Tom
You can buy "Liquid Electrical Tape" at bid box stores and others. It comes in black and other colors.
Joe
Tom,
You don't mention what You built the panel out of...but if it was wood..You can use screw in eye's, that You slip Your wires into to keep them away from critical parts. You can still use them by, spreading the eye open, then buching some wires together and slipping them in....also hope You used all stranded wire...solid wire will eventually break from constant bending and also don't forget zip ties, they come in all size's. You can still use those also. The liquid tape works ok, but nothing beats shrink wrap tubing.
The pic'. shows one of three control panels on My layout....but I run DC, so there is a lot more wiring. I made it like a triangle, also swings down and nothing touches inside. Where it swings down, the wires for the blocks are bunched together and put in the screw eye's zip tied for strength. Good rule of thumb though in any panel..is not to have ANY bare wires.
Take Care!
Frank
Frank,
Looks like you used larger switches than I did. I'm using mini and sub-mini toggles. I also have more control blocks than you do (10 regular blocks and 5 extra on/off blocks for staging and the engine servicing area), plus indicator lights for each of these cab selector blocks. If I had it to do over again I probably would have used larger switches, but then again, my control panel would have had to be larger; its only 7" X 18", which is an ideal size for this small switching layout. But, it sure makes it very crowded for wiring.
As you may have already guessed, I am on DC too.
Inside of the LION's GRS model-5 interlocking machine.
The wires about 40 of them from the rear panel (seen) and the front pannel (the row of lights) is bundled together, run all the way to the right, then all the way to the left and then to the light panel. Because of the construction of machine, I have to be able to lift out the lower deck to have access to the micro switches from the levers. So I have a lot of extra cable in the panel. Keep it neat. LION uses nails as binding points, him solders the wires to them. Tie them together neatly.
Here is the outside of the machine.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I used wire terminal strips to eliminate movement of the wires through the control panel enclosure. That means the only wire movement is in the control panel enclosure. Stranded wire is the only way to go. The people that comented on this topic are very knowledgable. I have learned a lot from these people just reading their discussions on this forum.
That is one of three,control panels....the far eastern end. I used sub-miniature DPDT Center-off toggles, but there are only fifteen blocks in that section. What I did on the toggles, was to insert a 18 gauge solid wire into the terminal on the toggle, about 3/4'' in length and made a mechanical connection first, then soldered. The cab wires are daisy chained to the toggle and then the solid wire is wrapped around them and soldered, also is a mechanical connection first. I put a piece of shrink wrap on the wires before connecting and just slid it over the toggle wire connection. The lights which are incandesants are wired to normally open push buttons for the turnouts. I use three MRC 20s for power. They are only used for the trains, all other power needs come from their own power supply, which are what the glass fuses are for.. That panel is 30 yrs old and never even burnt out a bulb. I put a whole type track diagram on it, mainly for My son's, when they were little. There has been more tracks added to that panel....never got around to changing it and probably never will. LOL
The terminal barrier strips are the Euro sub-miniature type....Radio Shack sells them....but I found another source which are the same...but a lot less expensive. I like them because You can cut them into how many You want, in pairs. I use them where the control panel terminal strips to the track where the block is and they are both numbered....very easy to trace.
I do run DCC Engines on it with sound from BLI...but usually just when the Grandkids come over.... I can live without DCC....too late in the game for Me to switch.
Hi,
I did not read the previous replies so there may be repeats here......
- liquid tape (black tar like stuff) has its uses but I don't recommend it for your problem. It is messy and hard to control.
- SMALL pieces of a good quality electrical tape may be your best bet. For the volt/watt of an MR, you only need one layer to do the trick. And, its easy to remove if needed.
- I have an area of bare wires near the power center of an HO layout, but these are all of the same polarity and isolated from all others. If I could not have isolated them, they would have been insulated.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
"Question: Is there some sort of coating that I could use to protect these bare wires that would keep this from happening?"
Nail polish. Seriously. It's a trick I learned decades ago when repairing electronics.
You can even color code solder points.
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
For wires that haven't already been soldered at both ends, you can slip on some shrink-wrap tubing. I suppose you could also slit the tubing lengthwise and slip it over the wire that way, but I'm not sure how that would hold up.
The liquid paint-on stuff works pretty well. I've got a jar of it and I like it for under-layout wiring.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thanks all,
I'm leaning towards the liquid coating. Many of these bare wires are pigtailed resistors to my LED indicator lights (one wire connected to each side of a toggle). I'm using a 5 volt wall wart AC to DC transformer for my indicator lights. In this case using shrink tube is just not workable because of the two separate leads for each position on a toggle, creating a 'Y'.
The liquid brush-on stuff I use smells terrible when you apply it. There's no odor after a few hours while it's curing, but if you're sensitive to things like that you'd might want to consider working with some ventilation or perhaps a small fan so you don't inhale too much of it.
Tom:
I've used the liquid stuff from Home Depot and it works OK but it is a bear to remove if you have to make any changes.
JoeinPA Tom: I've used the liquid stuff from Home Depot and it works OK but it is a bear to remove if you have to make any changes. Joe
With the variety in sizes of heat shrink, I use it exclusively. Another consideration is that the liquid tape has a limited shelf life.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Good point Marlon. I seem to remember that I was only able to get a few uses out of a bottle. Its probably better for use in big one-time jobs that require most of a bottle.
i am wondering why there is uninsulated wires in use...or maybe why some of the wires are stripped back too much
there should not be any risk of short circuiting if the wires are carefully stripped & soldered