Electronics and DCC

I am currently building my layout, and would like anybody with past experiences to sound off.  Is soddering wires and rails together worth it?  Does it work with the regular rail connecting joiners?  Is it better than just buying the terminal joiners?  I have been torn between the dicision since the beginning of my layout, and since I am at the wiring stage, I need an answer from more experienced railroaders.  Please let me know!

Peace

 Well you asked for it so here's my opinion.

Solder, solder, solder. You can not beat a popererly soldered joint. practice to get it right and soldering will be you favorite method of fastening. Can't beat the price and convenience either. It's convenient because it will make a proper connection at midnight even when you don't have the right rail joiner terminal or suitcase connector.

Quite frankly, if a person is serious about this hobby, they really need to know how to solder. It's really not possible to be in this hobby and not ever solder.

Like I said, that's my opinion.

Martin Myers

Hi!

I agree with Martin - if you can't/won't solder, you will have a hard time being successful in layout building.  Most (I won't say all) track joints should be soldered if they are intended to be permanent for any length of time.  This especially applies if you are using flex track.  Wire joints can be succussfully made with the various types of connectors - to a point.  Nothing beats a good soldered joint for proper electrical flow - and durability.

If you are a stranger to soldering, pick up a decent 45 w iron (Sears), some small diameter rosin core solder, READ the instructions, and practice, practice, practice.  Its really quite easy but does take some knowledge to do it properly.

Just last month, my 41 year old son needed to solder a guitar pick-up wire.  He told me he had never soldered before.  I was shocked, as "my generation" was doing stuff like that as young teens - and I ASSUMED everybody knew how to do that.  I should know better.

Anyway, I could have easily fixed the problem, but he bought his own iron and "learned the hard way" - but did get the job done.

ENJOY,

Mobilman44

PS:  Don't test the in process or completed joint with your fingers to see if it is still hot.

 I resemble that remark (I'm 42) I've been soldering electronics since I was a kid - at first my Mom was not too keen on me doing it so insisted that she do the soldering (she previously worked at a job which was pretty much nothing but soldering) which was fine until the time she slipped and it was MY hand that got brushed by the hot iron. After that I told her I'd do it myself . Even the layouts I built pre-teen and as a teenager I soldered all wire connections - no crimp ons or just twisting the wires together.

 I'd really not difficult, you just need to practice. You also need the right tool for the job at hand - a 150-200 watt gun will make a quick puddle of a delicate electronic circuit, but a circuit board safe 15 watt iron is never going to be able to solder 12 gauge bus wires. With enough practice you just might eb able to get away with usuing a slightly too large a tool for a given job, one too small is pretty much NEVER goign to work. However, like just about any job, soldering works easiest when you have the proper tool, not when you try to make do with the wrong tool. There is a difference though with a soldering station vs a standard iron. I used to ahve a small (15 watt) iron for electronics, a 45 watt iron for track, and a 150 watt gun for the heavy bus connections. I recently picked up a 45 watt temperature controlled sodlering station which works fine for deleicate electronics - the key is the temperature control. A standard iron just heats and heats and heats the whole time it's plugged in. Getting far hotter than needed to actually solder - the difference being that the 15 watt one can pretty much only generate so much heat. With temperature control, the watt rating is more an indicator of how large an area it can heat to the set temperature - it goes to that temperature and the heater then cycles on and off to maintain it. This keeps it from getting so hot it de-laminates circut boards, and also avoids overheating the tip which means you won;t have to replace the tip nearly as often. You can spend a lot of money on such a rig but you don't have to,. Mine was $50 and isn't some cheapy Weller knockoff, it's a well built and high quality tool. I had nearly that much in the 15 and 45 watt irons plus a stand - so it really isn't all that much more expensive to get the soldering station. I've now used it for everything from circuit board assembly to decoder installs to soldering 18 gauge wire to track. Worked great for each job.

                                               --Randy

 There are a couple of things about soldering that I will share with you.  Keep the tip clean by wiping it on a wet sponge.  The heat of the iron will transfer better if you put the iron on the joint, then apply a small bit of solder to the tip at the joint.  The small amout of solder will bridge the joint and help heat the metal to be soldered.  Solder will follow the heat.  Use the solder sparingly.  You don't need a big glob.

train_frk-0079:

Is soddering wires and rails together worth it?

Does it work with the regular rail connecting joiners?

Is it better than just buying the terminal joiners?

Never rely just on physical connections to supply power to the rails. Always solder feeders direct the the rails. Rail joiners can work loose and not conduct power to the next rail anymore. At the club we solder feeders to every piece of rail on the layout. You can solder rail joiners together as well, to reduce the number of feeders, but not on every joint. Leave some joints for expansion/contraction.

 This is just a thought  On the rail joiners with feeders built on how about soldering one end to track for feeders so as not to have to solder directly to side / bottom of rail