Does anyone know if Cat 5 (AWG 24), would be adequate for various uses in wiring a model railroad? I have at least 200 feet of it. I'd mostly use it for feeder cable.
I don't do DCC, but for most other purposes from HO scale down, 24 gauge is adequate. I'd probably do 20 or 22 to do multiple units hauling a long train in HO, given a choice, but 24 works just fine even for two older, less efficient units hauling a moderately long consist, or quite a string of LEDs. Wouldn't use it for Dad's Lionels, though.
@wvgca Thank you This will save me quite a bit as the layout will be about 40' long using DC. I also intend to have lots of lighting and such.
Oh, I don't know. I tapped the grain o' wheat bulbs of the old timey street lamps attached to the Christmas Trolley circle to the track. Not only does the trolley motor cut voltage enough that the bulbs have lasted over a decade, but they glow yellow and flicker like gas jets. There are no hard and fast rules in this hobby!
true .. but when your trolley doesn't operate, neither do your lights ... and brightness is directly tied to trolley speed ..
Actually, when the trolley doesn't operate because I didn't clean the track, the lights are bright and steady. But yes. When I run it, I run it at the speed I run it, and when I turn it off, it's off. Which, for a Christmas trolley, suits me fine, thank you. The only actual problem, in fact, is that the three "gas jet lamps" all flicker in perfect unison, which is odd behavior for three separate gas jets. But I set it up so it's not easy to see more than one from most angles, and I get no complaints.
I’ve used network cable in the past for power transmission for N and Z. The nice thing is that jacks and connectors are available at hardware and electronic stores, and are very cheap. Also, no soldering is needed if you don’t have a soldering iron. I just came up with my own wiring scheme and dedicated 3 strands to positive and 3 to negative. The two center contacts of the RJ45 connector were unused so the positive and negative strands had a larger gap to prevent possible shorts. The connectors are rather robust, and using multi strands, had lots of redundancy. Cat5 is rated for 500 mA for POE purposes over 500-1000 foot runs of cable. With shorter runs and using multiple strands, you can run higher current loads, but should be more than enough for model railroading. Matt
I use it (actually Cat 6 23awg) for final hard wired connections to Tortoise machines. Here is a shot in the “fiddle” tard where I have top mounted machines. But use it below the table as well. Usually all harnesses are less than 20” from Tortoise header to the terminal block. Zoom in on one the machines below.
https://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm I do not agree with you. According to this table maximum current for this size is about 0.5A.
I presume for track you mean 24 ga is fine for feeder from main, heavier, bus wiring. What's the longest run you would recommend for 24 ga feeders on HO or N? Thanks.
I have been using Cat 5 and Cat 6 on my layouts since 2000 and I have a couple 20 ft runs. I use it for the dcc the light switches tortoises both gow and leds and never had a issue I do 2 for 12v (both lights and acessories) 2 for DCC 2 for 5v (miller engineering signs) and 2 for 3 v (led) never had a issue.wI also use it to run extention line for my wired thrittles
