I just picked up a three pack 22 gage solid red, black, white at radio Shack. The three rolls are a set and are 30 foot rolls.
P/N 278-1221
Hope this helps, Chris
Georgia Observer Yes, feeder wires for an N-Scale layout. I have several modeler friends who use it and are please with the results. 22 presents a little bit less profile when attached to an N-Scale rail. Since the feeders will be pretty sort (2 feet tops) it looks like the four wire "split your own" will be the way to go. Do any of you N-Scalers use 20 gauge? Do you think or or the other size makes a difference worth worrying about?Again, thanks for your imput.Georgia Observer
Yes, feeder wires for an N-Scale layout. I have several modeler friends who use it and are please with the results. 22 presents a little bit less profile when attached to an N-Scale rail. Since the feeders will be pretty sort (2 feet tops) it looks like the four wire "split your own" will be the way to go. Do any of you N-Scalers use 20 gauge? Do you think or or the other size makes a difference worth worrying about?
Again, thanks for your imput.
Georgia Observer
Although I'm in HO scale, I do not run double headers, and my Turn of Century engines are pretty small. Electrical loads are pretty light using DC - less than 1 amp. I use 26 gauge magnet wire soldered to the rail bottom for feeders - it's almost undetectable. The magnet wire uses "varnish" for insulation, which is easily removed by rubbing with fine sandpaper before soldering. The magnet wire is soldered directly to the bus - a bare braided copper 16 gauge antenna wire running in a loop under the track. Again, rubbing the intended soldering point of the wires with crocus cloth or fine sandpaper and some rosin core solder makes the soldering quick and easy.
With handlaid code 70 and 55 track, I don't use rail joiners, so every length of rail gets a feeder attached before I spike it down. This means the longest possible distance between feeders is a full length of rail - 3ft. I have not been able to detect any voltage drops with my system, and the power pack shuts down just fine when I leave a metal Kadee coupler height gauge or other tool on the track.
I'd have to run the calculations, but I suspect my arrangement would work just fine for DCC systems rated 3 amps or less at reasonable power bus lengths (20ft or so). It's probably not robust enough for triple headers all drawing power through a single feeder set, or a full 5 amp power district.
my experiences, your choices
Fred W
I'll have to try Andy S's way of making itlook like a track spike, although I have a feeling it won't work as well with flex track.
CRAZY idea for handlaying with PC board ties - have strips of board made upw ith through holes spaced the track gauge apart. SOlder rail to pc board tie in the usual way. Slice through copper on both sides (so it's not a short), solder feeders to bottom. Like I said, crazy - but the through hole thus connects the normally insulated top and bottom copper surfaces of the ties, and the holes being track gauge apart mean they would be hidden under the rail. I know - WAY more trouble and expense than it's worth.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
BTW, for N scale, it would be a certainty that I would strive to solder feeders to the underside of the rail feet. It is bad enough in many cases in HO when even a 22 gauge feeder tip is evident soldered to the inside of the rail web, but it would likely be a horrendous intrusion in images of N scale track. So....maybe practice that and see if it doesn't greatly contribute to realism for you? Invert rail section with the point of the drop etched on the rail bottom. Solder the fine feeder wire, test it for strength, and then place the track section on the layout feeding the wire through your pre-drilled hole first. Ideally you will never have to lift that section to resolder.
-Crandell
JSperanBlue FlamerKeep an eye open for your local phone repair man. Good point!This reminds me that i have a few hundred feet of 40,(or so) conductor telco cable in the garage that I salvaged from an office reno. It's what the business phone systems used to use for cabling. It's chock full of small gauge stranded conductors in every color imagineable! Not sure if it is 20 or 22 gauge though...
Blue FlamerKeep an eye open for your local phone repair man.
Good point!
This reminds me that i have a few hundred feet of 40,(or so) conductor telco cable in the garage that I salvaged from an office reno. It's what the business phone systems used to use for cabling. It's chock full of small gauge stranded conductors in every color imagineable! Not sure if it is 20 or 22 gauge though...
It could be either size or even smaller. I just use a couple of the wires, (I use just the Black & Red as those are the colours of my Buss feed), to connect to the rails. Unless my Buss (14G.) is directly under the track that I am wiring to, (or within 6 inches) I solder the 22G. into an 18G. feeder to go to the Buss. The 18G. is just common thermostat or doorbell wire available at any Home Depot, Lowes or Hardware store. I just happen to have the remnants of a roll from when I was an HVAC Serviceman/Supervisor. (Retired). Just remember, the smaller the wire, the shorter it should be.
For those of you who are interested, the new Kalmbach publication, "How to Build Realistic Reliable Track" has a lot of great tips for newcomers and old timers alike. $8.00 for you South of the Border, $9.00+++ for us in the Great White North. For those of you in other parts of the world, it is probably a little higher, but still worth the $$$ in my opinion.
There are three short Video's on the Kalmbach website showing parts of what is in the book but I am not sure if they are available if you do not subscribe, but try anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Blue Flamer.
Keep an eye open for your local phone repair man. The guy next door to me cut into his underground phone line from the house to the street, (it was only about 3 inches deep). Rather than run a new line underground, the serviceman ran a temporary line from my house to the neighbour until they could get back.
About a week later, they came back and installed a new line and when he removed the temp. line he just coiled it up and threw it in a bin in his truck. When I asked him if they reused it, he answered, "no", we just throw it in for recycling". I asked if I could get some for wiring my model railway and he gave me a couple of coils totaling about 125 Ft. or more. It is the same stuff that is run inside the house, 22 gauge, 4 strand solid copper and is insulated in Red, Black, Green and Yellow. I gave him $5.00 to get lunch as he probably saved me about $20.00 to $30.00 minimum with the amount of wire that he gave me.
Home Depot, comes on a spool with a red adn white conductor, it's labeled as Alarm Wire.
They are loosely twisted together but easy to seperate. Worked out perfectly as they sell #12 stranded in both a red and white - red and white provide more contrast under the layout than some other color combos, and as long as I always put the Red wire on the Right rail, and then connected red feeder to red bus, I never had an issue with shorts.
Mouser Electronics - 22 gauge single conductor hookup wire
Here's an MR advertiser. Great service, prices, and selection. https://www.demarelectronics.com/
And in 10 different colors. The wire comes on small spools, and I couldn't have built my layout without them.
www.bulkwire.com
10 colors to choose from under solid hookup wire. This was the only way I could manage to keep the digitrax colors in line.
San Dimas Southern slideshow
22 gauge solid is rare. 22 gauge stranded wire can be had at any auto parts store in a multitude of colors. I take it this is for feeder wires? 18 to 22 awg would be fine stranded or solid.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
It should be widely available at home do-it-yourself stores, Circuit City/Radio Shack, and at electrical supply stores where contractors would go. I got a 100' spool of the four-wire cable covered in a white vinyl insulation at Radio Shack four years ago...maybe not the best price, but it was there and so was I. Split open the vinyl casing and you have four 22 gauge solid copper wires, each in their own coloured insulation sheath...red, green, black, and yellow for ease of use by the intrepid modeller.
I'm having trouble finding 22 gauge SOLID wire for my layout. I would like to find some that I don't have to spend hours untwisting. Trips to Radio Shack and the Home Depot-type stores have not been productive. Originally I wanted white and black to make connections to the white and black buss wires easier, but now I will accept any two colors. Any suggestions?
Thanks,