Wiring

[Anonymous]

It has only taken me 3 months, but I am finally ready to lay my final piece of track.  Next is wire.

What guage of wire to use for track power?  What guage for switch controls? 

[selector]

Same for both uses....22 gauge and try to keep their runs short.  If you have need of 6' lengths of that thin gauge, you should consider running a sub-bus or extending the bus.

[BlueHillsCPR]

Turnout control can be wired with fairly light wiring as long as you are not switching multiple turnouts.  Lots of people use telephone wire for turnouts.

As for track wiring, it depends if you are going DCC or DC and how large the layout is.  DCC, the buss should be 14 gauge or larger depending on the size of the layout and feeders should be around 18-20 gauge I think.

DC, you may be able to get away with 18 gauge depending on the length of the runs. 

Edit: Gee selector, I can't agree with using 22 gauge for track power without a buss.  The 22 gauge is ok for feeders...IMO but not for the entire layout...unless it is small I guess.

[selector]

Kevin, you are correct...I wouldn't recommend it myself.  But I seem to have done that without mentioning that you should have a bus of a heavier gauge.  I forgot to deal with that, even though I mentioned extending the bus or using a sub-bus.

So, to correct myself, you should use a bus of something like 12 gauge for heavy demands on a large layout...say 10 amps and up.  You could get away with 16 gauge if your power draws through it aren't more than about 4-5 amps.  If you want to use Joe Fugate's tail light bulb short control, a sub-bus is the way to go because the lights can be wired in series into one of the bus wires. 

Feeders can be that much lighter.  I currently use "telephone" wire, but with the individual color-coded wires pulled out of the outer plastic tubing.  The Radio Shack stuff is marked 22 gauge, and I have several feeders in the 3' range.

Thanks for pointing out my omission, Kevin.  My bad.

-Crandell

[BlueHillsCPR]

Thanks for pointing that my omission, Kevin.  My bad.

-Crandell

 

Not at all, not at all... After I posted it occured to me that you could have known things about the O.P.'s specific situation that I did not...in which case I would have been meddling without a firm understanding of the circumstances...that would have been my bad.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your responses and advice.  I feel I can plummit forth now.

[tomikawaTT]

If your switch machines are Tortoise or similar stall motor type, you can drive a whole yard throat through a single #22 wire.  Likewise, even huge old KTM twin-coils can be set up in tandem if the wire run is short.  #22 wire can carry up to 7 amps for short distances (surprised me, too, but that's what the wire gauge table tells me.)

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I use 14 guage wire for the track power. I have plenty of it so why not use it.

[dstarr]

   #14 guage solid copper house wire makes a absolutely bullet proof bus wire to carry track power around the largest layout.   14 guage is overkill, electrically speaking, but it's readily available.  Avoid 12 guage  house wire, it is too stiff to work easily with tools.  For the smaller layout,  #16 wire (same as lamp cord) or even #18 (light duty speaker wire) is fine.  22 gauge is kinda small IMHO, although I'm sure plenty of people have used it on a 4*8 layout.  Feeders from the track to the bus wire can be any easy to work, easy to solder size.  22 or 24 gauge is fine for feeders.

   Tortoise switch machines draw so little current that anything will do.  The twin coil machines pul more juice but they don't mind a little voltage drop.  If I had to pay for the wire I'd buy #22 for switch machines.  #24 telephone wire is OK, although it is kinda small IMHO.