This is what my main bus looks like under the layout. Two wires, mine are red and black, each feeds only one of the rails all the way around the layout (except for my reverse loop, which has it's own set of buss wires). The black feeds the outside rail and the red is for the inside rail.
Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
Electricity requires a complete circuit. Electrons go in one wire and out the other. Motion is the result when a motor is put between those two wires.
Your buss should be made up of a two wire circuit with one buss wire connected to each rail by feeders. It is extremely important that polarity be maintained. If you ever connect both buss wires to the same rail, no matter how far apart the connection is made, you will have a short circuit. The DCC or DC controller would be damaged if it was not protected by a circuit breaker. DCC boosters have a circuit breaker built in.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Hi,
Thanks for the help - I really appreciate it. For clarification, I was asking if, when looking at a piece of track, both the left hand and right hand rails are tied to the same power bus or if there is a separate bus for left rail and right rail. I apologize if my question was unclear.
PD
I know that's what he said, I am just not sure that is what he meant. I, too, would like him to clarify.
Phoebe Vet richhotrain: tpd0418: . Tying the feeder wires from both rails to the same bus wire will result in a dead short. Rich Actually, attaching both rails to the same buss wire will result in an OPEN circuit. Only one half of the circuit is attached. I am not sure exactly what the OP is asking. He may not have meant exactly what he wrote. If he is asking if both TRACKS can be powered from the same buss, the answer is yes. If he is asking if both RAILS can be fed from a single wire, the answer is no. I color code as well.
richhotrain: tpd0418: . Tying the feeder wires from both rails to the same bus wire will result in a dead short. Rich
tpd0418:
. Tying the feeder wires from both rails to the same bus wire will result in a dead short.
Rich
Actually, attaching both rails to the same buss wire will result in an OPEN circuit. Only one half of the circuit is attached.
I am not sure exactly what the OP is asking. He may not have meant exactly what he wrote. If he is asking if both TRACKS can be powered from the same buss, the answer is yes. If he is asking if both RAILS can be fed from a single wire, the answer is no.
I color code as well.
His
"When running a power bus for a layout, do you run a separate wire for the inside and outside rails, or do you tie in the feeders from both rails to the same bus?"
I am not exactly certain what he is asking either. We need some clarification from the OP.
Alton Junction
richhotrain tpd0418: . Tying the feeder wires from both rails to the same bus wire will result in a dead short. Rich
If you are referring to a dual-track layout, with (simplistically) one oval inside the other, you can use the same pair of bus wires for both loops. Was that the question?
It's a good idea to use two different colors for the two bus wires. On my layout, the red bus wire is connected to the outer rail of each track, while the black bus wire goes to the inner rail. I use the same convention with my feeder wires. It makes wiring beneath the layout (where you can't always see where each wire comes from) and troubleshooting a lot easier.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
tpd0418 Hi, When running a power bus for a layout, do you run a separate wire for the inside and outside rails, or do you tie in the feeders from both rails to the same bus? Thanks for any help. PD
When running a power bus for a layout, do you run a separate wire for the inside and outside rails, or do you tie in the feeders from both rails to the same bus?
Thanks for any help.
As the others have indicated, a power bus consists of a pair of two separate wires, typically heavier gauge such as 14 AWG or 12 AWG, one bus wire for the outer rail and one bus wire for the inner rail. These two bus wires must be kept separate from one another. The feeder wires from each rail must connect only with their respective bus wires. Tying the feeder wires from both rails to the same bus wire will result in a dead short.
One set of buss wires will do both inside and out.
Springfield PA
Well, the bus needs to consist of two conducting wires, so the inside rail gets connected to one of the bus wires, and the outside rail gets connected to the other.