Garden Railway Forum

Would these suit your purpose, Peter?

https://ebay.us/m/DLZYWw

Rik
PS Sorry, just noticed others had beat me to it.

Graeme, I have some of the JST-RCY connectors (2pin) and they are good, unfortunately it would cause more problems as you describe as well as taking more space, which is in short supply.

Rik, those are the ones I'm replacing as they are tiny and have little grip on the wires. My concern is that they will not withstand reconnection for long and I would eventually be back to the beginning again.

Jerry, I like the look of the ones suggested and have ordered an assortment of 2-5 pin connectors, which I will find useful in future I'm sure. They come minus wires too so I can make up a loom to suit.

Phil, many thanks for your input, I would still be open to further suggestions if available.

One thing begs the question, Peter..
Why do you think they will require so much use?

If you have a 'central' charging port, I would think they would not need frequent disconnection?

Don't pay £3.49 a pair for those linked to earlier, though! - I have my sources..

Phil.P

Thanks Phil, I have bought a mixed pack of 100 pairs for £4.66 (freepost) so if I need variants I have stock.
They still might not be suitable so I could be back?

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sun Jun 08, 2025 3:57 pm as well as taking more space, which is in short supply.

Welcome to the wonderful world of bendy locos, especially Garratts.........

Spare a thought for us live steamers who need to find space for hot steam lines and a gas line, as well as the electrickery wiring.

In the very unlikely event I build another Garratt, it woud be r/c battery powered with independent engine units, each having it's own battery and ESC linked to a common Tx. Hang the extra expense, it's cheaper than having a nervous breakdown .......

Graeme

GTB wrote: ↑Tue Jun 10, 2025 6:18 am

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sun Jun 08, 2025 3:57 pm as well as taking more space, which is in short supply.

In the very unlikely event I build another Garratt, it woud be r/c battery powered with independent engine units, each having it's own battery and ESC linked to a common Tx. Hang the extra expense, it's cheaper than having a nervous breakdown ....

Graeme

Now there's a thought..... My Garratt has independent power units and battery packs (which are connected to each other in series) and are both supplied by a single Rx, charge point and switch (housed in the loco body). If I remove the battery links to each other would that be more complicated for charging etc?

Phil.P wrote: ↑Sun Jun 08, 2025 4:39 pm One thing begs the question, Peter..
Why do you think they will require so much use?

If you have a 'central' charging port, I would think they would not need frequent disconnection?

Don't pay £3.49 a pair for those linked to earlier, though! - I have my sources..

Phil.P

Fair point, Phil. Unless Peter’s planning a daily unplug-and-drag-the-boat ritual, those connectors won’t see combat-level duty. Also, £3.49 a pair? What are they made of, unicorn alloy?

Thanks to everyone for your responses to my question. I have received the multi-pack of connectors mentioned earlier and I think they look promising as the female part can be panel mounted thus reducing the overall size.
The reason I asked for suitable plugs and sockets in not so I can disconnect frequently, no need for that with fixed charge point installed. The issue arose after satisfactory running session when I came to re-charge the batteries.... no luck! Strange as the three position switch is working and there is no problem with supply to the motors. Only then did I need to disconnect the tiny connectors to find the fault and the flimsy nature of them caused concern.
On a previous page I have shown my wiring diagram, can anyone spot a fault with the way I have designed it please?
The switch, charge socket and Rx are all mounted in the main body of the loco.

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Tue Jun 10, 2025 10:42 am Now there's a thought..... My Garratt has independent power units and battery packs (which are connected to each other in series) and are both supplied by a single Rx, charge point and switch (housed in the loco body). If I remove the battery links to each other would that be more complicated for charging etc?

My plan would be to make each engine unit entirely self contained, with it's own battery and charge socket, so they'd be charged separately.

To all intents and purposes with this setup the engine units are just a couple of small tank engines double heading, with the boiler unit in the middle going along for the ride. With no wiring between units to worry about, the pivots would be a simple pin and socket for ease of separation and handling. Garratts with fixed pivots makes them a heavy floppy object that is a pain to pick up, carry and put on the rails.

Had a quick squiz at your wiring diagram and can't see anything obvious, but that's no guarantee. What processing power I have left is currently fully engaged in the paint shop.....

Graeme

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 11:45 am On a previous page I have shown my wiring diagram, can anyone spot a fault with the way I have designed it please?
The switch, charge socket and Rx are all mounted in the main body of the loco.

There can only be two places where your wiring may be suspect: The switch, and the charging socket..

Assuming a SPDT toggle-switch (may, or may-not, be centre-off) the positive from the battery should connect to the centre pin. - This is not 100% clear from the way you have drawn it.

The charging socket may also have a switch built-in. - If so, there will be three contacts on the back.
For the sockets I supply/use, if you are looking at the wiring-side of the socket, with the contacts forming a 'U' shape:
Red goes to the Right.
Black (from the battery) goes to the Bottom.
I then use a sLate-coloured wire (grey), on the Left connection, and this is the negative feed to the receiver. - This contact is 'broken-away' when the charging plug is inserted.

Phil.P

PM sent Phil.

And one sent back..

For those who follow the Quarterly Garden Railway Gallery (competition), this was my entry for 'Road vehicles on the railway'. From the one thousand, nine hundred and seventy three registered Forum members it won four votes of the total of seventeen cast! It would be nice to see more members taking part and show encouragement to entrants by joining in the fun. Everyone is eligible to enter.

However, the story behind this model is that was another eBay find listed under 'Novelty Radios' as it was Japanese built in 1970's as a working FM radio, also having working headlights. Mine was advertised as non-working with a faulty tuner pop-up section behind the seat and broken aerial (see picture below). A fully working, boxed and unused identical model is currently offered for £156.00, don't all rush!!!
Access is made by unscrewing the base-plate, which has no wheels attached, then after removal of all the radio gear, the pop-up section can be slid out, showing the damaged spring and clip mechanism. Some surgery is necessary to make room for the motor and gearbox under the bonnet, also for battery space behind the seat. I have managed to fit a 6v motor with PDF 3D printed gearbox driving steel wheels and 5AA batteries with RC trains Rx behind the rear wheels. A switch and recharge point are also fitted.

Driver figure is another from David Clavey...

It looks a lot like a Nash Metropolitan! I saw one of them on the road last week.
(My own crude FDM-printed HO scale model)

If you were following the posts about increasing participation in the Quarterly Photo Gallery, I've started a new thread and transferred them to preserve the focus of Peter's thread.

viewtopic.php?p=184731#p184732

Rik

My latest build required some outside-the-box thinking, unusual for me... but worth a try. This time however, the box needed to be somewhat larger than usual to accommodate my proposed load.
Incorporating another novelty radio car chassis and bonnet etc, I set about constructing the vehicle and load compartment in the style of a Galloping Goose. There are so many varieties of these pictured in Google one more will go un-noticed....
By this time I had already constructed the proposed load so knew exactly the dimensions to house it. It needed to be a precise fit to look 'custom built'. The box came together quite quickly and I didn't find time to take pictures in the grey primer, so here is the structure in top coat...
Any guesses?

Mobile Fruit and Veg Shop ?

Giraffe transporter?

Rik

Acoustic profile tester?

*WHAM!*

That bridge is a wee bit on the low side.


Profile measurement device?

Run it round the layout at max speed. The remining front wall of the green box gives you a pattern of the max allowed profile.....


SCNR

A poultry enclosure big enough for a whole flock of galloping (actual) geese?