buss

[Anonymous]

where do i buy a buss to do my wiring

[rrinker]

You can get wire in many sizes and colors at Home Depot. Depending ont he size of your layout, plan how much you need carefully - the pricing of wire is an odd thing. The shortest spools they have are usually 25 feet. For just over twice that price, you can get 100 foot spools. For double THAT price, you get an entire 500 foot.

Wire size you need depends on how big your layout is and what scale. For a 4x8 or less, #16 will probably be fine. up to about 15-20 foot wire runs, #14. Any bigger, use #12. The smaller the number, the HEAVIER the wire.

--Randy

[jkeaton]

Electronics shops are also excellent places to buy wire - if you have a large pike, avoid the smaller retail outlets like Radio Shack and go to the bigger electronics specialists. As Randy points out, price per foot declines rapidly as the spool length increases, so buy more than you think you'll need - changes and modifications down the road will use up any apparent 'surplus'.

Jim

[Adelie]

The price per foot thing is no joke. I needed about 160' in two different colors (red and black are my preference). It was substantially cheaper at Home Depot to buy a 500' roll in each color than 2 100' rolls of each. So, I am the proud owner of about 680' of extra 12-gauge wire.

[rrinker]

I went right for the 500 foot spools. I don;t think I'll have any left over byt hte time I complete things. It takes more wire than you realize, even if it isn't some sort of complex circuit, just long runs of straight wire.
I also grabbed a 500' spool of 2-conductore solid #20 wire, which happened to come inthe same colors I used for the #12 bus wire. I use that for my feeders. I don't measure exactly, just cut off a bunch, poke it through the layout, and cut to length when I connect it to the bus. If the cut piece is more than a foot long, I toss it in a scrap box, someday I might use up the little pieces. Having the same color feeder as bus makes the hookup pretty foolproof.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

As you might have gathered from the preceding comments, a buss (that's right, 2 s's) wire is really just a pair of wires that run around the layout from your transformer. The wire size depends on the length of the run but you cannot go wrong with #12 or #14. Use a smaller wire size from the tracks to the buss wire. I use two colors of wire for the buss and use the same two colors for the drops to the track. That way I always know that the red wires go together and the white wires go together.

[rrinker]

I know I said I'd never nitpick but - it IS just one 's'.

--Randy

[dwRavenstar]

No, it's two

buss

ex: http://www.sodigi.com/wiring.htm

[howmus]

Not to keep this bus(s) going.... but. The word is properly bus (one s) as it refers to the same basic apparatis that is used in a computer, the system bus. According to Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Bus

bus P Pronunciation Key (bs)
n. pl. bus·es or bus·ses

Electricity. A bus bar.
Computer Science. A parallel circuit that connects the major components of a computer, allowing the transfer of electric impulses from one connected component to any other.

For years I also thought the word was buss but was informed otherwise by my son the editor (U of Chicago). The word Buss is archaic and refers to "kiss". Having said that, the two have been used interchangable in model RR for quite some time. So basically "who cares"?

[Adelie]

I did the dumb thing and started with 100' rolls. I've probably used half of those rolls on one run, and then needed 2 80' runs in each color. Now I own a pair of 500' rolls, less what the 2 pairs of 80' lengths. I didn't see the 500' 20-gauge 2-conductor solid spools, or I'd own them, too, I'm sure.

I measure my feeder lengths very precisely, too. Just like Randy. I have tons of 1 - 2' sections of 22-gauge wire. They come in handy. It's amazing what you wind up needing wire for.

Depending on what you intend to add, running a ground wire around the layout isn't a terrible idea, either. Gadgets like block occupancy detectors get attached to the ground.

[rrinker]

Good, I'm glad I didn;t bother to measure precisely - if you STILL have tons of short pieces left over. [:D]

Oh yeah - the 2-conductor 500' spool of #20 is sold as 'thermostat wire' I think, says that on the spool. I just got it because the red and white matched the red and white #12 I use. Plus it's only lightly twisted together, makign it easy to seperate the pair.

Someone copied the same dictionary.com entries I looked at - which was just to verify that I was not delusional, after all it's been a long time since I finished college and the mind is the first thing to go.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

Just bought some of that today (500 ft. thermostat wire that is). Plan on using it a lot for feeders to a buss wire and lighting.[:D]

[rrinker]

I am only using the red and white for feeders. I need to go to a real supply house and get a spool in a different color combo for running power to my Tortoises - none of that old Tony the K "If it's red, it's wire" stuff. It might be obvious today that this red and white pair powers a Tortoise while that red and white pair power the adjacent track, but what about 10 years from now? Red and White are my track power. I'll probably run a #12 black for the logic ground for signals and detection. A different color for +12v supply to control panels. Yet another for +5 for signals, unless I go with my one idea of makign a bunch of small 5v regulator circuits and just running a 12v DC supply line around, sticking regulators where I need 5v. And so forth - everything different. Never shall the same color of wire serve more than one purpose.

--Randy

[selector]

To buss (v.)- kiss with alacrity.
Bus (n.)- 1. large motorized conveyance for passengers; 2. primary electrical conductor, usually wire.

One 's'.

[Adelie]

I figure the underside of the Bunter Ridge will look like a rainbow before it is over. Red and black for the bus, a white ground (I think green is the standard color if you have any visitors who are electricians or inspectors). Then there are various other needs, such as power to the tortoises, a generic power source for non-train accessories, etc. Power between occupancy detectors. So much wire, so little time.

[Seamonster]

I've never compared prices, but how about ordinary NMD house wiring? NMD-2 will get you two conductors, black and white, and NMD-3 will get you 3 conductors, black, white and red, and it comes in 14 ga. and 12 ga. in big spools. Of course, you will have to strip off the jacket and remove the bare ground wire, but you can buy an inexpensive little tool that neatly slits the jacket. I helped someone wire a large DCC layout this way and it worked fine.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrinker

.. Wire size you need depends on how big your layout is and what scale. For a 4x8 or less, #16 will probably be fine. up to about 15-20 foot wire runs, #14. Any bigger, use #12. The smaller the number, the HEAVIER the wire. --Randy

Good point Randy. Before you go out and buy wire, I recommend reading A short course on electrical basics by Jim Hediger.

[howmus]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrinker
after all it's been a long time since I finished college and the mind is the first thing to go.

--Randy

[#offtopic] Randy, the mind is the second thing to go! I can't seem to remember what is the first though......... LOL [;)]

[rrinker]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Seamonster

I've never compared prices, but how about ordinary NMD house wiring? NMD-2 will get you two conductors, black and white, and NMD-3 will get you 3 conductors, black, white and red, and it comes in 14 ga. and 12 ga. in big spools. Of course, you will have to strip off the jacket and remove the bare ground wire, but you can buy an inexpensive little tool that neatly slits the jacket. I helped someone wire a large DCC layout this way and it worked fine.

Not a bad idea, but I suspect is costs more than the simple spools of #12 wire they sell in a myriad of colors. However - you are far more likely to find leftover scraps of NMD that might be long enough AND be free for the asking.

--Randy