I noticed that mfm37 said that he uses 2-conductor thermostat wire for his feeders. I have not been able to find 18 ga solid wire, or stranded for that matter, in the big home stores. I thought about using the thermostat wire but i was unsure if it could handle the current coming from a 14 ga solid bus wire. I thought thermostat wire was for low voltage and i wasn't sure how much voltage is moving through the feeder wires. Would you folks recommend using the theremostat wire for feeders?
It will work. I use 22 AWG for my feeders. 18 is really overkill, and is very difficult to work with.
The recommendation of 14 or 12 AWG for the track bus is to minimize voltage drop, not to carry a lot of current. Your feeders, supporting only what's running on 3-6 feet of track, carry a miniscule amount.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
18 ga wire is 18 ga wire. The insulation makes the difference on the rated voltage. Thermostat is low voltage, but well within norms for model railroads and is a good choice for wiring layouts.
1000' spools of 18ga solid wires the sort that might be used to repair light fixtures, and electronic equipment is sold at any electrical warehouse, although the sign on the door says "To the Trade Only" they will be happy to take your money nonetheless. They probably do not bother with spools under 1000'
ROAR
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Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I have found the thermostat wire at both Lowes and Home Depot. It is sold both by the foot (more expensive) or on 50 and 100 foot roles. It is often covered with another layer of brown or tan insulation encapsulating the red and white wires. It is easy to remove the brown layer if you want by slightly slicing the insulation an inch or two length wise and, while holding one wire and the brown insulation, pull the other wire in the opposite direction and it will split for as long a piece as you want.
You make a lot of sense. I have gobs of unused 22 AWG already left over from a previous DC layout that had to be dismantled (you know the story of building a boat in the basement? ). I also just bought 100 #905 suitcase connectors from Micro Mark. The specs on those say they are good for 18 to 22 AWG feeders with a 14 AWG bus so I should be okay. Thanks. I appreciate the info and advice.
Thanks for the information. I appreciate it.
The kinds I have came from either HD or Lowes, and came on a spool. It's red adn white, loosely twisted together, with no other insulation other than the red or white on each wire. The 2 conductor like this is usually alarm wire - thermostat wire usually us 5 conductor with an extra overal insuyaltion around the individual wires.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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Home Depot has two wire thermostat cable. It's used on heat only systems because only the red and white wire are all that are needed for heat. They have 5 and 7 wire cable as well. My club is using the seven wire cable for module mounted loconet bus. They also carry alarm wire but I believe it's stranded and may be a smaller gauge wire. I like to buy the prepackaged lengths because as already noted, cut orders are priced as much as double the per foot price of prepackaged.
Martin Myers
This is what I have: http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Wire-Thermostat-Bell-Wire/h_d1/N-5yc1vZc57f/R-203424756/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051
The 2-conductor thermostat wire has an extra layer of insulation over the two inside wires.
Both Home Depot and Lowes have this, as well as numerous selections of #18 wire - so not sure why the OP couldn't find any.