As I'm getting ready to start building another section to the layout, I have learned that I need to solder the tracks together. I didn't do this on the other section, so i'm starting out of the dark here. How far apart do the feeders have to be from eachother? Is there a set length, or do i just go wherever i want to put them, thinking that it's long enough.
If it matters, i'm using N scale.
You should be able to get away nicely with a single feeder soldered to the joiner linking two lengths of flextrack. That joiner should also be soldered to its joined rails. That way, one feeder sends power down two of the same lengths of track in each direction, but only that length. Then, you can use a non-soldered joiner on the far ends of the soldered length because you only want alignment, and no necessarily the connectivity.
So, with a soldered feeder to a soldered joiner looking like this, X, and your sliding joiners looking like this, o, your track would have this configuration:
================X=================o===================X=================o==
So, every three feet is plenty, often so is one feeder every 6', but if you do as I indicate above you have the best set-up.
About the length of the wires for feeders, I have some that are 3' long, 22 gauge, and they don't seem to give me any problems. The idea is to keep them as short as practicable....something like 12-18" would be great.
-Crandell
For NTRAK modules we recommend feeders ever two feet or on each rail that is not soldered to a rail with a feeder. It's deliberate overkill to accommodate varied soldering skills.
Every three feet on a home layout should be fine but additional to shorter unsoldered sections is a good idea.
Martin Myers
mfm37 For NTRAK modules we recommend feeders ever two feet or on each rail that is not soldered to a rail with a feeder. It's deliberate overkill to accommodate varied soldering skills. Every three feet on a home layout should be fine but additional to shorter unsoldered sections is a good idea. Martin Myers
That's similar to our wiring standards at my club (HO scale large permanent layout). Every piece of rail has it's own feeder soldered to it. The only exception is when the rail joiner is actually soldered to another rail with a feeder. Don't rely just on a mechanical rail joiner for electrical continuity. Always make sure electricity is fed to the rail through a solder joint.
Any individual rail only needs one feeder. If you have a long stretch made up of several pieces of 3' long flextrack pieces, you don't need feeders every two feet, just one for every piece of rail. If there's a lot of smaller pieces of rail, put in more feeders.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
I totally agree with the distance between feeders as the above posts indicated. I should mention that feeders should be 20 guage and buses 14 guage wire. If the distance to a feeder is shorter then use 16 or 18 guage. Try to keep the 20 guage wire to 1 foot, 18 AWG to 8 feet, and 16 AWG to 12 feet. 14 guage can go as far as 30 feet. These distance numbers are on the low side but make a good base.
BTW, PSX circuit breakers recommend 14 AWG to avoid false shorts.
-Aksel
I have read that feeders need to be soldered to the track "every 6-10 ft" and have also read "on every piece of track" and just about everything inbetween. In tests on my layout (N scale) I have been able to get good power/communication to locos at the end of 4 pieces of flex track soldered together with only a single pair of feeders at one end. That being said, I do not recomend it. I solder a pair of feeders to EVERY piece of track wether it is a 36" piece of flex track, a turnout, or the little 2" piece between turnouts in a yard ladder, every piece of track gets a pair.
Big Book of DCC lists recommended feeder lengths according to wire gauge. I use 24g telephone wire for my feeders and keep them to the recommended length of less than 6"
One little thing to do is drop your feeders before you run your bus and then you can get your bus wire as close as possible to your feeders and cut them short.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."