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Lionel uses this connector on some of its passenger cars for lighting:

Lionel 2 pin light harness part

I need to buy a bunch of these in male/female pairs for lighting projects on other passenger cars, but can't figure out who makes this two-pin connector or the AWG wire used.  (FWIW:  Lionel charges $2.50 for the part shown.)

Who makes this connector and what AWG wire is used?

Thanks for the help.

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  • Lionel 2 pin light harness part
Last edited by Pingman
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Carl, FWIW, I use these 2 pin 1.25mm jst style connectors for all my LED passenger car upgrades.  The wire is probably 28awg.  Don’t need much more than that for the led conversions.  If you want something bigger you could go up to 2.0mm, 2 pin connectors.  Use your search engine to find the ones you prefer.  
94A7885D-49C6-4A7B-80EB-FD46BFE968BF03D2EE2F-8232-4807-87F3-9A489E8B55B0

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Last edited by TedW

CARL; what TEDW said. Those small 1.25 JST PH connectors work great for lighting, up to about 500 ma. I have used probably about 60-70 pairs by now.

Here is a current listing and pricing on ebay from my watch list:

JST 1.25 connectors

Note this price is in Canadian dollars, so with shipping = about $2.07US. About a dime a pair; pretty hard to beat! 

Rod

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  • JST 1.25 connectors

Ted and Rod, thanks for the recommendation on the JST's.  Just placed my order.  Have an immediate need for 15 pair, so I'll have a few extra until the next order.

As it turns out, when I was all over eBay, Amazon, and the internet searching for what I thought (incorrectly, of course) were JST connections that LIONEL used, I found these same JST connectors and put them in my eBay shopping cart.

Thanks, again.

FWIW, the JST-PH connector series are 2mm pin spacing, not 1.25mm.  Just as well, the 1.25mm spacing connectors are really difficult to work with if you ever have to re-pin a connector.  JST doesn't make a 1.25mm connector that looks anything like those pictured, all of the JST 1.25mm connectors are latch lock style, that's the JST-GH or JST-GVH series.

 

Pingman posted:

GRJ, so the eBay listing shows connectors that are NOT JST's?

Whatever they are, I'll put my digital caliper to them when they arrive in mid'February and report.

Carl I think you will find when they arrive that they are indeed 1.25 mm pin pitch, but they may be incorrectly shown as PH style in the listing, who knows? As grj says they would be a bear to re-pin, I don't think I would even try. I am not sure what is meant by latch-lock. They simply push together with a small click, and pull apart the same way.

There seems to be lots of confusion in JST models, or maybe it's just me. For instance there are two types of 2.54mm pitch connectors, XH and EH. At a quick glance they look identical, but I don't think one will work with the other. No idea why they make the two different styles. I have a bunch of XH on hand, which seem to work well.

Rod

The JST-EH is the same as the Lionel Ledco 2.54mm connector.  The JST-PH is the same as the widely used 2mm connector on Lionel stuff, don't know who originally made that one.  And, of course, the JST-ZH is compatible with the 1.5mm connectors used on a lot of Legacy stuff.  Add in the Molex PicoBlade 1.25mm, and you have most of the connectors covered.  The Molex Micro-Fit 3.0mm connectors are the black latching connectors used for power to motherboards and to motor driver boards.

Rod, I am still with you and appreciate the depth of the discussion and information  supplied.

GRJ and others, what wire would you use with the Molex connectors?  I checked on LIONEL's website in the passenger car parts lists that use the pictured Molex connector, and LIONEL lists 24 awg super flex product by the foot.

For what I need, that old bugaboo, S&H, kills the economics for parts that aren't critical for my application.  In this case, I'd like to assemble 10 female Molex connectors to mate with the LIONEL connectors in some new passenger car shells.  But Mouser charges $7.95 to ship.

And where I am not trying to mate to a LIONEL connector, the JST's will work just fine w/o having to assemble anything.

Thanks, again, for all of the help--it's been an education.

 

 

 

 

Rod Stewart posted:

Carl, if you are still with us on this, I was glancing through the All Electronics current catalog (yes, a real live PAPER catalog!) and came across what looks like the original connectors you referenced. (allelectronics.com)

Its called a LOSI connector set, Micro T/B/DT, cat # CON-860. $1.00 a pair. 

Check it out, Rod 

Rod, an internet search using your information lead to listings on eBay, allectronics.com, and another.  They are conveniently selling them as wired pairs with prices varying. 

"Losi" is, apparently, repackaging the Molex connectors and selling them under their own name as part of their line of RC parts.

Thanks for running this down, Rod.  

Leo, thanks for the tip on the alternate shipping charge--much more likely to order with that available.

Pete, I've already placed an order for the JST's and the long delivery time isn't a problem given the pennies per pair cost and my project timeline.  My primary interest in the MOLEX connectors was to secure the corresponding male connectors to mate with the OEM LIONEL female connectors in a group of passenger car shells w/ lights I recently purchased.  Given my druthers, I'd prefer to maintain the OEM connections where possible.

Pete, my apologies; I misread your earlier post.

I checked the eBay product you linked, and it appears to be different from the one I purchased from LIONEL for use with the 15" UP passenger cars in 6-31712.  This is a screenshot of the parts list for the "Chatham" coach included in that set listing the 2-pin connector.

Lionel Parts Screenshot

The connectors look very similar and perhaps the 21" cars use a different connector.  I have never had much luck chasing 21" passenger car parts on the website, not enough photos and too many "unavailable."  I'll go back and check the 21" parts lists for the item and compare part nos.

Again, Pete, apologies for my misread.

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  • Lionel Parts Screenshot

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