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Building the N scale Salt Lake Route, part 6
I must say, your experience with wiring a layout sounds about like mine! LOL I can run wire in a way that makes sense, with the shortest possible run, but I have a habit of manhandling the wire as well, except that the layouts I have wired used Atlas terminal joiners and I don’t know how to solder! Budget got tight once or twice replacing those danged joiners…
I love the series and I look forward to the rest of it when it comes along…
I have yet to try DCC on my small shelf layout. The expense is prohibitive right now but by reading this article, one more “obstacle” (that of the fear of complicated wiring; I have to keep saying “It’s all in me head”) is eliminated. Thanks!
Dick’s comments and explanations are down to earth and relevant. But I’d be interested to know how he picked up a ‘noticeable’ voltage drop on a relatively small layout, presumably using only a low-current N scale loco. I must say that I really appreciate the writing and grammar and editing used in MR, and in fact all of the Kalmbach railway magazines - the spelling is perhaps a different matter! (from an Aussie point of view!). Thanks for an interesting series.
Well done Dick. My DC wiring resembles your’s, but also like your’s IT WORKS !. My Grandson and friends have never gotten on their hands an knees to examine the underside of my layout. They only want to see the trains running.
A very nice layout no matter what your experience. I hope mine looks as good in the end.
I have copied your layout … only in HO on a 6’x 12’ table,had to do a little bit of changing
but not to much. So far it looks great Now the fun starts wiring it. Looks like i can pretty much follow your pattern. As soon as i get it running i will let you know. I think this is a great layout. Seems you explained it well. Thank you. Mr. Royer
Reading and looking at the pictures in this series makes me almost wish I had re-started with n scale. Great layout.
I once started a 3 by 6 layout from of the books available “Nine N Scale Railroads You Can Build”. Then I moved, and the layout stayed on its side for a long time. The house I moved to had no room for it. Then I moved again. This house had a family room which I could use, so I finished laying track and wiring. Everything worked except that one turnout worked only one way. I wired from underneath, but I can see how laying the layout on its side would have made the wiring MUCH easier. I moved again, and now the layout is on its side in the carport. Some of the tracks have come unglued, and the bridges got damaged in the move. Hopefully, I can scrounge some room to set it up again.
I have had good results using suit case connectors with Kato track. I purchased them at Lowes or Menards. Once I closed the cover of the suitcase connector, I wrapped a piece of electrical tape around both the bus wire and the Kato wire together so that the Kato wire does not move. This series shows what can be done with Kato track and have great results.
GGOD JOB!!!
Great job on this Dick!. Keeping it simple is the best way and I can not say enough about the use of Kato N-Unitrack. Some years ago I converted my old layout (25+yrs) to Kato track due to a rash of minor, yet annoying electrical problems and have operated problem free since. My under-the-table wiring looks a lot like yours. I still have to make the leap to DCC and have been hesitant to due so considering the small size of the layout and the cost to add decoders to my fleet of Erie-Lackawanna locomotives. I look forward to reading the rest of this series.
I found this article to be both interesting as well as amusing. First thoughts was try and try again… At times I find myself in simular situations. I’m referring to the warping of the leg. Like wise I have to replace a couple myself.
I actually really like the idea for using terminal strips to distribute power. It still isn’t really two-wire wiring in my eye, but I guess the DCC mfg’s consider one power wire output for each rail two-wire wiring. No biggy. The terminal strip idea isn’t any more difficult than the seemingly standard feeder-bus wire method. It is a bummer you couldn’t find the suitcase connectors. I’ve used then in automotive wiring so I know their worth.
I was hoping your layout would use the two wire bus plan. I have DCC equipted engins but know little about wiring. It seems the DCC wiring featured in Model Railroader Magazine layouts suggest the bus wiring. Also the suitcase connectors sound neat. If someone has used them with Kato track it would be helpful to know the size that is compatable with the size wire used with Kato products. All suggestions and ideas are helpful to an ‘old’ beginner.
I would suggest anyone that is new to DCC wiring make themselves a simple little tool to detect shorts. You just need a 9 volt battery and a small buzzer and some clip leads . Wire one side of the 9 volt battery to a clip lead, wire the other side to one terminal of the buzzer.
Wire the other terminal of the buzzer to a clip lead. When you begin your wiring clip each lead to the rails of your track. If you inadvertently make a connection that causes a short between the rails it will close the circuit between the battery and the buzzer and the buzzer will sound. You can also do this will a 12V lamp but it would have to be where you could see the lamp. Obviously when doing this you don’t want any of your locos or any other type of powered equipment on the rails nor any type of other power source besides the 9V battery applied to the rails.
You can use a multimeter on the rails to check for shorts also. The main thing is to check for a short every single time you make a feeder connection to the buss or screw terminals.
You don’t want to make a bunch of connections at once only to have to pull every last one loose looking for the short. Trust me, the short will always be caused by the last connection you pull loose!..LOL… Hope this is helpful.
I believe that many people oversimplify their layout wiring because of the “two wire” concept of DCC. Yes, there are only two power wires (assuming you have only one booster) but I firmly believe it is still better to create power blocks, with each run through on/off switches. Unlike DC block wring, the switches for DCC may be hidden under the layout.
I see two three benefits to this:
- The more feeders the better, and wiring the layout this way forces each block to have its own feeders. The switches should be double pole for maximum benefit.
- Removing power to decoders in an engine terminal or yard. Even if the decoder is not receiving a signal, it is still powered on waiting for the signal. One can argue whether or not this is bad for the decoder, but why not just turn them off? It will also help if you forget to turn off headlights, for example.
- Perhaps the strongest argument for power blocks on DCC is short circuit detection and troubleshooting. The best, although most expensive, option would be to run each block through its own circuit breaker. At the very least, block switches make it much easier to locate a short circuit: simply turn of the block switches one by one until the short clears. It may not tell you exactly where the short is, but at least gives a starting place. This can be extremely helpful during an operating session, as the rest of the railroad may be returned to service.
MR Where in past Issues can I find the simplest of wiring diagrams and basic wiring theory for table top 36x60 " N scale (non dcc)
I have a shelf layout that circumnavigates the garage. I too have all Kato Unitrack and use Digitrax DCC. Both are very compatible. I glue in the connectors to the Unitrack Feeders because they tend to work out. Feeders are 18 inches apart and soldered to the buss wires. The feeders on the curves are installed into the connectors. This works great.
I have no problem with enough power to run the trains. I have also decided to use three DB150s for the three power districts. One as the command station and the others as boosters This way it is easy to detect where the short circuit is coming from. Also when there is a short caused by operator error in one district the other districts are still operational.
I really like Kato and Digitrax Products. I only wish when the layout was bulit they had the super-elevated curves.
Great articles Dick. And great layout. I really like the mountains and desert effect.
#84109 Suitcase Connectors (Insulation Displacement Connectors (IDC’s) #558 pink) for bus and feeder sizes #16-22 (max insulation OD .120 inch). Package of 25. Saw this ad on the MicroMark web site. they seem to fit the bill.