wireing questions! please!

[mls1621]

Stephen, the previous poster is absolutely correct, but he forgot to tell you one thing.

The money you would have spent for a DCC system will instead be spent for components and psychiatrists.

A DCC starter set and a few decoders will relieve all the stress your present system is going to generate.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[Anonymous]

Just a thought, but you could really clean up your wiring if you went to DCC. You would not need the block switches, and would not need to even run them back to a terminal strip. You could litereally cut your feeder wires at about 12" then run a main bus around to all of them.

Look into it if you can.

[Anonymous]

Howdy.

Here are some of my random thoughts (why, does it show?)-

First of all, let's clear up some terminology.

A 'common rail' layout is one that has one rail gapped and insulated for block isolation and one rail (the 'common rail') that is solid.

A 'DC' layout is one that uses variable DC to run the locomotives, as opposed to a 'DCC' layout. This is what you are building.

The 'North Rail' is one of the rails. The 'South Rail' is the other. The exception to this rule is reverse loops and wyes.

Your use of the word 'Common' leads me to believe that you have run two wires for each block and you are connecting all the North rails together (arbitrary). Electrically this is a Common Rail DC layout.

A selector (referred from here on as 'switch' (not turnout)) supplies each block with voltage from one cab or the other.

To use a more common analog, we look at an A/B switch for your TV set. You can switch between an antenna and a VCR to feed your TV. In your case you see the TV as the block, the antenna connection as cab A and the VCR connection as cab B (lousy example but it's getting late... who the hell has an antenna these days?).

What kind of 'selectors' did you get? Atlas (at $7.20 a hit!!??)? Radio Shack switches? 1939 Ford headlight switches?

It sounds as though you've already got the blocks wired, so you may want to consider the next bit. It may be worth the trouble to save headaches later.

1. Run different color wires- one color for the North rail and the other color for the South.
2. Go to Radio Shack and pick up a pack of wire labels. Label each block's wire pair.
3. Tie the wires to each block together. Tie-wraps are great, but expensive. Twist a 2" piece of solid wire at the not-block end, other places as needed.
4. Get a cheap spiral bound notebook and write down everything what connects to what. Later when you need to change something, it's right there in The Book. You also want to document changes when you come up for air from under the pike.

Note that this would be a good time to say 'Document Everydamnthing!!". You could, ferinstance, keep a diary on the building and operation of your railroad ("Final Spike driven in Mybrooke Yard", "Acquired RS-3 #992", etc.).

DO NOT document any money you have spent on the project. The shock would kill you.

By the way, what scale are you in? (Yeah, there's a difference between N and O- about 4 amps).

Good luck.

May all your lights be green.

KES

[Anonymous]

If you can find it, would purchse Atlas's book "Beginner's Guide to HO Model Railroading." I'm assuming that you are working in HO, but electronic principals are the same no matter what scale. The layouts are pretty worthless, but the book has an electrical component section that will probably help you.

[Anonymous]

I think you will probably have to go back to the material that you read to find out how to wire the layout according to the common rail method, especially considering that you want to run more than one train.

Here is an article from the Model Railroader "how-to" section:

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/154maypi.asp

The complete how-to section is here:

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/004/474duagg.asp

and it includes a whole bunch on wiring and other electrical questions.

You do need a common connection for each block IF the common rail is also broken into blocks (i.e. insultated sections).

Andrew

[Anonymous]

sorry andrew, what im doing is this........ i have a 4' x 8' layout wich i have broken into 20 different blocks. the turnouts in the rear of the layout are wired for electric, i have an extra power supply for them. what i need to do is provide power to all of my 20 different blocks. i have all the selectors and controllers i should need. i thought i needed a common "C" connection for each of the 20 different blocks, maybe i was wrong. im just confused as how the best way to do this is. im doing the common rail system, not DCC.

P.S. i am wanting to have control of more than one loco at a time on this layout! THANKS![:)]
steve

[Anonymous]

Hi Steve,

Sorry - it is probably just me - but now I am more confused as to what you are asking.... These questions are more for me... [;)]

Are you simply feeding power at 20 different locations? If yes, abandon the terminal strips, and run feeders to the rails directly from the bus.

When you say "some switches have ground throws, the others are electric" you are talking about turnouts. If you want to power these with switch machines, you should have an independent pwer supply, and not run them from either track power (never), or from the same power pack (only if you have a few to operate - throwing them may temporarily slow your train).

So, provide a bit more info if you could, and let's keep discussing! I am sure someone else will be along who can also provide advice...!

Andrew

[Anonymous]

thanks andrew, and yes, im trying to get power to all 20 blocks, plus the Common connection. i had it all wired the fast messy way, but now i want to add terminal strips and a bus to it. the layout was a Great Eastern Trunk, but by the time i got through makeing my modofications, well, now i have 20 different blocks. some switches are red caboose ground throws, the others are electric. any info on how to go about this would greatly be appreciated. if there is any way you could draw a rough sketch, i would really appreciate it, as im new to this type of wireing.

thanks.............steve

[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

20 blocks on a 4x8 sounds like a heck of a lot!

Are you talking about actual blocks (for control of more than one loco at a time) or feeders (getting power to the track)?

If blocks for train control, you will need a whole pile (well 20) electrical switches, at least two power packs, and so on. You are probably going to need a book to make sure you get your wiring straight and avoid shorts.

If you are talking about feeding power to the rails at 20 different locations, then a bus wire is your best bet. The idea is to carry as much of the power (i.e. minimize loss) to the rails as possible. This is done with large gauge wire (the bus) and SHORT sections of finer wire to connect to the rails (feeders). Bus wire is typically 12 or 14 gauge - like what you'd find in walls in your house. It runs around underneath the benchwork, approximately following your track plan. The feeders are spliced into this bus at regular intervals. The feeders are generally short (just enough to get through the landscaping and benchwork, and are often 22 ga or smaller. You could use telephone wire for this - it is cheap and plentiful.

Andrew

[Anonymous]

hello everyone, just a couple of quick questions. i just finished my track work for my 4' x 8' layout. i read about useing terminal blocks, or wire terminals, and decided i was going to attempt to use them. i went to my LHS and purchased 3 strips of 20 each connectors. there the black ones, power from top to bottom. can someone please tell me the best way to wire my layout useing this method? i have around 20 blocks on this layout.

thanks![:)]

steve