Large Scale Central

Magnetic (electric) couplers

Electronics
#1

We were talking the other day about how difficult some locos are to disconnect the engine and tender - especially the ones with lots of ‘stuff’ in the tender.

I recalled seeing magnetic connectors on Aliexpress, so I ordered some. Turned out I had a perfect application - my new live steam loco has a servo in the cab with a long lead to the RX (rc receiver) in the tender. It has to be poked through a small square hole in the front and then plugged in to the RX. Not the quickest and easiest way to uncouple and disconnect the two.

Here’s my new magnetic connector with a bundle of r/c cables.

20240826_174109_resized
20240826_174109_resized1126×1200 481 KB

I clipped an end of one of the cables and soldered it to the new conector, which just happened to have 4 leads, and 3 were the right color.

20240826_175634_resized
20240826_175634_resized1126×2000 270 KB

Then I cut the loco’s cable and soldered the other connector to it.

20240826_180442_resized
20240826_180442_resized1126×1156 452 KB

And that was it. It works, and I can unplug the loco from the tender anytime I want.

20240826_181410_resized
20240826_181410_resized1126×1603 188 KB

They are $2.75 each (male or female) from
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802830203313.html

5 Likes
#2

Nice! Ive been meaning to buy some of these for loco-to-tender connections.

#3

Peter,

I couldn’t find the answer on the page. They look quite symmetrical. Are the magnets polarity aligned to keep the wires from aligning 180 degrees out of sync?

#4

Yes. You can’t attach them any way but the right way!

2 Likes
#5

Nice find Pete. I have a few of the Aristo Delton Classic C-16’s which are nice little engines but the tender connection is a royal pain, just a bit to short and keeps pulling out and killing the engine. I see some soldering in my future. Thanks

Jerry