Wiring My DC Layout

[wcu boy]

 I have a 2 X 8 modular layout comprised of two, two by four modules. I want to use a MRC Control Master 20 for power. I do like to add feeders to every piece of track and each turnout almost in the way that one would wire their layout for DCC. I do not like to depend on rail joiners for anything. What gauge wire for this size of layout would you recommend for track bus and the size of gage wire for feeders connected to the track bus? I guess the question might include future expansion thoughts, but at the present I do not see any expansion coming. What gauge wire do you recommend separately for track bus and feeders. Thanks for your advice.

[dknelson]

Your layout is not large and the distances for any one wire will not be long; the MRC Control Master puts out plenty of power so my own feeling wire size might not be so critical in your case, and yet you'd want to be taking advantage of all the power built into that MRC unit.  It is tempting to overbuild with bigger wire but it costs more and can be clumsy to work with. 

Actual feeder wire to the rails can be fairly light, maybe 22 or 18, while the bus wire perhaps 14 or 16. 

Dave Nelson

 

[BerkshireSteam]

Could you also just soldier some bus wires onto one section of track and then jumper wires to go from track section to track section? I may be building a display track loop around the living room, power would be my Tech II so I'm looking at wiring idea's also.

[Texas Zepher]

 

wcu boy

I want to use a MRC Control Master 20 for power.

Irrelvant

I do like to add feeders to every piece of track and each turnout almost in the way that one would wire their layout for DCC.

Depends on what type of turnouts you have.  If they are non-shorting power jumping type (like Atlas or Peco insul-frog) then for this tiny of a layout it might be best to just run two wires from the power controller to the track.  If the turnouts are power routing with shorting frogs then the answer is way to complicated for this forum.

wcu boy

I do not like to depend on rail joiners for anything.

Get better rail joiners.  Usually when people make this statement they re-use old joiners instead of getting new ones each time.

 

What gauge wire do you recommend separately for track bus and feeders.

20 or 18 or 16.  There is no need for the bus to be heavier than the feeders in a DC system. Anything heavier than 16 is too hard to solder to the rails.  If a feeder is put in the center of the 8 feet of track then the furthest a loco can be from it is 4 feet.

[RailfanS]

I have a 10' x 5' L-Shaped layout and I power it with an 80VA MRC Control master 20 (The old version with the cooling fan). I use stranded 18 gage for my power bus and solid 22 gage to the rails. My power bus is short, only 1-2 feet long, running from my transformer to the switchboard. Then from the switchboard the 22 gage takes power to the track in 12 different blocks (shortest is about 2 feet longest is about 10) . I usually operate only one train at a time, but have operated 2 and accidentally 6 (a visitor flipped the switches for all the blocks to the on position) trains at the same time without trouble. I've also shorted things a few times and nothing caught fire, so that's good. As for expansion I'll have to get back to you in 5 or 6 years at the earliest, when I move the layout out and build a larger one around it. I think 18 gage would be big enough for bus wires though. I'm not sure, you'll need another opinion about that. By the time my layout expands, I'll be rewiring it anyway. Wether for a DCC system or just a heavier duty DC system. Another note: the 22 gage solid wire is really easy to soder to code 100 rail if that's what your using...

Good Luck,

Jamie