right gauge stranded wire for boards ?

[armchair]

Our club is still using the Railcommand system. We have a batch of used boards that are going to have to be rewired /soldered of course . What size wire should I use & where is an economical source to purchase it ? I'm afraid this project might be a crap-shoot as the boards are etched,although number stickers seem to be on most of them. I 've know of no way of telling if they are any good ' till they're hooked up . Any suggestions would be helpful. I thought of keeping just a chassis dedicated to test each decoder as I use them ,this seems kind of slow. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks ,Randy......

[cacole]

 My suggestion would be to contact CVP Products in Richardson, Texas and ask them -- they still support RailCommand products to some degree though they regard it as totally obsolete technology.

http://www.cvpusa.com 

When you click on this link and their web site opens up, you'll even see a RAILCOMMAND tab at the top of their home page.  They are usually good at responding to e-mail questions.

[rrinker]

 Boards as in the loco mounted receivers or boards as in the power supplies? It makes a huge difference. Inside the loco, fine wire is plenty - look at the wire used for DCC decoders, or the wire used to connect the truck pickups to the lighting boards in plain DC locos. Unless you are in O scale or larger, or are goign to put a receiver in a dummy unit and use it to power 3 or 4 powered units in a permanent lashup, #28 or so wire is plenty thick for connecting the power pickups and the loco motor. Also it's flexible and easy to route away from moving parts.

                              --Randy

 

[armchair]

I've been on their site, not much info there. I've also talked to them. This system is pretty much obsolete, cvp is not going to produce any more boards as they are not cost effective. Obsolete or not this is a great system for our club. The loco boards are the only drawback. I will rewire these used boards with 29 Ga. wire as Randy had suggested . This size is about what the new dcc dec. have on them,I assume ? I found the wire at an online source,which I thought was reasonable. Thanks for Your help.

[rrinker]

 That sounds about right. Most DCC dealers will sell chunks of 'decoder wire' so if you decide to get fancy you can use the DCC color code, which could make futre conversion to DCC easier. Red for the right rail pickup, black for the left rail pickup, orange for the + motor, grey for the - motor. Although if you have a lot to do you can probably buy a large roll of all one color from an electronics supplier like Mouser for the same price as a short bundle of DCC colors.

                                         --Randy

[armchair]

 Thanks for the help, Randy. I will be using the color code as I go. I'd have a real mess if I didn't !  You can view the club layout @ mexicotrains.com . Have a great day !