Long story short, huge layout, I have four powerhouses (the new ones) I cut the ends off to add ring terminals. There’s three wires? Two that look gray/ black and the middle wire is green. Please advise what the heck to do haha
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The newest version of these has an added circuit to ensure that power does not flow until it's properly connected to an appropriate three-pin connector.
There is a mechanical work around, i.e a 'cheat', but it involves using the connectors that you've now cut off.
See this post:
180 Brick (2/9/2022) | gunrunnerjohn
Good luck. This may not be easy to undo.
Mike
Did you happen to cut it at an angle? Meaning, can you tell which wires went to which spots on the end you cut off?
The switch simply connects the "safety" lead to one of the output leads. Without having one to look at, I can't comment on which one.
If you still have the connectors you cut off, there is a rib on one side of the cord, match that up with the chopped connector and see which two wires are connected when you push the safety switch in.
So there’s no way to make it work without the connector? The guy at my local train store told me to cut the ends off and do it with ring terminals. I can’t get ahold of anyone today due to storm and wanted to work on table.
@chall77 posted:So there’s no way to make it work without the connector? The guy at my local train store told me to cut the ends off and do it with ring terminals. I can’t get ahold of anyone today due to storm and wanted to work on table.
Did you read my reply right above your reply?
I’m not following on what you mean by which two wires are connected? When the pin is pushed In?
Will I be able to wire with ring terminals or do I need the plug back on?
Yes, you can use ring terminals. Connected, as in continuity between two of the wires! The push-in pin in the 3rd connector hole is a switch that had to be pressed to enable the power output. You're just enabling it all the time by connecting two of the wires to the one ring terminal and the hot wire to the other. You just need to look at the connector you cut off to determine which wire was the switch wire, it will connect to the middle wire in the flat cable.
Awesome, that made total sense. Thank you
I find the easiest (but admittedly more expensive) way to transition from the PowerHouse to ring/spade terminals or a coaxial power connector is to use a Molex connector that is compatible with the existing PowerHouse one. There are many different types of Molex connectors. The PowerHouse uses 0.093" pins. These will work:
https://www.amazon.com/Molex-C...anging/dp/B0753WNRDB
The mating Molex connector will look like this when wired:
The top pin is not connected to a wire but needs to be in place to activate the PH power-on switch.
The middle pin is "hot" and goes to the center rail.
The bottom pin is common.
The advantage of using this connector is that it allows me to quickly detach the PowerHouse from my layout for reuse on a test jig.
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I think that ship has sailed Bruce, he already chopped the connectors off. 
FWIW, I do the same thing with the PH180, I don't hack the connectors off.
