I am planning on wiring my layout this year after the tracklaying and was wondering which wiring is best. Which gauge,brand? I have Walthers flextrack & switches w/Tortoise switch machines. thanks in advance jaijef
I use doorbell wire for my track feeders, and for short runs under the layout. It's cheap (5-7 cents a foot for a pair of white and red wires), and it's the right gauge (24 or so?). For longer runs to remote parts of the layout, pick up some 16 or 18 gauge wire. Sometimes it's sold in shielded pairs, too. Should be about 10-12 cents a foot. Make sure it's stranded wire, as this will be better for fishing around your benchwork without breakage. All wire can be bought at the hardware store. I go to Home Depot cause they are the cheapest in the area. I'd go to Lowes if we had one, 'cause I like Jimmy Johnson, but the closest one is hours away.
I use doorbell wire for my feeders, which I believe is solid 20 AWG. For the main bus wires I use solid 14 AWG.....doesn't really matter what brand. I prefer the solid over the stranded because I use terminal strips where my modules meet together. The stranded wires (especially in 14 AWG or bigger) tends to flare out and touch the wires next to it. I fixed this problem by returning it and getting solid copper. You can by all of this wire at Home Depot. The bell wire comes in 50 foot rolls I believe and you can buy the 14 AWG for around $25 for a 500 foot roll. [ 15. April 2003, 20:31: Message edited by: Hoss ]
right now I'm using 24 gauge Speaker wire for my leads. The stuff is solid, because at 24-gauge, Stranded doesn't really exist.) The main bus wires haven't been installed yet, but I'll probably do 18 guage stranded whatever type is cheapest. My layout is only 8 ft long, so with the control panel in the middle, you're talking about at most maybe about 4 or 5 feet buss lengths. Anything Thicker would just be a waste of my money. I bought 75 ft of the speaker wire from radioshack for about $4.
Looks like there has already been good advice given. Just to add my two cents- I also use 18 gauge stranded (copper) speaker wire for the main power buss. And solid 22 awg for feeders. I have known of a few who go as small as 24 awg. But that's getting into pretty light stuff. Brand doesn't usually matter. You can get good quality most anywhere. I don't know what stores you have within a reasonable distance of home. A good place would be a discount hardware/home supply. Then there is also Radio Shack. Be sure and give us a report on your progress! Boxcab E50
I should add that the 14 AWG that I use is the size I chose because of the size of my layout. I have a pretty good sized layout and the bus wires have to loop around the layout for a distance of approximately 50 feet. If you're running a smaller layout you can easily get by with smaller wire for the bus wires.
If we used stranded wire that is to be fastened to a terminal block, we were required to strip insulation back one inch, twist the strands together straight out, dip in flux, then "tin" the strands for 3/4". When cold, we would then bend a loop in the soldered portion around a mandrel large enough to allow the terminal screw to go through. This prevented any "stray" wires.
I have used stranded wire almost everywhere on the old Indiana Railway layout. I have used many different wire gauges on the layout, wire gauge depends on what the wire is handling volts/amps for. For general track power distribution I like to use a pair of bare #12 or #14 solid wires stapled under the layout following the trackwork above. I don't have to worry about a power drop at the far side of the layout this way. To attach a power feed to the rail above all I have to is solder the rail power feed wire to the pair of solid #14 below and run the rail power wire up to the roadbed. Using a toggle switch, I can run one of the rail power wires back to the control panel if I want to shut off a siding or such. I will use a bigger wire (#18-20 gauge) for controlling a twin-coil switch machine because they will draw alot of power to throw them. The slow motion switch machine (Tortoise etc.) will not draw as much power, and so can use a smaller gauge wire. Check around at some of your local electronics supply stores for real good buys on spools of wire. Ask your local TV/electronics/computer service tech where he gets his supplies. Some of the electronics supply companies advertise in the model railroad magazines. Example DIGI-KEY, JAMECO, there are others. Most have a website, and also have 1-800 numbers where you can call in and ask questions. One thing I don't use is the solid TELEPHONE WIRE that you see being thrown out at building sites. Too small a gauge , and since most of the wire is solid you can have a break in it , and drive yourself nuts trying to find the break! Since I have dismantled the INDIANA RAILWAY for now, I am planning on using DCC on the next INDIANA RAILWAY. This will have a whole new set of wiring problems, but hopefully still be easier to wire than using conventional cab/throttle control.
I have an around the walls setup, with no track yet laid, but I have a question: I plan to mount my command station for my DCC system midway on one wall, and run the bus wires both directions from it. Total run one way should be not much more than 20'. Does 14AWG wire need to be used for this? I have 25' red/wht stranded 16 AWG, and 150' of red/wht solid 18AWG. I also have some 20-22ga stranded stuff for feeders. The way I figure, I use the 16 ga stuff for bus wires, the 18 ga stuff for long distance feeders, and the smallest stuff for light feeders. Or use the 18 AWG for short buses, and the 22 ga stuff for feeders. I will be using DCC, as I mentioned, with a 5A power supply.
When requesting wiring help, it is best to mention size of the layout, length of your bus run, etc. The size of wiring for a 4 by 8 is different than a layout that fills a basement (depending on how far apart power districts are). Also the current matters, so I am going to list the chart in The Big Book of DCC - page 42: This is for your "bus" run, that feeders attach to: Lenght 0-5 Amps 5 - 8 amps 0 - 30 feet 18 awg 16awg 30-50 feet 14awg 12awg 50-100 feet 12awg 12awg Feeders are smaller wires and I use 22awg and I don't intend any of the feeders to be longer than 3 feet (recommended). If they are going to be longer (one spot only) I will use 20awg. And to kill two birds with one stone - Hemi can you start a seperate thread with the room size you have illustrated in the thread I wrote talking about track planning -reality and fiction. You will get more response from others if you do that. [ 23. May 2003, 20:37: Message edited by: rsn48 ]
