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New Magnetic Power Coupling

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krs

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
A fellow Garden Railroader in Germany got fed up paying big bucks to equip his passenger cars with ball-bearing metal wheels for power pickup to light his passenger cars, so he came up with this idea of a power coupling using magnets that will connect automatically when cars are coupled and provide power from one car with pickups to all the others in the train.

He has now set up a 3D printer to manufacture a small run of these and make them available to Garden Railroaders in the EU.

His description of the product:

2 pole electric magnetic coupling for connecting wagons.

• Cable and magnet use a press-fit connection, thus no loss of magnetic force by soldering.
• Housing with strain relief for the cable
• Cable bk/bk 20cm (approx. 8 inches) long
• No polarity issue due to different arrangement of the magnets.
• Easy to use
• Secure contact
• Usable with any type of coupling
• Current carrying capacity max. 2A

You save on expensive metal axles with power pick up for your passenger cars. Provide the power pickup in just one car and then simply use this E-coupling.
Click to expand...
Seems like a great idea - first comments I see on German G-Scale forums are very positive, people seem to love it.

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#2 ·
I guess if you have live rail it might be worth it, several years ago I ran into the same problem of expense + flicker even with several cars hooked together that had pick ups, so I added 2 AAA batteries in a holder hiding them in the clearstory and adding a switch as well + 2 10mm soft white LED's in the stock location and have never been happier especially since now using R/C battery power. Have found that the batteries will last for well over a year even with robust use, Bill
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#3 ·
nice. would like a picture of the business ends (not coupled)

I assume the magnetic poles are selected to polarize the connection.

I would not call it automatic coupling though, was looking for something that would connect automatically as the cars approached each other, a "standard" location and something to hold it in place for "docking".

Links for cost and dimensions and more pictures?

Funny, just purchased $450 worth of Train Line 45 ball bearing wheels for my passenger cars...

Greg
 
#5 ·
Yes, cheating!

So one is sort of stuck to the side of a coupler, the other was threaded down through the open knuckle.

Like I said, you need some kind of universal holder for BOTH units, and unless you have the holders centered, a little thought will have you realize that if the "uncoupled" state is not centered, then you now have cars that have a "front" and "rear"...

Not disparaging the idea, the auto polarity coupling is nice, but needs some refinement, and the appearance leaves a bit to be desired, since you will need to have them above the couplers most likely.

Greg
 
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Greg Elmassian
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