What are these things called?

[hon30critter]

Hi guys,

I am having a serious seniors moment and I need your help. I can't remember the proper name for these strips. I have been searching Digikey for hours. I thought I bought them from Digikey before but my purchase history doesn't go back far enough:

Pardon the fuzzy picture. Apparently I can't remember how to focus the camera either!

I need strips that are two pins wide. The length doesn't matter. They will be cut into 2 x 2 pin pieces.

They will be used to mount dwarf signals like these:

Yes, they aren't exactly prototypical, but they are less than $2.00 each which makes then really attractive. We might try playing with them a bit to see if we can reduce the size of the housing and maybe add some duck bill shades over the LEDs.

Thanks

Dave

[tstage]

Dave,

They are called header strips.  These are a slightly different kind than the ones normally found on PCB boards.  Those have a square gold pins and sockets.  These have smaller round silver pins and sockets and work great for more delicate wire installations for decoders that you want to connect and disconnect.

I bought mine off eBay.  They came directly from China so it took a little while (2-3 weeks) before they arrived.  No complaints on the quality though.

Tom

[RR_Mel]

Dave

 

Tom got it right. 

 

They are what I use for almost everything on my layout.  They come in single 40 pin (breakable) strips as well as X2 dual row 40 strip or 80 pin strips in both female sockets (your picture) and male plugs.

 

The female will double as a male by soldering the wires to the socket side of the strip.  I prefer the male plug as the male plug is slightly larger in diameter and fits tighter into the female socket.

 

The dual row header strips can be cut with a razor saw to make compatible NMRA 8 pin DCC connectors.

 

It is also easy to make polarized connectors by pushing out a male or female pin and replacing it with the opposite pin.

 

I stock both the single row 40 pin male and female strips as well double row 80 pin strips, I buy them off eBay in quantities of 10.  That gets the price down to under 1¢ per pin.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pcs-Single-Row-40Pin-2-54mm-Round-Female-Pin-Header-gold-plated-machined/261720531985?epid=1661754682&hash=item3cefc26411:g:B3YAAOSwMpZUpgBE

   

There is a key word in the eBay search for this connector ROUND.  If you don’t put round in the search you will get the square pin Arduino style connector.  Same pin spacing but a much larger connector and won't work as a socket for LEDs.

 

Check out my blog to see how I use them

 

https://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2017/12/december-15-2017-micro-connector-update.html

 

https://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2016/02/february-10-2016-polarizing-micro.html

 

https://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2014/07/july-29-2014-restoring-rivarossi-tender.html

 

https://melvineperry.blogspot.com/2014/09/september-17-2014-dcc-test-box.html

 

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

 

[hon30critter]

Hi Tom and Mel,

Thanks. I thought they were called header strips but I couldn't find the ones I wanted in all the thousands of Digikey listings. I have lots of the single pin strips buy I want some doubles for the dwarf signals. I probably bought the singles on eBay so I will do a search for the double pin strips there.

Dave

 

[BroadwayLion]

 

 

The masts on some of my signals were made from coffee stirrers fro Walmart. The also mad the lens covers on the first photo.

 

The LEDs from Christmas sets were far too bright, the lens covers makes them just right.

 

ROAR

[hon30critter]

Finally found what I want!

Thanks Tom and Mel

Dave

[BroadwayLion]

One more on your big boxy signal...

 

ROAR

[hon30critter]

BroadwayLion

One more on your big boxy signal...

Hi Bro. Elias!

Thanks for the photo. It shows the sun shade shape really well.

Dave

[xdford]

Hi All,  

For ground signals you might like to check these out.  

https://sites.google.com/view/stagnesrailway07 

I have fitted and wired them with a single bidirectional LED which has worked well for me,

Cheers from Australia

Trevor