Looks like it's all been said. Nothing left for me. I'll spin it a little differently. Every wiring project goes one wire at a time. The only positive, is once I get rolling it goes fast. I usually start with a schematic. It doesn't have to be engineering perfect just diagrammed and legible enough to follow. Color coded wires help. Unless you are only able to buy one type of color coded wires. You know, wire of one or two colors. Then that doesn't work or help me. The purpose of the wire. If I'm wiring in street lights then I like the bus and connecting wires to at least resemble each other. Negative one color and positive the other. If I'm wiring block wiring, or track wiring, then each block needs to have a different color. Power busses from a power supply to either the track on the layout, as in DCC.. needs two different colors but are maintained in the run around the layout. In Analog DC, as in to various control panels the wire needs to be color coordinated and stand out. Just some thoughts to help you make it more complicated. Say what?
The one good thing about wiring is if it is done right and well the first time, it will never fail or cause problems again...no, really! (unless the wiring elves come back late at night and start moving wires...)
I always knew that elves had pointed ears, but now I know where my wiring problems come from...here kitty kitty.
I have used a spot of hot glue to hold individual wires in place and cable clamps for wire bundles. Color coding is a must. Joe
Like I said, spray cans of "Scenery Be There". I know what would be a real good one - "John Allen's City" or maybe even an all inclusive "John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid". Doug
I like wiring...to a degree.... I have a large DCC layout and all my turnouts use tortoise and are DCC controlled. My layout level is 55" high and I have a lot of clearance underneath to work with BUT it's difficult to solder connections underneath as I'm not that flexible. My solution is to use snap on connectors for all of my tortoises and make all of my wiring long enough to be able to sit on a stool next to the layout and make all my connections at eye level. I also do my soldering and then use shrink tubing to enclose all soldered connections. The only trade off is that I have "somewhat" of a rats nest of wires hanging under the layout. Ultimately I need to finish off an area and figure out how to push all the wiring up so that is looks neater. Don't want to use tape as that causes issues trying to trouble shoot and possibly damaging connections trying to get the tape off. I just had major cervical spine surgery that may curtail my abilities for awhile (nothing will EVER stop me from my life long passion for model railroading!!) so I probably will have to continue to building more rats nests so that I can work on everything at eye level, next to the layout. I know I'm rambling but what ever method that anybody uses; do your wiring and connections right the first time and you will not have to deal with them again!
Amen brother!!! On my last layout (a next-generation modular around the room layout), I decided to learn/invest in a better approach. There wasn't a drop of solder involved. I learned how to use Molex crimp terminal connectors and built a main wiring buss accordingly. Break outs for each module used the suitcase splices. I even was able to make some Kato-to-Molex adapters for the power pack end. Each module had a terminal strip and all wires terminated in compatible crimp on connectors. It was actually fun! I used my multi-tester to ring out each and every wire and had zero defects. Unfortunately, that layout only lasted a bit over a year before a major downsizing sent most to the dumpster. That said, the only scenery I'll ever attempt again is a nice photo backdrop.
