wiring a model train layout, Bus line, feeder wires, for DCC

Рет қаралды 65,034

6 жыл бұрын

wiring a model train layout, Bus line, feeder wires, for DCC. for this video we take a look at adding a bus wire to your layout. Bus wire is a larger gauge of wire, 14 or 12 gauge run under your main line. following your track around the layout. the main bus line is a wire that will feed your track is multiple spots. by adding track feeders. track feeders are smaller wires, 18 or 22 gauge. that come off of your main bus line and you solder them to your track. solder them to the UNDERSIDE, or the OUTSIDE of the rails.
when doing your feeder wires keep in mind the black wire and the white wire have to stay on the same side of the tracks for the full length of your main track line. use a box car with a door that can open and run it on your tracks. what ever rail is on the side of the box car with the open door. then that wire is white. closed door then the wire is black.
feeder wires have been a discussion for a long time. some people drop them every 2 feet of main line. others drop them 4 feet, 6 feet, 8 feet. I myself drop feeder wires every 6 feet. and before and after every turn out, (switch).
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Please watch: "Trains in the UK"
kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ldmcp86lxrmtcmg.html
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Пікірлер: 89

@BoxcarJerry 3 жыл бұрын

I'm starting to think about wiring my layout now . I like that box car trick .

@chadportenga7858 5 жыл бұрын

The boxcar door is awesome! Never thought of that!

@martensiersma3304 6 жыл бұрын

I used suitcase connectors to hook the feeders, 18ga. To the bus, 14 ga. I've heard it's a no-no , the suitcases, but i've had no issues in 3 years. Great video.

@sparky107107 4 жыл бұрын

I have a bunch of those connectors. just have not used them yet.

@Samcool844s3 6 жыл бұрын

Thanks sparky! You helped a lot!

@davidmuse7004 6 жыл бұрын

Sparky, great use of the box car method!! It can get confusing and that's why I started using the method. nothing worse than wiring and then you find out you got something backwards, so much fun!! Great basic tutorial. Thanks D. Muse

@PeterCPRail8748 6 жыл бұрын

Me and you think alike, i wired my layout the same way. However I ended up not soldering my track pieces toghter instead dropping feeders from each piece of track to allow for expansion and contraction of track due to temp change. Well done and nicely explained.

@Building_America 6 жыл бұрын

Great info Dave thank you for sharing.

@natejackson8213 6 жыл бұрын

Nice Sparky. Thank you for sharing

@daniellesmith1059 3 жыл бұрын

excellent vid Sparky, thank you.

@kenmabie8029 2 жыл бұрын

Very helpful video. I had never seen the boxcar trick for polarity. Thank you

@spbloodynose 6 жыл бұрын

Thx for sharing Sparky. Thumbs up!

@sawwas4677 Жыл бұрын

great explanation, love the visual using the box car, wish I had seen this months ago

@thecnwmondovilinepaulscota7304 Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Sparky, good and simple explanation. Just what I needed.

@BradLobregt 5 жыл бұрын

This helped immensely. Thank you.

@ronsworkbench1944 6 жыл бұрын

Thanks Sparky👍

@peterpocock9062 5 жыл бұрын

I've used a red sticky label (as a reminder of polarity) on one side for a long time, however I like your idea of the open door on one side to keep track of polarity, neat! Sometimes the bleedin obvious takes a little longer!! Well done.

@davidcutts2650 5 жыл бұрын

👍👍Great explanation. Thanks.

@JoeG-firehousewhiskey 6 жыл бұрын

Greta information, thanks for the video. I think it helped about 1.8K people.

@davidbozanovs1620 4 жыл бұрын

Wow!!! Tip from pro builder. Use T-taps on the end of your feed wires and just snap them to the main bus. Only need two wires to run your bus. Besides with all those jumpers you give yourself more places for failure of electric flow.

@kinkong1961 5 жыл бұрын

That is the best explanation i have seen how a bus wire works thank you very much just brilliant

@FBMRR 3 жыл бұрын

Miss that layout. Like ur wiring scheme. Those rail power dist thingies are cool.

@nickltrains6952 6 жыл бұрын

Hi Sparky great information in how to wire you train layout. Thanks for sharing. Greeting Nick from New Jersey

@MikeThomasRailRoadOverhaul 6 жыл бұрын

Great video great understanding of bus

@GlennGinsburg 5 жыл бұрын

Really liked the video Sparky. You did the best job of explaining bus wiring and feeders as well as those terminal blocks. Thank you so very much it was most helpful.

@trentonlee9700 6 жыл бұрын

Best I've seen and it makes it easy simple and complete

@craigo9101 5 жыл бұрын

The polarity didn't change......just the point of view. But I do see how you could get easily mixed up. nice video

@ianlapi4004 15 күн бұрын

i agree it don't change unless your crossing tracks

@LJRLowevilleJunctionRailroad 6 жыл бұрын

Great video on bus lines and feeder wires! Linda 🚂🙂

@dannyholt105 6 жыл бұрын

Great tutorial Sparky! Lots of good information and clearly explained. Thanks! Cheers, Dan

@rjl110919581 6 жыл бұрын

THANK YOU FOR VIDEO

@nfordf450 6 жыл бұрын

Video so nice I watched it twice. I’ll be going a lot more into bus lines, and other wiring soon in my videos on the show layout. As well as connectors and suitcase connectors. This was a grate basic wiring video tho. And dose cover what most need to know.

@RonsTrainsNThings 6 жыл бұрын

If you want to simplify and save wire, whe wiring a loop like you show here, it is not necessary to run the bus all the way arounf the loop. Run it down the middle and pull feeders to both sides of the loop off a single central bus. As long as you keep your colors correct, the bus doesn't need to double back on itself.

@Track10Trains 6 жыл бұрын

Hay thanks for making this video!! Varry helpful

@dacuzzz 6 жыл бұрын

well done lil bro...vinny

@kyleschessiecumberlanddivi5581 6 жыл бұрын

Great video sparky, I have had so many people explain it to me on how it looks and most of the time they just drew it on a piece of paper, I’m a visual person and this helped out a lot. Hopefully I can really get my layout up and running soon.

@terrytaylor8866 6 жыл бұрын

G'day Mate, from one sparky to another very well explained, Tezza.

@ReidsTrainStuff 6 жыл бұрын

Great video sparky, explained bus lines in a simple easy to understand way 👍👍...Reid

@glensiu2315 5 жыл бұрын

Great Video

@johnodonoghue7381 2 жыл бұрын

Good video well explained

@grandparails8858 6 жыл бұрын

Good video sparky!

@AngentPinkShoes 5 жыл бұрын

Nice you are using DIN terminal blocks.

@TheAudiostud 5 жыл бұрын

You Got Me!

@rpscsx 6 жыл бұрын

Good video sir

@ZanesTrains1972 6 жыл бұрын

You Ca Ca...nadians and your fancy wire gauge terminology. LOL. Great tutorial this is great for basics, short sweet and simple. Have not used much of those Euro Style terminal blocks but a benefit of them over a screw style terminal block. well that's not good description of it you know what I mean. is you don't need Spade terminals for those Euro Style terminal blocks I most likely will not use those Euro Style style terminal blocks because I have whole bunch of I guess I'll say US style terminal blocks that I get for free. Good trick with the boxcars. A trick that is mainly good for smaller layouts I learned from ic82 and that is a simple color coding trick white is always on the right.thanks for sharing.

@ralphgreenwood5857 6 жыл бұрын

Dang Sparky, you can hand-hump the cars so good, who needs power??-jk-A very informative video to help out a fellow model railroader-Thanks Sparky!!

@SMTMainline 6 жыл бұрын

Vary helpful, I think I might try this in an attempt to solve that corner issue I've been having. Also what did you do in the reversing loop sections to prevent shorts?

@sparky107107 6 жыл бұрын

i do not have a reversing loop. single main line that dog bones and runs parallel to itself.

@melfackler1341 5 жыл бұрын

Use plastic railjoiners both ends of reversing loop

@Crookedriverandeasternrr 6 жыл бұрын

Hey sparky nice explanation sir. Oh hey I FB messaged you just now.

@Scobyland 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you. At least I know now what I bus line is. Otherwise, I guess I have to learn about electricity, etc., if I wish to upgrade to DCC.

@nispelsm 4 жыл бұрын

I could be mistaken, but the concept of a bus line is the same for DCC and older DC analog. It's about being able to run DC current from your controller to the farthest points of a large layout. Since rails are not an ideal conductor, you lose a percentage of power the further away the track is from the controller. You run a bus line like that in a loop around your layout, so you can then attach feeder wires between the bus line and the track rails above. This ensures a nice, even distribution of power to all sections of the track. That said, there ARE different considerations for wiring DC vs DCC when it comes to turnouts and reversing loops.

@CONTAINERMAN68 6 жыл бұрын

I use red and black wires as my bus line. Red wire=rightside rail. If sitting in the engineers seat of the locomotive, looking ahead, rightside rail=red wire. Red=front rail, black=back rail.

@FBMRR 4 жыл бұрын

Sparky. Where can i get some of those terminal blocks? They look so awesome.

@the4000class 4 жыл бұрын

Rick Bailey eBay they are very cheap come from China with free shipping

@jimeronimo 4 жыл бұрын

Question. Instead of soldering couldn't you just use the power lockon pigtails as your feeder and connect those to your bus with those splicer connectors? Wouldn't that be just as good?

@sparky107107 4 жыл бұрын

you can do it that way. but would be more costly is all . once you get the hang of soldering, goes pretty simply. just remember to use soldering paste.

@jimeronimo 4 жыл бұрын

@@sparky107107 I know soldering would be better but this is going up on a ceiling layout. Don't see how I could lay the bus line and solder up on a ladder. ?

@AmtrakEnthusiast 5 жыл бұрын

Where can I find all the information on start to finish how to wire a layout and how to install DCC?

@leonardhesch9768 2 жыл бұрын

Did you use stranded or solid wire for your bus wires?

@sparky107107 2 жыл бұрын

solid #14

@Greatdome99 8 ай бұрын

Always use stranded wire!! The only exception is in house walls. Airplanes, cars, household appliances, computers, high tension lines all used stranded. It has less resistance, more flexible and less likely to fail if just one strand breaks. It's an engineering Best Practice.

@clearcreek69 3 жыл бұрын

Can I use terminal blocks instead of strips? I live in Edmonton & Canadian tire doesn't have strips only blocks

@sparky107107 3 жыл бұрын

you can, you just have to make sure you use jumper wires to make them all black, or all white.. well half and half.

@moregltfirephotography4857 4 жыл бұрын

So when you attach the wires to the rails how how far down the track should you add more wire

@sparky107107 4 жыл бұрын

some people say every 3 feet, i am more like 5 to 10 is ok . and after every switch

@moregltfirephotography4857 4 жыл бұрын

@@sparky107107 ok thanks I am planning on starting my first layout this weekend

@mauricethethespian8744 3 жыл бұрын

That’s exactly what I was going to ask (how much distance for each feeder on track) thank you sir and looking forward to my first layout too.

@CTTrains193 3 жыл бұрын

So, why couldn’t you just put a battery pack inside the locomotive and that would feed the dcc? Instead of the tracks. Would be perfect for outdoor layouts.

@404BOOMER 3 жыл бұрын

What is the purpose of the bus line? 50 years ago we ran the track voltage directly to the rails and that was it.

@mikeevans5237 3 жыл бұрын

Size of the layout my man,

@Greatdome99 8 ай бұрын

Rails, particularly Nickel Silver, is not as good of a conductor as brass, even if rail joints are soldered together.

@Mason-DixonRR 3 жыл бұрын

Can you explain in simple terms why it is needed to keep jumping the bus to the track every so often and after switches?

@sparky107107 3 жыл бұрын

To put it simply. The information sent by your control unit. Can get to the loco faster. Think of it as a pipe. You want to water your lawn. One pipe means the water has to get all the way to the end then build up pressure before doing the job. If you have many pipes off a larger pipe. ( the drops). Then the water can builds up faster in each pipe. And does the job sooner All about speed of the information. Farther to go. Longer it takes. More distorted the message gets. Lots of drops. Less distance to get to where it has to go. Clearer the information is

@Greatdome99 8 ай бұрын

The bus wires provide less resistance between power supply and train. At far points on the layout, the voltage drop is significant.

@Mason-DixonRR 8 ай бұрын

@@Greatdome99 so that's why folks have districts with separated power. Power can only go so far. Learning a lot these past few years. Have a good picture of what it looks like. Thanks!

@pieseasmyseas 6 жыл бұрын

Nice work have you seen my 200 subscriber video

@dannyholt105 6 жыл бұрын

You should really take a look at it Sparky. It's a blast! LOL! Cheers, Dan

@pieseasmyseas 6 жыл бұрын

Danny Holt he did

@bansheeo3831 5 жыл бұрын

I have brand new flex track an brand new csx locomotive I cleaned the track a brand new transformer but I have 4 used brass turnouts an 2 brand new silver turn outs train will not move no sound nothing please help PLEASE I’m very new to this hobby

@bansheeo3831 5 жыл бұрын

Running on DC

@bansheeo3831 5 жыл бұрын

8x10 layout

@sparky107107 5 жыл бұрын

a video showing what you mean. and how it is working would help a lot. and you will get lots of advice. can be a number of things, testing the transformer, to the rail joiners. dirty track to dirty pick up's on the locomotive. again, a video would help figure out the issue.

@chadportenga7858 5 жыл бұрын

@@bansheeo3831 Could also be a reversing loop that isn't isolated, causing a short circuit. Look up "DC Reversing loop" and see if you have that issue.

@pitbullocked 4 жыл бұрын

This is no help..im even more confused.

@svargo1912 4 жыл бұрын

your bus wire is just an extension of the power line coming from your control box to the track (14 awg). The feeder wires go up from the bus line to your track. (typically around 18awg wire.) the reasoning this is so. Is that the 14 awg wire will have more power (electricity) running through it on a longer strands. you could have just one wire set (red/black) connecting to it however doing so will lower the voltage the longer the distance.

@MrMnesci 3 жыл бұрын

like in most videos on YT, HORRIBLE, as a beginner, Im waiting for you to explain why a terminal strip is needed --you're making this vid to show people how to do something but your not articulate

@davidwilken3584 Жыл бұрын

The bus wire is the main power source. As in house wiring the use of a larger gauge wire carries current easier with less voltage drop allowing equal voltage for the length of the wire. If he was to use 22 gauge wire ( the larger the wire # = a smaller diameter wire) the drop in voltage going through the wire would be lower as its voltage is drawn off for each wire. Anything wired close to the power pack would work but the farther away from the PP it may not, hence using a larger “14 gauge” wire allows balanced voltage. Now using a buss strip allows multiple draws from just one connection to the buss strip. The more you cut into the buss the higher the chance of shorts and lost connectivity. It’s also easier to locate problems by disconnecting a feeder wire one at a time at the buss and not having to figure out it the main buss wire is the problem. Hope this helps some and definitely keeps asking those questions.