accessory wiring aboveboard

[Anonymous]

I am considering using skatch built power poles for suppling power to my accessories and on site lighting. Has anyone used this system,how did it work out,what problems did you run into,how about wire size and type etc.. I am in no hurry as I am at least a couple of months away from beginig this project. Any ideas are welcome. dr dan

[csxt30]

I never thought about doing that, but that sounds like a nice idea. The only thing I can think of would be using the right wire size. Hopefully some of the guys that know electronics will be along. Thanks for the idea & will be looking to see where I can do that , too !

[Dave45681]

Only problem that immediately comes to mind is that the wires would need to be too big if you feed any significant amount of power through any given leg.

I suppose it depends on your mindset of how to do this.

If you had a central area like a substation and fed your transformer into that and then ran only one accessory or small number of lights on each (smaller) wire you string from the telegraph poles, it might be do-able.

If you were thinking more like running some voltage through the wires to make a circuit around your layout and then tap off of that for everything, I suspect your wire size requirements would quickly make the electrical wires look like pipes.

[Anonymous]

wire size depends on how many items you want to use at one time and lengh of furthest item on your lay out. 18 or 20 awg will handel your voltage from your transformer. I just bought a roll of 18-2 awg from home depot and it was $40.00 for 500 ft roll. the only drawback is that you will need to strip it to seperate the white and red to get your single lines.

[Anonymous]

Get some #24 [or even smaller instrument control wires] and pursue the sub-station suggestion that Dave suggests. Then you can "homerun" wire feeds from the sub-station to the individual loads and avoid the relatively [to scale] huge transmission wire buss .

[lionelsoni]

The wire size has nothing to do with voltage and everything to do with current. Extrapolating rather far from building wire, 24 AWG should handle something like 2.5 amperes, 30 AWG 1 ampere, and 36 AWG 300 milliamperes. These are respectively 1, 1/2, and 1/4 O-scale inches in diameter, which doesn't seem too unreasonable. No insulation should be needed, just like the prototype, which will help to keep the diameter small.

I think the hardest part will be getting the wires to seem to hang realistically.

A problem with the substation is that it would be fed from a higher voltage transmission line with wire not much different from that in the distribution circuits. It might be best to cheat and feed it from underneath. Each distribution circuit should feed a fake pole-mounted transformers. There will generally be 4 wires on each pole, that is, 3 phases, typically at the top of the pole and on each end of a crossarm. The neutral will run underneath the crossarm. As the line nears its end, it may split into single-phase lines, with phase on top and neutral underneath--no crossarm. Each distribution transformer will be wired between a phase and the neutral.

Except in California, where the distribution transformer will be wired between two phases. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

thanks agin bob i like your ideas, you should write a book i'buy it. as you said my biggest problem woud how it'll look hanging. i as thinking to use 24 or 26 bare wire then covering it with liquid insulation. was bare wiring used during the the fifties? thanx agin dr dan

[andregg1]

I did
Is very nice, but.....when is time for clean your layout start the nightmare.
so I decline and go back to the traditional sistem under the plywood.
Andre.

[lionelsoni]

As far as I know, bare wire has always been used for aerial wiring, whether for power, telephone, telegraph, or railroad signaling.

[marxalot]

Telephone cables are insulated and usually numerous insulated "pairs" under a single outer jacket. Power cables above 600 volts are most often bare but there are covered power cables in the 15 kV area. Power cables less than 600 volt dropping to structures are insulated.

[lionelsoni]

You're right. Modern telephone circuits are usually in cables, whether overhead or buried. Although overhead power cables are the exception, service-entrance drops are always insulated. "Aerial" is too general a term. I should have said "open-wire".

[Dr. John]

Peter Riddle, who has authored several books on toy trains (published by Kalmbach) used overhead wiring on a small layout in his office. It looked good and worked well. I wish I could recall which of his books show it.

Any help from the CTT guys on this?

[csxt30]

Oh I remember him! I think he was from New Zealand, or Nova Scotia, and I had 1 of his books, too ! I'll look & see if I still have it, but I don't think I do. Thanks, John

[fwright]

Magnet wire - used for winding motors - would seem to be about right. It's insulated - with a thin film of laquer, I think. This would avoid problems with inadvertent short circuits. Just scrape the insulation off where you want to make connections (I use fine sandpaper). I use it for feeder wires to the track in HO. Comes in various sizes from about 24 gauge to 30 gauge, all solid. I wouldn't use smaller than 24 gauge to run Lionel/K-Line/MTH accessories, though. As others have said, biggest problem would be getting it to hang right.

Fred Wright

[CSX FAN]

Can you say Godzilla? I have a Catenary system going in and was constantly warned that it will end your board walking days, or expect lots of damage if you trip on one. I love my Cat system but it is alot of work.

Jamie

[lionelsoni]

Catenary or power lines, it would be a good to come up with a way to make a weak mechanical joint every so often, so that when Godzilla trips over it, only a short section comes down.

[marxalot]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lionelsoni

Catenary or power lines, it would be a good to come up with a way to make a weak mechanical joint every so often, so that when Godzilla trips over it, only a short section comes down.

And this would be prototypical too! Which reminds me of another thread..... but there is a utility co. in Illinois that had a tornado come through and because one tower/pole went down miles and miles of line when down. Not good. So when they rebuilt they put in off-sets every so often but routing the pole lines in a U shape. It is sort of like an expansion loop on steam lines. Anyhow, when a tower goes down now it should only affect the lines to the offsets!.

Jim

[CSX FAN]

I was more concerned that if Godzilla tripped and fell. What would be the damage.

I didn't let it get to me and built the Cat anyway. It just makes you think to have everything done before you string the wires. I'm still planting pole at this time but will restore the area before I string Cat.

I have an additional problem that the "Helping Hands" are impacted because the wire is directly over the tracks.

It's a lot of work but well worth it.

Jamie