Hey guys, long time no post. Since buying my NCE PH Pro in March of 2005 I got pulled away from my project and "reassigned" (read Honeydo list). Anyway, I suppose it was a little easier to get removed from it also because I am somewhat intimidated by the wiring process. I have a basic layout now that runs with an old MRC Tech II, mostly without wiring though. I'm ready now to jump into the DCC, I've been reading and think I can manage with some help from the pros. I'm buying my wiring today to start the process. I have alot of questions, probably elementary for you, but I'm either reading over these things or just not understanding. I'll have more questions that I'll add to this thread as I go, but let's start here. Question...what is the difference between the Power Bus and the Control Bus? Jeff
Power bus= Is the lines from your power pack to the track for providing power and signals to locs through the rails Control Bus= The lines that allow you to plug in your controllers in different places so as to move around your layout room. I'm no expert either BTW, so someone may correct this response.
Power bus lines follow the track around the layout. You can connect your command staion to the power bus lines as well as feeders from the track and stationary decoders as well. The powered bus lines are usually red and black wiring, one for each rail. Stay cool and run steam....
Geeky & Bob, Thanks for the info, I was almost certain I knew what the power bus was but the control bus seemed redundant, this makes sense now. So, everywhere that I have track there should be a power bus line underneath to power that track (1 line per rail), is that correct? When you have a leg off of your main line, do you just solder the lines for the leg to the main bus line? Also, If I want to power any of my switches (all are currently manual) is there anything special that I need to do now or is that something I can come back to later? I'm running 14AWG for my bus line, I hope to be able to use thermostat wire for my drops (not sure what thickness thermostat wire is) Sorry for being so elementary here, but I don't want to screw this up, I will be glad when this part is completed.
Jeff: Use 22 gauge wire for the feeders. The power bus lines on the JJJ&E follow the perimeter of the bench work. I use 14 gauge solid wire for the bus line and 22 gauge solid wire for the feeders. The bus lines are two wires, one for each rail. I use red and black. The same for the feeders from the rails. One rail is red, the other black. You can wire your turnouts with stationary decoders. Digitrax makes those. Usually one stationary decoder will control two turnouts. There are instances where that might vary depending on the manufacturer. Have fun. Stay cool and run steam....
When you have a leg off of your main line, do you just solder the lines for the leg to the main bus line?
All feeders are soldered to the two main bus lines. It doesn't matter how many branches off the mainline you have. Stay cool and run steam....
Bob, Is it necessary to use 22 gauge for the feeders? I couldn't find 22 at Lowes, I did find 20 gauge. I'm sure that Radio Shack probably has it but their prices are usually exorbiant. If the 20 gauge would work fine I'd rather use it. Question about soldering, again I'm not expert at soldering, do you have to use flux? I read where Alan Gartner pushed a Fluid Gel Flux but I couldn't find it anywhere. One more.....Do you just skin the main bus line with a knife or something when you solder the feeders on to it?
You do not necessarily need a leg off the main buss for branch or diverging lines .. I think what Bob was saying was the main bus follows the general route of your layout, in his case it seems to be around the perimether. The feeders, as long as they are relatively short can be used to power those branch lines .. My layout is relatively long .. 39' along one wall, so the buss wires are used to bring the current along the entire lenght .. then any diverging tracks or routes are powered by feeders from that. If your diverging route is sufficiently distant from the main buss, its OK to drop another circuit from the main bus in the direction of the new route .. and then bring feeders to the rail from that .. Bottom line, you dont always need a new bus if the track diverges .. just make sure the feeders can reach the track .. btw .. what size and shape are you dealing with for your layout Where abouts are you in Dayton .. my parents have a house off woodman drive /US35
Hi John, "If your diverging route is sufficiently distant from the main buss, its OK to drop another circuit from the main bus in the direction of the new route .. and then bring feeders to the rail from that ..." This is what I was thinking, and this may be what Bob meant also, then again maybe it wasn't. But I get the picture. On the legs I'll solder to the main buss line and then have feeders from the track to this diverging leg. I'll try to post an image of my layout drawing here soon. I live further south between Centerville and West Carrollton off Alex Bell.
Yea .. thats what I think we were saying .. Just try to keep the feeders from the track to the bus as short as possible, and use as big a wire for the buss as you can .. #14 is about the min I would use for a larger layout .. where the run is over 30 feet or so .. #12 is not that much more expensive .. and you can get it at Home Depot
Jeff: My bus lines follow the mainline track. On any divergent routes, feeders still get soldered to the main bus lines. You can use 20 gauge wire for the feeders. I happen to like the flexibility of 22 gauge wire. Stay cool and run steam....
Hey guys, What's the trick to soldering the feeders to the mainline bus? Do you have a preferred method for holding two wires together while you also hold a soldering gun and solder? How about the Flux? Is flux a must? Bob: Are you saying then that you don't run a mini bus line (soldered to the main bus) for the track feeders that drop down off the track spur? You just run those feeder wires directly over to the main line bus? Doesn't some of your feeder wires tend to get much longer than the 6" rule?
Jeff: I have long blocks on my layout so I'm using 12AWG for my power bus and Radio Shack 24AWG solid telephone wire for my feeders. Standard practice is to put slightly thicker feeders about every 6 to 8 feet (some advocate every rail that isn't soldered to another rail). Since I'm using thinner wire for my feeders, I've dropped feeders about every 4 to 5 feet. I'll track down a link to DCC wiring that I found extremely helpful... Edit: Allan Gartner's, Wiring for DCC
Go to radio Shack and buy very thin electronics solder. It has the flux incorporated in the solder. "Tin" the feeders first or you can wrap the feeder around the bus line and then solder the entire connection. Or you can use Posi-Tap connectors that you can buy at Walmart. Here is the thread I started on the Posi-Tap connectors. You don't have to solder a connection at all and they hold up superbly. I've used them to wire the switching yard and turntable area and will use them again for the fourth addition to the JJJ&E that I'm presently working on, http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=63037&highlight=Posi+Connectors Have fun Jeff... Stay cool and run steam.....
Bob, Thanks for the info, I'll go out tomorrow and get this electronic solder. This can't be right, this (posi-lock) looks way to easy. I'm beginning not to dread this so much after all. Thanks Friend!!!
Jeff: It really is very easy. With the black Posi Tap connectors you can hook up five 20 gauge feeders to each connector which you first hook up to the bus line. With the green Posi-Tap connector (this is the one you'll find at Walmart), you can hook up four 20 gauge wire feeders. Stay cool and run steam...
Here's what I did. My feeders are 24 gauge stranded and they are soldered to 14 gauge solids. I basically strip about 1" of insulation from each feeder, twists the strands together, and then wrap them around the section of the buss that I will be soldering. I wrap them in a "cross lash" pattern to they pretty much hold themselves up. A little paste flux, solder, viola! Here's the underside on my portable layout (3' x 5.5'): Here's a close up of the solder joints: [Note: I hope the pics come out as for some reason the site is being blocked by my work servers. Yeah, yeah, Rail Image. )
MK, nice job. I think I'll revert to this in certain locations on my layout. I did stop by Walmart this evening and picked up some Posi Tap connectors, man $5.77 per box of 6. I'll use these in the difficult locations and in locations where I can make 4 connections per connector (biggest bang for my $$$), otherwise I think I may try the solder. Does anyone know????....does Rosin Flux solder mean that it actually has flux built in as Bob mentioned above? That's what the Radio Shack dude told me....I don't know, thought I'd ask the experts
Jeff: The Radio Shack electronics solder is light duty rosin core solder.That's what's on the label of the solder I bought years ago at Radio Shack. Stay cool and run steam.....
