[?] I’m beginning my second small layout over the past few years and must admit I’m still learning a lot about wiring. Since my current layout will handle no more than two trains I don’t have the urge to go DCC. I’m working on a 6x10 table top with elevations to 4" using styrofoam. This question may sound simple, but I’m asking to eliminate some current flow problems I’ve had in the past.
Using a bus wire is a must. What is the best way to connect the feeder wires? Do you splice the block feeder to the end of the bus and splice a new bus to the same connection or is there a simple way to splice the feeder to the bus without cutting and resplicing the bus wire? If I need to splice the feed directly to the bus wire is there an easy way to remove the bus insulation at the splice point without cutting the bus wire and resplicing it? I’ve done the double splice in the past, but sometimes I got bad connections between block sections.
There has been a lot of discussion on this subject in the recent past. You might want to look back a few pages and find them. The gist is that there are some moderately priced wire strippers out there that will strip the wire in the middle of a run without cutting through the wire. General concensus seemed to be that wrapping the feed wire around the bus and soldering was the best joint, however some say they have used the crimp on splices without problem. Hope this helps. Have fun. John
There are a couple of alternatives to soldering that you might want to consider. First are IDC (Insulation Displacement Connectors) “Suitcase” connectors that crimp over the bus wire (if it is stranded) and allow a feeder wire to be connected to it. Another possibility is to place a terminal block at each feeder wire location to which you can connect both the feeder wires and bus wires using crimp-on terminals. In some instances where I have had to add wiring for a lamp post and the bus wiring was too small a gauge for an IDC connector or terminal block, I have cut and stripped the bus wire and then used a crimp-on terminal to connect the 3 or so wires together. The part of the crimp-on terminal that goes under the screw can be cut off with diagonal cutters so the joint is insulated and there’s no danger of the terminals touching each other and shorting out.
I have been using the suitcase connectors. They work great and make the connecting of feeders alot quicker!
Originally I had the terminal block method, but left that in the dust for the suitcase connectors.