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Wiring

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  • Member since
    October 2007
  • 82 posts
Wiring
Posted by RayG8 on Saturday, December 17, 2016 12:31 PM

Whats the best gauge for an accessory bus of 41 feet

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Clinton, MO, US
  • 4,261 posts
Posted by Medina1128 on Saturday, December 17, 2016 3:20 PM

For that long of a run, I would use 12 or 10 gauge, stranded, of course.

  • Member since
    May 2004
  • 7,500 posts
Posted by 7j43k on Saturday, December 17, 2016 11:23 PM

I would say that 12 and 10 is the upper limit of bigness.

And that the lower level of bigness would be 16.

 

If you want a REAL OFFICIAL answer, you have to specify the distance to every tap.  And the load at every tap.

When you are forced to consider how intermitant and overlapping the loads are, it gets kinda irritating.

 

So, to simplify, I'd go with 12 copper.  It doesn't matter if it's solid or stranded, electrically.

 

 

Ed

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: North Dakota
  • 9,592 posts
Posted by BroadwayLion on Sunday, December 18, 2016 6:52 AM

This is an accessory bus! It doesn not need to carry the same power as the third rail! That is to say, most accessories will be operating at 12 volts, and the loss of a few volts at that distance is hardly an issue.

The Beese of the LION are 14 ga. , Him used 4 conductor stranded speaker wire for the beese of him:

1) Green..............Common HARD Ground. (cannot float)

2) Black...............Third Rail (Train Power)

3) White..............Signal and Detection (+16v dc)

4) Red.................Hotel Power (all aux stuff)

ROAR

The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.

Here there be cats.                                LIONS with CAMERAS

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