Dear Bruce,
Just to let you know, here is the source of the modular phone plug/jack engine-tender connection system that I referred to on chat last night.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,5012.0.html
Tom Lapointe’s idea, not mine.
Hope this helps,
Sincerely,
Joe Satnik
That looks like a great idea Joe. I like the price as well. Who knows, maybe I can get them at the local Radio Shack. 
Thanks.
That is a neat idea. It would work well for the new version of the Aristo C16. It now has an 8 pin harness and plug that is rather cumbersome and can disconnect on tight radii.
-Brian
HEY JOE!!! Are you able to take calls on that setup also??? LOL The Regal
Dear Jerry,
You can take calls, but all you will hear is water sloshing around and the scraping of coal shovels. (Hello? Hello??!!)
Dear Bruce,
Most all modular phone wiring components are available at your local home improvement store’s lighting/electrical department.
You could just cut in half a pre-made cable with plugs on both ends, hard wiring the cut end to a circuit board as Tom did.
You can also purchase a cutter/stripper/crimper and loose plugs to create custom length cables. (Radio Shack?)
I think you can cannibalize the jacks out of wall mount plates and surface mount boxes.
Watch out for the number of conductors everywhere. Some are cheap and have only 2 pins and wires, not 4.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Joe Satnik
Edit: grammar
Great idea.
Modular plugs come in many pin counts. Standard telco plugs (sometimes called RJ11) are 2 or 4 conductors on the a 4 position body. There are also modular plugs with 6, 8 and 10 positions with anywhere from 4 to 8 conductors. The 8P8C is commonly used for CAT5 data network cables.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_connector for details.
There is also an RJ22 which is used in the telephone handset plugs. They are physically smaller than an RJ11 and are 4 wire.
One caveat -
Modular plugs/jacks are not designed to carry any current to speak of. They will work great for sound triggers, led lighting and other low amperage needs. Try and MU a couple of six axle/two motor diesels through them and you might just melt them and/or the telephone wire. They will probably will work OK for a single motor steamer. You can increase the current capacity by doubling up on conductors - use a 4P4C for one set of motor leads.
Jon Radder said:
One caveat -Modular plugs/jacks are not designed to carry any current to speak of. They will work great for sound triggers, led lighting and other low amperage needs. Try and MU a couple of six axle/two motor diesels through them and you might just melt them and/or the telephone wire. They will probably will work OK for a single motor steamer. You can increase the current capacity by doubling up on conductors - use a 4P4C for one set of motor leads.
Again,
Most pickups/batteries/motor controllers should be where the motor is. That way you avoid huge currents passing between the engine and tender, and if battery powered, puts the battery weight above the driver wheels.
e.g. loco wheel pickups thru cable to controller in tender, controller motor output thru cable back to loco. That’s 4 heavy gauge wires.
Joe
It’s not just the wire, the point of contact is very small, look at the angled “wires” in the socket, they do not have a large contact area with the recessed contacts in the plug.
Regards, Greg
The plating on the contacts helps because of gold’s high conductivity and freedom from oxidation.
Do your best to avoid the high currents between the engine and tender.
e.g., HO tenders have only 2 wheel pickup for each rail. Usually there are non-pickup wheels on the loco somewhere. Add pickups to those dead loco wheels, and use the tender pickups for sound power.
The main problem with high current/ high contact area connectors is the high forces needed to pull them apart. When they finally let go, things tend to get damaged.
Someone should invent a high current connector that has built in “levers” that will “ease” the two sides apart.
Sincerely,
Joe
Granted, the plugs between Bachmann’s stuff are the worse in the industry.
I change out every one to a different system.
But, having said that, I agree with the above. They (phone plugs) should not be used to MU motors in a motorized tender.
Hmm. This is a neat idea, but if it won’t carry 15 volts…is there a better alternative?
It’ll carry 15v fine. It’s limited in amps.
OK. How many amps will it carry?
Near as I can tell,
6 position carries 0.5 Amp per connection
8 position (ethernet type, larger) 1.0 amp per connection
Hope this helps.
Joe