Hi, Do you know of any pros or cons to using a 66 Punch down block to wire a layout? For those of you that don't know what it is, in a business with a lot of phones, the main phone line comes in and is punched down to the 66. Then you run wire from the block to all the offices, and punch them down on the other side of the same block. They work great for phones. If there is something better for distributing electricity over a layout, what is it? What do you use on your layout? Thanks! Don
I was planning on using this for my layout but I didn't get it implemented before shifting over to DCC which has a lot fewer wires than DC and much shorter lengths of wires running to an Arduino / expansion board for local controls. If you are interested in the punch down blocks I would love to get rid of the ones I have, cheap!
The major issue with punch-down blocks is that they are designed to work with solid, non-stranded wire..... Solid wire is great if you never have to move it, but becomes more of an issue where it does get moved around.....plus it will be unreliable if it is nicked during the stripping process. Overall, it sounds like a good idea, but I'd stay away from it unless you NEVER expect to change the wiring on the layout (not likely). YMMV.....
I offer the following as someone with 26 years experience running alarm and communications circuits on large multi building sites. As already mentioned above, punch down blocks are designed for solid wire. Also, the wire needs to have a thin insulation like telephone wire does. Telephone wire is 24 gauge so it's use on a layout should be limited to low current applications such as signals, controls, etc. Another thing, blocks are normally on a wall. If you have wall space under the layout that would be OK but I would not try placing in under the layout itself. You can make changes, it is done all the time in the commercial application. Problem occurs when the fellow or gal making the changes pulls loose a wrong wire. I have had a pair of 66 blocks in my attic for over 20 years as a hub for all our phone and data connections. Made many changes over the years no problems. On my own layout and modules I use the euro type terminal blocks with stranded wire being tinned on the end going into the terminal.
What gage wire do you use to run power to the rails? I was going to use Cat 5 Ethernet wire, but you've convinced me to use multi strands instead.
Check out http://www.wiringfordcc.com. It is a great resource for DCC wiring. Personally I wouldn't use a 66 block or cat 5 for Track power because the wire cannot handle the DCC Amp load and may not trip the circuit breaker in the Booster. I will be using Cat5 for the my 1-2" Feeder wires. I was think about using a 66 block and cat 5 for turnout wires
DCC is 15V 5A or so, which 24-26AWG is going to hate. Most people i've heard swear by (or swear at) 14AWG for short bus runs, down to 10AWG for the maximum sensible bus of 30 feet. (Being difficult, I am going to use stranded 0.75mm^2 or 1.0mm^2, because that is what I can get! ) And then some form of mechanical connection to the feeder wire - scotchblocs (crimp joiners) or chocolate blocks (screw terminals) or even solder and heatshrink. I question how happy a 26AWG feeder wire would be with 2" of 15V 5A across it; I plan to use something heavier, maybe 18-20AWG? But cat-5 is cheap and would be easier to hide... For control signals, low amps, reasonable volts, like turnouts and signals, cat5 and your krone blocks should be just fine over short lengths (30-100'). And the issue over longer runs is the voltage droop I believe Digitrax specifically says not to use cat5 for loconet, so that's out.
26AWG has 40Ω per 1000 feet resistance... over 2 inches, that is only 6.6milli-Ω, and will drop 0.033V while generating 0.2 milli-Watts of power/heat. These numbers are effectively ZERO. As long as they are anywhere remotely close to that short (as in less than a couple of FEET), 26AWG will work fine for a feeder wire. That said, I use 24 or 22 AWG just because it's easier to work with Likewise, even at 30 feet, 14AWG wire is only going to have 75 milli-Ω of resistance. It's plenty big enough. 10AWG seems like massive overkill for 30 feet at any reasonable power level to me. Having said that, you can't have too low a wire resistance, so it doesn't hurt to use the largest wire you can afford that will fit and be easy to manipulate under the layout, and (for feeders) that you can attach to the track with a minimum of fuss and aesthetic disruption. Personally I'm using 14AWG bus wires and 24AWG feeders
Sorry, I should have told ya at the start of the thread, this is a DC layout. I'm just a little dog so I will stay on the porch... LOL TwinDad, thanks for the great answer on wire gage. At this point my layout is only 3' long. It's an Inglenook Shunting puzzle. I'm starting simple since it's my first, but I'm hoping it will be fun too. I'm gonna add some industry, and make it real layout instead of just track nailed down. That way I can get some experience modeling. I've been an artist painting landscapes for years. So this is going to be a new experience for me.
With a 3 foot long layout you could wire with just about anything, but you'd still be well off using a good beefy wire for the bus. Just not 10AWG beefy Inglenooks are cool, and small layouts like that are a great way to flex your modeling muscles. I'm planning one out right now, oddly enough, as a display shelf layout for my office at work. There will be modeling aspects that are a challenge for you, but I suspect your landscape painting experience will serve you well with the scenery and visual aspects. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Twindad, How many uncouples you planning on using? I'm converting to MT magnematic couplers and trucks.
Funny you should ask. I was just pondering that myself. For my main home layout, I don't do automatic uncoupling. (A) my experience on other peoples layouts is that they are an exercise in frustration, and (B) I'm too lazy to retrofit all my rolling stock with magnetic couplers -- even though most of them already have them. For the Inglenook, though, I think it would be a small enough collection of cars and a contained/controlled enough environment that it might be worth the hassle. If I really trusted the "uncouple then shove" trick, I would put just one uncoupler at the turnout-end of the lead track. I suppose the other option is 3 uncouplers, one on each yard track. I'm really undecided at the moment. Aside from those two obvious choices, do you have other ideas on where they should go?
Would have been nice to tell everyone it was a 3' switching puzzle layout at the outset. How many feeder wires did you envision? I would think very few. Also, aren't you manually throwing switches? Greg
