Decoder wire lengths ?

[rrinker]

 Fingernails make a good wire stripper for fine decoder wire. I hold the wire with the fingers of one hand, and use my thumbnail on the other as the 'stripper'.

                                        --Randy

[tbdanny]

You'll need to be careful you don't rip the wires off the decoder when stripping the ends after trimming.  (Don't ask how I know this!)  I usually use two pairs of pliers, or a pair of pliers and tweezers (depending on the length of the wire).  One pair of pliers does the stripping, the other pair or tweezers takes the pressure off the decoder.  Use the pliers/tweezers to make a right-angle bend in the wire, and pull down on this as you pull up with the pliers or wire strippers.

[mfm37]

rrinker

 Unless the cutoffs are tiny, I save them - never know when you need an extra length of wire!

                                     --Randy

 

 

Good advice, Randy. I have a bag full too. I use the extra black wires for jumpers on my PECO turnouts.

Martin Myers

[rrinker]

 I put the components in place and cut the wires to appropriate lengths. Unless the cutoffs are tiny, I save them - never know when you need an extra length of wire!

                                     --Randy

[Hamltnblue]

As noted before you can shorten them. Just make sure that you don't accidentally remove a dropping resistor to the LED's.  They often hide under heat shrink tubing.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Yes, it is OK to shorten the wires. Just don't cut them so short that it doesn't leave enough for any future use in another loco.

[CSX Robert]

Absolutely.

[johncolley]

After hooking up and checking out the decoder performance I would like to know if it is OK to shorten the wires to eliminate the birds nest inside the loco? It looks like a real hazard to leave them alone. John