Terminal Strips

Here is an approach I used with good results.

Terminal Block

Southwest Hiawatha,

See my "FOR SALE" Add on Terminal Strips. I have many left at a good Price!!

FREDSTRAINS

I made my own using a brass piano hinge.  Take the pin out you have two strips of brass one for common and one for power.   Fasten to plywood under layout. Run 16 ga. stranded wire from transformer to strip with  predrilled holes into brass strips.  Using brass screws attach wire from hinge to either a drop on the track or to an accessory. Simple and easy. 

I know how to build a ground strip or a bus bar, thank you. I don't feel like doing the work, I've got lots of other projects to occupy my time. I'm looking for a generic equivalent to the MTH product, which is a really elegant solution to the problem of connecting multiple output pairs to a single input pair. 

Southwest,

I too had looked for such a device, the minatronics one is more costly.  The material cost of the PCB and the terminal strip alone is pretty costly in small quantities, that is what led me to the approach I took.  I was not looking to make work for you, simply sharing an approach.

If you find something, please share it.

To a point electrical panel neutral buss bars available at local electrical supply stores do a decent job. These are insulated neutral bars, also available are non-insulated ground bars.  They work well for track, accessory, and power supply commons.   

I cut the brass strips in one of the above. I cut between 4 and 5 and 8 and 9 to give me 3 separate  hot and commons.

This one is not as nice as the MTH version but it does the same thing at 1/3 the cost.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-Way-Terminal-Block-Bus-Bar-Splits-1-Input-to-8-Outputs-Fast-Shipping-/170808154630?pt=US_Surveillance_Accessories&hash=item27c4f59a06

Thanks trainfever, that's what I had in mind for plan B if I can't find one like the MTH. I figured somebody must make something like that. 

I take a dremel and cut mine in half.  You can then drill new holes in the corners, purchase small rubber feet from Home Depot to mount them. 

Miller Engineering also has some smaller boards that they sell for use with their lights.

Hope this help.

JOE

I had a need to activate several accessories at the same time.

2 4 pos blocks goto the accesories (these have a common strip installed)

1 each of the 2 pos blocks go to the power and switch

The total for this was $7.00

With a little project work, these could be used to make a quick disconnect/connect board at a cheap cost. http://www.allelectronics.com/...VER-TERMINALS/1.html

Thanks to all who posted. I ordered a couple of the terminal strips posted by trainfever. This seemed to be the easiest and most cost effective solution, offering the same basic utility, just without the banana plugs. The seller has them on eBay with several different combinations of price and shipping. I picked the listing with "Buy it Now" for 8.15 apiece, shipping included. One ad from the same seller offered them for $5.00 apiece, but the shipping added up to more money, even in quantity.

I was surprised to see that the Miniatronics version, which is identical to the MTH (in fact, the picture on the MTH website is of a strip labeled Miniatronics, is even more expensive than MTH. Miller Engineering sells one with 10 pairs instead of 12 at a somewhat lower price. It's hard to find on their website, at the bottom of the billboards page. If I had known about those when I was ordering for the layout, I'd have gotten them instead of the MTH ones. Apparently nobody makes a board with banana jacks and 4-6 pairs of contacts, which would have been exactly what I needed. I thought of making them, but it was just more work than it was worth. 

I thought about cutting the MTH strips in half, but for some reason I just didn't want to do that even though most of the terminals will remain unused.

I didn't see anything I wanted at All Electronics Surplus, but I bookmarked the site because they seemed to have all sorts of interesting and useful stuff at cheap prices. Might be useful for future projects.  

Thanks again to everyone.