Wiring - where to start?

[Anonymous]

My son and I are getting ready to build our first layout (4' x 8').  I have no experience with model trains at all and my son is only 8.  We have all the items to build an HO layout which will have two turnouts.  We will run two to three locos at a time.  I've already decided to go DCC and will most likely buy the Digitrax Zephyr. 

To spice up the layout, we'd like to have a few functional railroad crossing gates, maybe a traffic light or two, street lights and a few signals.  With all that being said, I have been reading articles and forums on the web for days on end to get familiar with wiring.  I know I need to run feeders.  I have an idea of what they are and why they are needed, but I have no clue as to how you actually wire them.  I'm thinking you chain wire from one feeder line to the next?  I've seen layouts where crossing gates go up and down as the train comes and goes, but I have no clue as to how they work...same goes for track signals.

Regarding the above accessories, I'm not sure if they can be hooked in with the DCC system.  I read that I could use a DC power pack to run accessories.  Would I need to run a wire to some sort of control panel and wire the accessories to the panel?  It's driving me crazy that I can't figure out the wiring...not one of my strong areas.  Anyhow is there a good beginner wiring site I might have missed that provides step by step instruction?  Is there a good wiring book that will offer insight?  I looked at books at my local hobby shop, but at $19.95 per book, I was hesitant to blindly buy one.  Sorry for the beginner questions and thanks in advance.

[larak]

First, welcome to the forums.

I would start with the track wiring. Get the trains going early and you'll have an excuse to complete the rest.

Run a pair of wires under the layout roughly parallel to the tracks.  These come from the power supply. Drop smaller wires from the track to this "bus". Those are the feeders. Drop them every six to ten feet. (Only a few for a 4x8). Also drop feeders from all sidings and spurs. Solder or use IDC connectors to connect them. Be careful to keep polarity constant.

I would definitely suggest a good book on basic wiring. Unfortunately I cannot recommend one. My EE books are a bit beyond  what you need.

In the mean time search this forum for wiring, Fugate lightbulb trick, etc.

I'm sure that you'll get further advice here.

Good luck, 

Karl 

 

[Anonymous]

First, welcome to the forums.

I would start with the track wiring. Get the trains going early and you'll have an excuse to complete the rest.

Run a pair of wires under the layout roughly parallel to the tracks.  These come from the power supply. Drop smaller wires from the track to this "bus". Those are the feeders. Drop them every six to ten feet. (Only a few for a 4x8). Also drop feeders from all sidings and spurs. Solder or use IDC connectors to connect them. Be careful to keep polarity constant.

I would definitely suggest a good book on basic wiring. Unfortunately I cannot recommend one. My EE books are a bit beyond  what you need.

In the mean time search this forum for wiring, Fugate lightbulb trick, etc.

I'm sure that you'll get further advice here.

Good luck, 

Karl 

 

Thanks Karl, that's a big help.  I never had trains growing up, but my son has been a train nut since he was about three years old.  I'm excited about building the layout, but intimidated by the wiring.  Hopefully, I'm making it more complicated than it actually is.

[loathar]

Welcome! When you say a few crossing gates, do you mean something like this?
http://www.amazon.com/Dual-Crossing-Gate-Ho-Scale/dp/B00004ZCSN
These work just by the weight of the train going over it.
Other systems are more realistic and have infrared detectors in the track that "see" the train and trigger motorized gates, flashing lights and bells. Be prepared to dish out at least $250 per crossing for something like that.

With a 4x8 you will only need a few sets of feeder wires to power your track. Feeders are pairs of (around) 20 gauge wire that connect to the left and right rails and lead back to the track terminals on your power pack or DCC system. (usually marked "to track") Don't cross these wires as you will cause a short.
Download this free DCC for Beginners book (I printed it out) This will answer many of your questions.
http://www.tonystrains.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm

[loathar]

http://www.wiringfordcc.com/wirefordcc_toc.htm
Here is a DCC wiring site. There is so much info it's hard to answer general questions here on the forum. Try going through these and see if they don't answer some things. 

[SpaceMouse]

For you accessories, get a cheap transformer off eBay. Or if you plan to run all kinds of stuff with flashing lighes and ferris wheels, you can use the 12v leads off the power supply of an old computer.

[MisterBeasley]

The simplest suggestion of them all - color-code your wires.  Get a spool of red and a spool of black, heavy stuff, for the track bus.  The official "recommended" wire is #14 or even #12, but for a beginning 4x8 I'd go with #18.  (My layout is 5x12, I use #18 and have no problems.)  Use something like #22 for the feeders, again, red and black.  I connect all the outside rails of my track loops to red, and all the inside rails to black.  This will also help your son to begin to understand the nature of wiring, and the need to maintain polarity.

For accessories, get a few different colors.  This will make it easier to trace wires and keep them organized.  I mostly use #22 for these things.  In the long run, being really systematic and using one color for street lights, another for building lights, etc., will pay off in ease of maintenance.

I went to Home Depot and got 4-conductor phone hookup wire (2-pairs) for about 9 dollars for a hundred feet.  I use that for wiring my turnouts.  It's cheaper than buying 3-conductor wire on-line, and a lot easier than running 3 individual wires.

[Gandy Dancer]

I've already decided to go DCC and will most likely buy the Digitrax Zephyr. ... I know I need to run feeders.  I have an idea of what they are and why they are needed, but I have no clue as to how you actually wire them.  I'm thinking you chain wire from one feeder line to the next? 

For starters...   For the track, with a 4x8 and a Zephyr unit, simply hook two wires from the Zephyr to the layout and be done.  The only "hard" part is if there is a reversing loop in the track plan somewhere. This would cause a short circuit and requires special wiring.  A reversing section exists if a locomotive placed on the track and could run around returning to that same place but be facing the opposite direction.

To spice up the layout, we'd like to have a few functional railroad crossing gates, maybe a traffic light or two, street lights and a few signals.  ... I've seen layouts where crossing gates go up and down as the train comes and goes, but I have no clue as to how they work...same goes for track signals.

Street lights and traffic lights are simple.  They just need a constant power supply.  For automatic crossing gates things start getting complicated because there has to be some sort of sensor so they "know" when to operate.  Depending on the type of sensor will determine how complex it gets.  Some cossing gates come with a sensor in the kit.  A sensor can be optical (activates when the train shadow falls on it), magnetic reed switchs where a magnet is mounted on the bottom of the locomotive to activate it, or track detection.  With track detection, gaps must be cut into the rails and extra circuits added so the train is detected by the electricity passing through the loco.

Signalling can be treated just as a crossing gate above, or it can get really complicated. 

Regarding the above accessories, I'm not sure if they can be hooked in with the DCC system.  I read that I could use a DC power pack to run accessories.  Would I need to run a wire to some sort of control panel and wire the accessories to the panel?

The short answer is yes to the DCC and DC power pack questions.  For the control panel it totally depends on how you want them to work.

It's driving me crazy that I can't figure out the wiring...not one of my strong areas.  Anyhow is there a good beginner wiring site I might have missed that provides step by step instruction?  Is there a good wiring book that will offer insight?

I think based on the questions you are asking the answer is no.  Track wiring is going to be a separate thing from the accessory wiring.  Each accessory is going to need special wiring according to what it is and how you want it to operate.  Having the instruction manual for each of those units will be essential to determining how to wire it.  That sort of thing cannot be put in a generic book.  Most of the complicated how-to-wire books are for the cab control DC type layouts.

My advice would be to take each thing separately and do them one at a time.  Trying to figure it all out at once makes it much more complicated than it really is.  Start with the track as that is the most important thing.  Worst case is that you will have to go back and add some additional gaps and feeders where you want the crossing gates and signals to be.

[chatanuga]

When I was doing the planning for my current layout, I planned everything out (track, benchwork, wiring, etc.).  Once my benchwork was completed, I constructed the control panels, leaving a few feet of wiring for the power leads so that as I laid track, it was wired into the control panel, basically doing my wiring as I went.  I also used color coded wire on my layout, which made it much easier to trace my wiring as I went.  Didn't have any mistakes that I had to deal with, and everything's been working smoothly.

Kevin

http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html

[HoosierDaddy]

To spice up the layout, we'd like to have a few functional railroad crossing gates, maybe a traffic light or two, street lights and a few signals.  ... I've seen layouts where crossing gates go up and down as the train comes and goes, but I have no clue as to how they work...same goes for track signals.

Street lights and traffic lights are simple.  They just need a constant power supply.  For automatic crossing gates things start getting complicated because there has to be some sort of sensor so they "know" when to operate.  Depending on the type of sensor will determine how complex it gets.  Some cossing gates come with a sensor in the kit.  A sensor can be optical (activates when the train shadow falls on it), magnetic reed switchs where a magnet is mounted on the bottom of the locomotive to activate it, or track detection.  With track detection, gaps must be cut into the rails and extra circuits added so the train is detected by the electricity passing through the loco.

Here is a suggestiong for the most complex, and yet the cheapest sensor I know of.....You.  You can put a simple toggle switch in the wiring from the DC output, to the signal.  As the train approaches, you flip the switch, the lights flash, etc.  Once the train passes, you flip the switch off, for that crossing, and flip the one for the next as the train approaches and so on.  Not the most elegant system, but I bet an 8 year old will enjoy that part a good deal.

 My $0.02

 

HD

[Greg H.]

You might, keep an eye out for a set of jumper cables on sale - I picked up 20 ft of 2 ga wire for $5 at a garage sale ( someone had run over one of the clamps mashing it into a useless lump ) - it was zip style and all I had to do was cut off the trashed clamp and pull it apart to give me 20 ft of black and 20 ft of red in heavy insulation.