New to the hobbie and wondering what gauge wire i should use for bus wires and feeder wires on my n scale rr?
14 ga. for the bus. 18 ga for the feeders.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Yes, 14 gauge is good, and since it is common house wire at hardware stores, you should be able to buy rolls of it for fairly low cost.
I've used surplus phone wire (solid strand) for drops to the bus using suite case style connectors, you can buy those in hardware stores also to make it easy.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
DaveygeeNew to the hobbie and wondering what gauge wire i should use for bus wires and feeder wires on my n scale rr?
I did a 4x8 with bus of 14 gauge wire which is way overkill. On the other hand I did a G-gauge 20x15 with no bus, only two feeds of 20 gauge which worked fine but probably way underkill had it been a permanent layout.
I used 12 gauge for mine, but the layout takes up half the basement and there are some areas where the wire runs over 30 feet. The guy at my hobby shop also recommeded using stranded wire vs. solid wire. Something about the electrons travel on the surface of the wire, and when you have stranded wire, there is more surface than solid wire. I'm not an electrician, so I can't say for sure, but I don't have any problems with the stranded.
Scott
Hi, Daveygee,
We've got a whole forum dedicated to DCC and wiring issues. I'll move this discussion thread over there for you. Welcome to the Forums!
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
BroadwayLion 14 ga. for the bus. 18 ga for the feeders.
18 is rather large for the feeders. All you need is solid AWG 22, and keep them less than a foot long.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Keep in mind if you plan on using "suitcase connectors" (IDC, Insulation Displacement) there only specific wire size ranges that will fit.
I use the brown ones that take a 10-12AWG bus and 14-18ga feeder (MicroMark #84023. Specifically I use 12ga (stranded for bench routing) and 18ga (solid for soldering and pushing thru scenery). Stranded is slightly larger than solid, and insulation may be a concern depending on the source.
Terry
gandydancer19 BroadwayLion: 14 ga. for the bus. 18 ga for the feeders. 18 is rather large for the feeders. All you need is solid AWG 22, and keep them less than a foot long.
BroadwayLion: 14 ga. for the bus. 18 ga for the feeders.
Eh... Well many of them are more than a foot long. 18 ga is not all that heavy, and besides, that is what was laying around the powerhouse (from florescent lamp ballasts, no doubt). When you build on the cheap you take what you can get.
Still, the LION *likes* his 18 ga. Him has a four track mane lion, and so leads from all four tracks are tied off to a single lead with a wire nut, and then attached to the bus with a suitcase. Him can pull the whole contraption out from under the table to work on it like a gentel-lion, seated upon a chair instead of some fetid primate swinging under the table by his tail.
ROAR
The whole 'surface effect' is really just a myth, at DC and DCC frequencies anyway. It DOES come into play with high frquency high voltage transmision lines (like you see hanging from those huge metal towers) but it has no effect on a DCC system. The REAL reason I prefer strnaded for my bus wires is that strnaded wire is much easier to pull along around corners under the benchwork. I use solid for feeders, so there is no chance of a stray 'whisker' not getting caught in the solder and possibly causing a short at some time when I least expect it.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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