Electric, Plug Holder 4.5V/12V what is it for? I have seen the Electric, Plug Holder 4.5V/12V on bricklink a few times and have often wondered what it is for.



According to Bricklink, it was only ever produced in Light Gray and appeared in 3 sets between 1987 and 1992.

Two of the sets were just Service type sets containing cables and small elements with no instructions or suggestion of usage of the Electric, Plug Holder 4.5V/12V itself.

However, it also appeared in set 9700 Technic Control Center. Unfortunately neither Peeron nor LetsBuildItAgain have a listing for the instructions. So I can't see the step where any of the 5 that were included with this set are used.
While researching information for this question, I stumbled upon the answer but thought I would post anyway to share my findings.

The Bricklink entry for the 9700 Technic Control Center set has a secondary picture which is the front cover of the instruction booklet.


The 5  Electric, Plug Holder 4.5V/12V elements can be seen in use as holders for the shorter wires connecting to the motors that make up the model. Using the holders provides easy access to plug in longer wires from the control center unit. The holders are necessary because, unlike the connections on later 9v wires that can be built into a model like standard pieces, the connections on the older 12v/4.5v wires cannot.