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How many feeders?
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Brunton, <br /> <br />From what I've seen and talked to other people about this, the layout expansion problems "appear" to be heat related because that's when the humidity goes up iin an area. When moisture gets into wood it swells, hence the layout gets bigger and the rails buckle. By adding expansion joints you're accomodating this process in your design. You can also control the humidity or move to a drier climate to solve the problem as well. Design or material changes can eliminate the problem up front. Foam doesn't swell with humidity. Those people that build their layouts on foam probably will never see a problem. <br /> <br />The corrosion that we're all worried about is a slow acting effect, and it's mostly galvanic corrosion. Whenever two dissimilar metals come in contact, a battery action is formed. If water is allowed into that point then you can get an "electroplating" effect, where metal is transported from one side to the other. Obviously not good. <br /> <br />The other corrosion is a chemical acidic action which is caused by the residual flux and again, moisture. In this case, a stranded wire is WORSE simply because you have a much higher surface area per unit volume of copper. If you're truly worried about corroding wires you should go to solid wire whenever possible. Stranding makes sense though in those cases when you have to repeatedly move the wire. Solid wire is less durable in that situation. <br /> <br />Obviously corrosive fumes are bad news. High humidity with salt (coastal areas) are famous for this problem. Ever seen a swing set in those areas? <br /> <br />In this whole discussion I think the main thing to remember is that you have to build according to the environment you have to deal with. The addition of tons of feeders may be overkill, but once you've been bitten by a problem, you tend to keep hitting it with a hammer until it's been dead for a very long time. <br /> <br />Mark in Utah
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