Wire gauge

[Anonymous]

I'm struggling through building my very first model railroad layout in N Scale and, since I'm green as grass at this, things don't always go as well as they should. It seems the further I go, the less I know.

Most of the layout guide books say to use 22 gauge wire in wiring the layout. I already have four spools of 20 gauge wire on hand. Is there any reason I could not use the 20 gauge wire instead of the 22 gauge?

Thanks again.
Fritzvb

[Anonymous]

20 gauge wire will work just fine. I use 16 gauge on my portable N-scale layout because it was what I had available. What they are talking about is don't use any wire with a smaller diameter as it won't be able to handle the current in the wire required to run the layout. The smaller the number in wire, the larger the diameter. 10 gauge wire is larger than 16 gauge and will handle more current. I hope that this helps you and good luck with the new layout.

[Anonymous]

Mongo4200

Thanks much. That's exactly what I needed to know.

fritzvb

[tomikawaTT]

Quick reference about wire size (AWG gauge):

If the wire you have is smaller than recommended, it can be used. (#20 recommended, use #20 or any lower number.)

If the number you have is larger than recommended, you can check the current carrying capacity of your wire and the requirements of the load, then make sure that the connection will carry the necessary amperage (sometimes, running double wires will do it, sometimes they aren't really necessary.)

This site has a table that contains the necessary information:
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

The key numbers are in the last two columns. Max Amps for power transmission should be used for long runs under the layout. Max Amps for chassis wiring covers short runs inside a control panel, or the short connection (18" or so) from rail to bus.

[Anonymous]

tomikawaTT

Thanks for the reference chart. I've put it in favorites and printed out a hard copy. It will probably be very handy if I ever reach the point where I actually know
what I'm doing.

fritzvb

[Medina1128]

I went to the link that Tomikawa listed above and copy and pasted it into an Excel spreadsheet, so it's always at hand. Thanks Tomikawa! or domo arigato!

[rrinker]

UGGGH! the ONE Styx song I simply CANNOT STAND. Probably because my sister used to play it over and over and over. [:D][:D]

[tomikawaTT]

To Fritz and Medina; Do Itashimas'te.

To those to whom Japanese is unknown:

Domo arigato = Thank you very much.
Do itashma***e = you're welcome.

Just noticed that the editor program deleted four letters that, when standing alone, indicate excrement. (Sort of like the machinery design drawings that were blocked because they were labeled, "Erection Drawings.") Pahdon my Tokyo accent in the correction.

[bobjgroton]

You haven't said how large you N scale layout is but generally speaking larger wire size (smaller numerical size as was pointed out earlier) is better for feeds from your power supply to the general area of the track, particularly for longer wire runs so you don't lose much voltage due to the resistance of the wire. The 16 gauge wire someone mentioned earlier is a good size for main power feeds on a smaller home layout (the club I'm in uses 10 gauge wire but we have an 800 foot long power bus to feed). You probably also want to consider feeding the tracks in more than one part of the layout so you won't see voltage drops in the "far" end of the layout. If I've just confused you, think along the lines of a wheel with spokes where you power supply is the hub and the track is the wheel and you'll get the idea. Our club actually feeds the track every 3 feet, although you don't have to go to that extreme. You may also want to check out a hobby shop for an introductory book on model railroad wiring -- the points I've raised are usually covered in such a book as is the subject of wire sizes. Good luck!

[bobjgroton]

You haven't said how large you N scale layout is but generally speaking larger wire size (smaller numerical size as was pointed out earlier) is better for feeds from your power supply to the general area of the track, particularly for longer wire runs so you don't lose much voltage due to the resistance of the wire. The 16 gauge wire someone mentioned earlier is a good size for main power feeds on a smaller home layout (the club I'm in uses 10 gauge wire but we have an 800 foot long power bus to feed). You probably also want to consider feeding the tracks in more than one part of the layout so you won't see voltage drops in the "far" end of the layout. If I've just confused you, think along the lines of a wheel with spokes where you power supply is the hub and the track is the wheel and you'll get the idea. Our club actually feeds the track every 3 feet, although you don't have to go to that extreme. You may also want to check out a hobby shop for an introductory book on model railroad wiring -- the points I've raised are usually covered in such a book as is the subject of wire sizes. Good luck!

[BR60103]

We use the small wire for the feeders because it's less apparent when soldered to the rail.
If you want, think about the size of the wire that's inside your locomotives. You can get away with a short length of small wire, but that only powers one motor. The feed to the track has to power all the locos on that stretch of track (but divide by the number of feeders in the block) while the main bus powers the whole railroad (all 2000 locos).

[bobjgroton]

I agree on the small wire gauge to actually connect to the track. I was thinking "feeders" in terms of getting to the "general area of the track" and THEN using smaller wire to connect to the rails. We use 10 gauge bus wires on our club's layout to get to terminal strips near the connections and then actually use 18 gauge wire for the final connection to the rails.