outside wiring

[Anonymous]

This will be my first outdoor railroad and I was wondering how to wire it . The railroad will have about 350 feet of run in a around the backyard along the fence configuration. I will have one passing siding . I am going to use track power and have a Bridgewerks Magmun 15s power pack .I was hoping to use landscape lighting cord for power to the track. I think its 14 guage stranded .Can I use one wire from the power pack to one spot on the railroad or do I have to run the wire from the powerpack all the way around the railroad and "tee" off it every 10 feet or so? Also does anyone know if a tethered remote is available for this powerpack ? I was also thinking of isolating the power on the siding and hiding a toggle switch nearby to turn the siding off when parking a train on it. To me this would be easer than turning my USA engines over and turning the train off that way .Does anyone have any advice for me before I begin construction on my railroad . Thanks in advance for your help. Mike D.

[cacole]

The 14 gauge outdoor lighting wire should be alright, and you should be able to run just one line from the power pack to a distribution point, where the wiring branches out to different areas of the layout. You will need more than one feeder wire with that much track. There seems to be no best way of wiring an outdoor layout, but I would want a feeder wire to the track at least every 50 feet to insure good running. Rail clamps are also highly advisable to insure good electrical contact at the rail joints if you are using pre-fabricated sectional track. Your idea of putting a toggle switch on the siding so it can be turned off is a good idea, too. I'm switching to on-board battery power to avoid all electrical wiring. It's not that I don't know how to run wire, but I believe that battery power will be worth the extra cost because dirty track will never be a factor.

[bman36]

Hi Mike,
Regarding wiring...check the forum. There was another thread a short while back regarding this subject. Just do a search on the topic. Best advice I can offer is take your time. I too was gung ho on building and soon realized that outdoor is a "Process" if you will. Each year I add a little based on how plants are growing etc. Your railway will evolve with time. Soon you will get a feel as to how things need to look and what you may wi***o change along the way. Don't worry about mistakes...we've all made them. Sometimes what looks good on paper in reality may look strange. Take it a bit a time and ask lots of questions. That's why we're here!!! Also to share "What went right". Have fun....Large Scale is awesome and very rewarding too! Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Mike,

We use the exterior low voltage (12V) exterior lighting wire for our feeds to the track. I believe it is 16 ga. Our RR main line has 3 blocks controlled by the "Blue Streak" which has a tethered hand held controller with 3 individual throttles, forward/reverse switches and momemtum off/on switches for each throttle. The cable from the base power pack to the hand held controller is a computer type and can be anywhere from 5 feet to a hundred feet long. I have set our system up so we can either run the trains outside from in the basement or switch to a outside control "Tower" about 30 feet from the house. Parts of the cable are buried a couple of inches.

My longest electrical feed with 16 ga wire is approximately 120 feet. All my main line track is LGB flex rail with rail joiners and rail clamps. That system has been in use for about 15 years. A few years ago I noticed a voltage drop in that far loop (Block) and installed a "helper" wire from the feed end to the middle of the loop. Last fall, on that loop or block, I removed the old joiner and clamps, cleaned up the rail ends, installed new joiners and re-installed the clamps. I found that the original joiners had started to decay from age, weather, etc and the rail ends because of this had become dirty/oxidized. After this effort, I tested voltage and found that the helper wire was not needed, but I left it installed because you never know.

Most people recommend that you bury the wires, run then in conduit, etc. I never know when I want to change things around so I really just throw the wires on the ground, cover them with mulch, gravel, or scrape a small 2-3" trench to put them in. Been working good for all these years!

One thing I would suggest is that you use the longest pieces of track you can buy. Long sections of track mean fewer electrical joints to fail. I also suggest to go the extra mile and use some sort of rail clamp to ensure a firm connection. Some will recommend using a conductive paste in the joiners, but I find (For us) this can be messy, pick up fine particles of dirt, etc and really not needed if your track ends are secured tightly.

Hope this helps

George E

[Dick Friedman]

Low voltage wire works for me. I have just two spots attached to the power pack. My layout is a dogbone, and the electrical contacts are on the front and back loop, half way around, but only about three feet further. I second the comment about rail joiners. Don't count on the ones from the mfgr to carry any current. Ditto using large pieces of track. I use six foot aluminum rail, and now that I've replaced ALL jointrs with clamps, it's very reliable.[