Has anybody else used the power clip things made by Peco?, i forget what they are called, i bought a packet today, because my solderign iron has died, and i need some feeders in my tunnels. the clips just go on to the track anywhere you want, you just hook them under the ties and clip it in!. Easy. Iwas wondering if they are as good as i hope they are? and if anybody has used them? I will lay some track tomorrow and test them out
UPSteve, I have only seen a photo of these clips, but I have not personally used any. My guess would be that because Peco does make excellent products, (imho) It could be expected that they would work well on nicklesilver rail. It might be doubtful how they would continue to work on brass rail however. Corrosion on nicklesilver IS a conductor, while when brass corrodes, it becomes an INSULATOR, so would not carry current anymore. You are probably in a dry climate, which should allow these clips to maintain their contacts for as long as each one retains the spring tension built in. You could solder lead wires to these rails in the tunnel before you make the tunnel, you know.
Steve, sorry I had missed this thread. I've used these connectors (in HO) and they are pretty good, quite a clever design. Basically they clip to the underside of the track sections and over the tie/sleeper ends to "lock" it in place, the spring tension keeps it in place and keeps good electrical contact. Looking for some downsides, you have to lift the track to add & remove them, so they are hard to retrofit to a layout, or remove if you wanted to in the future, they also give you a couple of (small) "lumps" above the baseboard that you might not like the look of. HTH
I installed the connectors 2 days after i posted my message, as i was laying some track anyway. But they work very well and easy to use too. My soldering skills are not very good yet, but im trying, the problem was my iron died. and out of curiosity i asked my LHS owner if there was somethign i could use as opposed to buying a new iron. I never knew these clips existed, only knew of the sort that are a piece of sectional train set track. The appearence of them wasnt a problem for me, theyre in an area where the track wont be seen. I would guess that if you put them in a place that can be seen, that you might be able to put a building, or something over them, maybe even ballast.
Hey, those wuld be great! I also never knew of them. Can they also be used instead of soldering on flex-track?
I used my connectors on flex track. They are called track treminal clips, peco part number ST-9, i hope that information is useful
