Ok this is something I havent reasearched much. i am building a shelf type railroad in HO and will be using the NCE Power Cab. what guage wire do i use for track connections and what guage for my power bus to the system? Appreciate any help, kind of forgot about this part and need to go to the shack and get wire tonight.
Thanks!
Corey
Railroading In Council Bluffs
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Corey, no thinner than 22 gauge and 12 inch long on the feeders, I use 18 gauge. On the buss, no thinner than 16, but I prefer 14 my self.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
I agree. For a Power Cab, that should be fine.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
How big is the layout?
I have a room-sized layout, probably similar in size to many home layouts. My longest track bus distance from the base station is about 20 feet. I use #18 wire for the bus, and #22 for my feeders, which I do keep short. At that distance and with that wire gauge, which is much thinner than the "recommended" wire, I have no problems whatsoever, even with multiple multi-unit lashups pulling my trains.
If you want to use heavier wire, go ahead, particularly if you plan to expand later, or if you're going to have your base station at one end of an around-the-room shelf. However, thicker wire is more expensive and harder to work with. In many cases, the recommendations are a bit of overkill. (That's my opinion, not a proven fact, by the way.)
But this is a proven fact: Radio $hack is a very expensive place to buy wire. If you have a real electronics place nearby, go there. Otherwise, put together an order and go online to allelectronics or mouser.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
it,s a 24 inch deep shelf railroad with about 33 feet of table. Thanks guys 18 and 14 sounds good!
LHS. Local Hardware Store. I have two in my city of about 17,000.
Two big box stores, Lowe's and Home Dept are about fifteen miles away.
I have bought wire at Home Depot at times.
Never at The Shack.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.