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Posted

The quick connect version is not what I was hoping for and would like to know when the screw in terminal version will be available for purchase again. Anyone know when it will be available for sale??

Posted

I don't know the answer, Marty, but I'm with ya. I much prefer the screw terminals to the quick connects. Seems to me they'll last longer with repeated changing of connections.

Posted

Cray Augsburg wrote:

I don't know the answer, Marty, but I'm with ya. I much prefer the screw terminals to the quick connects. Seems to me they'll last longer with repeated changing of connections.




You piqued my curiosity Cray!

Why would you need to change the on board connections, once you had your board mounted in an enclosure and had the 16 cords connected??

Greg
Posted

Greg Young wrote:


You piqued my curiosity Cray!

Why would you need to change the on board connections, once you had your board mounted in an enclosure and had the 16 cords connected??

I don't know about Cray, but I will be changing some of my boards in my enclosures (4 boards to an enclosure) this year due to my display layout changing.

Most of my dongles are custom made lengths that go from my board to the display item itself, so some are too short. Others had 8 wire cables with Molex connectors going to them, and those are not needed this year, again due to changes in my display.
Posted

Not trying to answer for Cray, but these are DC boards we are talking about here.

Personally I have DC boards that don't have dongles on them. They are the screw terminal type and the wires get screwed in and unscrewed every year. If I had the spade type I would be concerned about plugging and unplugging them every year (or more often).

Posted

Paul Roberson wrote:

Not trying to answer for Cray, but these are DC boards we are talking about here.

Whoops...sorry about that...not paying attention again...
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Posted

I agree SCREW TERMINALS are better than those depression (quick connect/disconnect) types that use a spring to hold them down. Don't have any LOR boards currently that have either on them, but have several train throttles that use the depression method, and every one of them NO LONGER hold the wires in without adding another wire or two, and the electrical connections aren't that great either when doing it this way. They tend to be intermittent at times. Definiely NOT good!


Wish tbey'd go back to using screw terminals on train throttles as well as any other electrical/electronic device. screw downs are definitely superior and a lot longer lasting than these depression types.

Train throttles lost their hold within 2 years of connecting/disconnecting the throttles (G gauge/outdoor layout) almost daily. Screw terminals would still be going strong!

So I definitely agree screw down terminals are by far much better than any other type when it comes to connecting/disconnecting items, wether it's a model train throttle pack or some element in your Holiday Display.

Posted

There was a thread last year about DC cards, and people were asking if there was a way to bring the price down. The spade connector board was the answer.
I didn't think they would stop offering the screw terminal boards. But maybe they have to sell a number of the new ones to pay for the redesign?:)

Posted

Greg:

I will use the controllers for Rainbow spots this year. In the past, I have connected different single and double LEDs for use as mini spots and blinking eyes for Halloween. Each of these items is on a "long" run w/ no dongles. Since they are disconnected and reconnected, I simply feel better not putting the stress on the spade connectors.

Of course I am still a newbie (despite having 2 years w/LOR under my belt). In time I may eventually use all dongles and find that everything will stay the same. We'll see.

Cray

Posted

Cray Augsburg wrote:

Greg:

I will use the controllers for Rainbow spots this year. In the past, I have connected different single and double LEDs for use as mini spots and blinking eyes for Halloween. Each of these items is on a "long" run w/ no dongles. Since they are disconnected and reconnected, I simply feel better not putting the stress on the spade connectors.

Of course I am still a newbie (despite having 2 years w/LOR under my belt). In time I may eventually use all dongles and find that everything will stay the same. We'll see.

Cray



If you are using cat5 for your wire runs, then these may help.
attachment.php?id=11545
Link to adapters on monoprice

You can see my DC board setup here:
5267834240_aae4591024.jpg
5267227845_1ec72391c5_z.jpg

As you can see, these create a way to easily connect/disconnect wires without stressing the spades. If not using cat5, I am sure you could buy/create something similar that would allow you to leave the spades undisturbed.

You can read about the connections here (especially page 2):
http://forums.lightorama.com/view_topic.php?id=22648&forum_id=81&jump_to=207824#p207824
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Posted

martymiller wrote:

The quick connect version is not what I was hoping for and would like to know when the screw in terminal version will be available for purchase again. Anyone know when it will be available for sale??

My recollection was this was replacing the screw terminal version, not supplementing it..
Posted

Cray Augsburg wrote:

Greg:

I will use the controllers for Rainbow spots this year. In the past, I have connected different single and double LEDs for use as mini spots and blinking eyes for Halloween. Each of these items is on a "long" run w/ no dongles. Since they are disconnected and reconnected, I simply feel better not putting the stress on the spade connectors.

Of course I am still a newbie (despite having 2 years w/LOR under my belt). In time I may eventually use all dongles and find that everything will stay the same. We'll see.

Cray




That makes sense, now I understand your point Cray!

Greg
Posted

The adapter thing looks like a good solution for those who dont want to connect and disconnect the quick connect spades. But for me, I still perfer the screw terminals. The less I put in the box the better...thats just me.

Dan......keep the deluxe dc board......please..........

  • 1 month later...
Posted

I ended up returning my spade board and went another route. Would definitely have prefered the screw in board and when I talked to the LOR rep about the refund, etc. she said they were looking into building them again but could not provide a timeline or promise to update me via email.

Posted

Sounds like not much of a chance for them to reappear for the summer sale...

Posted

I did stumble on a LOR vendor that had one old style board left...paid the LOR price of 119.95. but worth it to have the screw terminals..

have not done a lot of searching past this one order, but would guess there may be a few other resellers out there with some of the older boards left.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

I too would prefer the screw terminals.

Posted

I had email conversation with Dan in regards to the G3 boards. They has the G3 board at expo and I had some questions. Several components are migrating to SMT. The G3 boards also have the spade connectors. Based on Dan's reply to my inquiry about the spade versus the screw terminals. I seriously doubt the DC board will go back to screw terminals. I am basing this on conversation concerning the Ac board. Basically Dan's position as I understand, the spades provide a much more reliable termination.

Chuck

Posted

I spoke to Dan at Plus specifically about the DC boards and screw terminals. His response was that they will get them back in, and the timeframe will be later this year....

Randy

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