Wiring questions


K

kylewoody

Member
Hey guys,

I just bought an MRC Tech 4 220 powerpack for my N scale layout. I have all the mainline now layed on my cork roadbed. I was looking at how to wire it all up - I have 18 gauge speaker wire, and was going to solder up all the necessary connections. However, I have a few questions-

- On my powerpack, it doesn't say positive and negative. How does this work? It has two screwed outputs for AC, as well as two screwed connections for accessories. I thought that there had to be an output (which go to the feeder rail), and a return to the power pack as well, to make a connection?

- When I do solder it all up, I was thinking of running the 18 gauge wire underneath the path of the mainline, while splicing off feeder wires to atleast each section of flextrack and each turnout. Will this work well?

- I'd assume, I need to have the same level of integrity on the return wire, running off in feeders, back to the powerpack?

Thanks so much!
Kyle
 
the + and - will change based on the direction switch.

If you want to run a buss (a main wire under the layout to tap off of), you should consider something a bit larger than 18ga. I used 14ga Romex (house wire).

Tappping to each track section is a bit of overkill, especially if you solder the railjoints. On flex, I solder 3 sections and leave the joint between the groups of 3 unsoldered, with a slight expansion gap. Instead of separate taps to each group of 3, I simply soldered a flexible jumper across the expansion joint.
 
I agree with Ken on the direction switch and the size wire. The 18ga. may work depending on the size of your layout, but I think 14ga. would be better.
 
18 gauge wiring

Kyle I use solid 18 gauge Radio Shack speaker wire for my HO layout's bus and leads. The layout is 24 X 30 with two decks. Like Ken I solder 3 pieces of flex track together and then solder two leads, red & black to that. I found the easiest way to connect the leads to the bus is with wire nuts. You can find them at Home Depot 300 for $13.98. When the train club meets here there must be 16 engines running at once with no problems. Of course the heavier wire you use for the bus the better. At least for me 18 gauge seems to work fine. The wire runs under the track all the way around the lower and upper decks with some short cuts back to the control box. This way your not pushing the voltage through all the wire all the time. At the monument I'm in the process of rewiring for computer control so the red and black bus will have to be rewired into blocks. Below is a photo of the upper deck wiring as it narrows down to the duck under for the upper deck. Not much wire there because of this, but easy to photo. You can see the bus as it splits with a few leads attached.

NYC_George
 
My layout is 24 by 38ft. I use 14 ga. for all the buss wires & put in drops every 5ft. My drops are 20 ga. solid wire. I have terminal strips or terminal blocks to hook the wires together. To me, wire nuts can give you a fit sometimes if they get pulled on. Any wires that I had to lengthen were soldered together. Everyone does it different & some ways work better than others. We all give our own ways & whichever works best for you is the way U should do it. I've been doing layouts for 48 years & have made many mistakes that I've learned from over the years.

Larry
 
Larry I have connected hundreds of wires with wire nuts at my mothers house. My mother has one electrical problem after another. I'm a pro at this now. If their coming apart your using the wrong wire nuts for 18 gauge wire or what ever gauge wire your using. Some modelers have gone broke buying terminal blocks.

NYC_George
 
As Borat would say, "GREAT SUCCESS!". I just ran my Atlas's GP-38 and SD60M on my mainline!

I initially soldered the leads onto either piece of rail near my powerpack, and real quickly twisted them to my connections. I am really surprised at how well they ran.

I am running Atlas Code 80 flextrack, and I painted it all to a dark brown color for weathering - so there is still a little paint on the rails, and only railjoiners hooking it all up.

What do yall think - I think I'll just solder up every railjoiner, and call it even on the mainline? I only have about 8 pieces of track (along with 6 turnouts off the mainline), and it runs only eighteen feet. Will just soldering the railjoiners keep it very decent?

As well - what do you guys do for turnouts? I am using Atlas turnouts as well. Do I need to do anything to them, or should I run a feeder wire off the mainline, onto each spur?

Thanks!
Kyle
 
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