Getting back into things. Any suggestions on a good electrical parts and wire supplier
Welcome back! What kind of wire and parts?
Simon
At least for me, I use 20 gauge wire for most all my wiring. Given that I'm in a spot with no LHS, I get my wire from my local NAPA store. It has gotten to the point that the people there know me well enough that if I get wire they know I'm putting a new section on the railroad.
As for electrical components, for controls and such, I still use the good old Atlas componets. For wire connectors, I get them through eBay as needed.
wire spool packages are quite common on amazon. I use 22 AWG for feeders, solid wire. 26 stranded for structures, and 30 AWG solid for DCC function wiring. The pickups and motor where I use 26 AWG14 AWG stranded bus wire is commonly available everywhere like Lowes, Home Depot, or Amazon.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
I found a good source for what I needed is Remington Industries.
A hint is to type in what you want in the search. They source hundreds (thousands?) of different sizes and kinds of wire, and it saves a lot of time to just type in what you need.
For my buildings and other things on the layout, I like using 26 AWG solid wire. I like solid (not sure why) and Remington has a lot of different kinds.
York1 John
We just finished cleaning our home office and uncovered 20y of unused USB and serial cables. Obviously these are un-needed as they have been hidden for so long.
Took the cables downstairs and carefully cut down their exterior covering with a sharp knife. After removing the plastic covering and shielding I recovered dozens of feet of very flexible red, black, white and green wire perfect for rail taps, structure lighting and decoder installs.
Tango-Foxtrot-Echo.D
da29. the artist formerly known as da1.
DigitalGriffin wire spool packages are quite common on amazon.
wire spool packages are quite common on amazon.
Like the OP, I am also getting back into working on my layout. Not sure if OP meant it this way, but I also am looking for a supplier that is NOT Amazon.
The last three wire orders I received from Amazon have been complete junk. Even with trying to avoid the CCA junk, the less than advertised wire gauge, flimsy/brittle/stiff insulation, etc., for me it is hard to find wire that seems decent. Oh, I forgot to mention the 100' of twin molded wire (aka speaker, lamp cord) that is actually only 50' as the seller helpfully buries somewhere deep in the description that 100' actually means 2 wires at 50' each.
Maybe I am getting too old, but I miss the days when you could ask for a spool of 16 gauge stranded copper wire and got exactly what you wanted, or at least expected, instead of this junk that the descriptions play word games with to make it appear that it is something that it is not.
Anyway, rant over but I am also looking for a decent wire supplier. I do use wire from home depot, which isn't too bad, but they don't stock too much of the smaller gauges other than lamp/speaker wire or have a decent selection of jacket colors.
I bought my wire for the bus and drops from Lowes. The bus wire was a roll of house wire 14AWG and the drop feed wire was 20/2 bell wire, 20AWG
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Menards for 14 AWG solid buss and 22 AWG solid for feeders.
Lance Mindheim recommended https://powerwerx.com/
I have no experience with them.
York1 I found a good source for what I needed is Remington Industries. A hint is to type in what you want in the search. They source hundreds (thousands?) of different sizes and kinds of wire, and it saves a lot of time to just type in what you need. For my buildings and other things on the layout, I like using 26 AWG solid wire. I like solid (not sure why) and Remington has a lot of different kinds.
Rich
Alton Junction
Glad to see reputable wire suppliers are out there (besides Amazon). Amazon is great for certain things, but who regretted their purchases for wires (or anything else) based on a picture? I bet some of the reviewers never actually bought the product.