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magnetic connector between loco and tender Locos and rolling stock
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Regular poster 151 posts VSOTTO Regular poster 151 posts
VSOTTO

I have a couple of Bachmann Spectrum steam locos that have small plugs (I think JST) to connect the loco to the decoder in the tender.  It is a tight fit an I am afraid of damaging them when disconnecting them.  I'm considering replacing them with a tiny magnetic connector (very similar to the iphone charger connector). 

Trouble is, I'm having trouble finding a connector small enough which has 6 pins.  I'm wondering if anyone has a lead on something that might work. 
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dark2star Prolific poster 1,752 posts
dark2star

USB charging cables

Hi,

we are using magnetic USB charging cables. They are USB 3 so they could have more than 4 wires, but I doubt it. Also, in my experience they work best when there is not too much movement (a file-share connection may get interrupted once I pick up the phone or bump the plug). Finally, regarding your use case, these things are huge.

The connector on your loco should be your least concern, I would guess it is usually the cables that break :-(

The best way for you to avoid damaging the wires may be to reduce the need to handle the loco manually. I would imagine that something like a loco lift (*) can be a solution for you?

Have fun

(*) any kind of "cassette storage" really. Basically it is a box that the loco is driven into. Once there, grab the box and move the whole loco (with or without train) to your storage area. Some of the solutions you can find online are even built for transport of locos and rolling stock to other layouts... You'll rarely need to touch the loco.
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