As a network administrator I know how expensive cat-5 (and worse yet cat-6) cabling can be. I went to the electric wholesaler searching for cables, and guess what---- cat-5 was the cheapest we could come up with. So I no longer scruple at using cat-5 cabling on the layout.
It keeps wiring neat and simple, um, er until you put a staple through the jacket. Now pretend that that cable is part of a complicated system of train detectors, relays and signals. You get the picture.
Now of course I have stapled miles of this stuff around our buildings and have more in several patch panels. And yes, network engineers already know that cabling problems are 90 percent of your network problems. But when you install a network cable you TEST the thing with testing equipment before you put it in service. And these cables can be up to 300’ long, but if your tester finds a short you will have to go back and inspect the entire length of the cable and remove the offending staple. If this fixes the problem all well and good, otherwise you will have to make a splice or pull the run out and re do it.
The same holds true if you are using cat-5 cable on the railroad, except of course for the testing, since I was not going to put plugs in the cable there was no way to test the cable. Add to this the fact that there is limited real estate on the fascia where I run my cables, and this increases the chance that a staple meant to hold a new cable might cut into a cable already in place. So even if the cable tested ok when it was installed, it may not be ok now.
Well The relays and the cables are all in place, and now it is time to start building and installing signals, and my there are a lot of gremlins in this section, yet I could hear the relays clicking, but things were not yet correct. I installed the signals, perhaps the signals would let me see where the problems were. Yup, sure enough, there was a signal sowing green and yellow at the same time. Naturally I suspect the signal to be at fault, and that I
You dont really want to staple cat 5 since it crimps easily. It was designed as a communications cable and the pairs are twisted to cut down on crosstalk (noise) . So crimping it with a metal staple every few feet is not good for the signal. If you are using it to throw a turnout you should be ok but be careful with that 22 guage wire it wont carry many amps… I would still either recommend either eyelet tie raps or plastic nail in cable supports. Or simply drilling a hole in your wooden supports
I have a stand off attachment for my stapler, but I never put staples over wire. I use it to put the staple in the board parallel to the path the wire will take and then put a cable strap (zip tie, or whatever YOU call them) under it. Sometimes I use twist ties while I am working and then install the cable straps when I am done. If you need to make future wiring changes you can simply cut the cable straps. They are cheap at the Dollar store or Harbor Freight.
We have cable stapler. Has rounded staples intended for com wire. The stapler has a built in fence that puts the staple into the wood, but with little damage to the cable, if any. We do use the stapler for network cabling, but as I said, the wire is then tested with network equipment before being put into service.
Optic Fiber is another matter. it is VERY EXPENSIVE and tolerates no injury whatsoever. We have the telephone company come in to install this for us and it rides freely in special loops. We have now been using this for all of our communications cable.
Just as long as you don;t go in and make it all nice and neat like I see at some customers I go to - they take the excess wire and tightly coil it and wire tie it in neat bundles behind the patch panel. Not good for higher speed wire, and REALLY bad for fiber. Fiber needs to lay in nice gentle loops with no stress on it.
Important in railroad use is to keep differeng signals apart - so that Cat 5 wire that is perfect for the low power feedback from block sensors and such should be kept from runnign in parellel to the track bus power, or any AC wiring you might have, say for the lights under an upper deck for lighting the lower. If the various systems have to cross, make them cross each other at 90 degrees to minimize crosstalk. Bundling the signal wires and the DCC bus - definitely a bad idea.
I just don’t put the staple over the wire. I put the staple in the wood, parallel to the wire direction
Then I attach the wires to it with a cable strap. I never have to worry about accidentally nicking the wire no matter how confined or inconvenient the location.
Fiber really isn’t that expensive when compared to the number of signals it carries, I have pulled and terminated miles of it. But randy is right about being careful about the loops with any wire especially fiber., I wish I would have kept a bunch of the scrap I have tossed over the years. It would make cool layout lighting Good idea with the staples and tie raps phoebe
Fiber optics would be great for layout lighting. They do it in various Christmas decorations. My 1969 Corvette even had fiber optic light monitors on the center console. I wish they still used them.
I’ve been using Cat-5 cables for my wiring since I started the layout back in 2003. I also use power connectors that are used inside of PCs for making the connections between my layout sections as well as for the connections for my walkaround throttles. With the wires paired, color coded, and cabled together, wiring was easy, and with my connections all labeled, I had no mistakes as I went.
Here’s the back of my largest control pane after all the rotary switches were soldered and before it was installed and connected to the wiring on the layout.
Here’s a typical set of connections between layout sections with connections for the tracks (not relying solely on the rail joiners) and then the six cabs of the layout. Even though I only have four cabs, I went ahead and wired the layout for six.
And here is the modifications for the two walkaround throttles. Basically, I ran the AC power from two cabs on their own power bus separate from the six cabs going to the control panels and then the tracks. The two pairs of AC power go into plugs for the respective walkaround throttles, get converted to the track power (which normally comes directly from the power packs) in the handheld throttles, and then go to the cab bus that goes to the panels and tracks.
What’s amazing is that it’s cheaper with the RJ-45 ends on. I bought a few 100’ CAT6 jumpers today from Amazon for about $11 each. I plan to use the white for tortoises and the blue for RR-CirKits simple serial bus.
