Scotchlok T-Tap connectors. As noted above I would stick with parts from one of the reputable manufacturers. Since you are probably going to be buying only those parts you need in quantities, the difference is minimal.

I have used the Tlok on my

scotch lock

3M is definitely the way to go, have used these in automotive applications and the work well, only issue was in situations with high amp draws 10 amps or greater, there were  some issues with connector life, the connector only contacts the outer portion of the wire and passes current through a much smaller surface than the wire, however in hobby applications, should work well.

Peace Bill