Which is better for feeder wires stranded or solid ?
stranded because it takes more of a beating, where solid will tend to break when bended over time
For feeder wires, which are smaller gauge than power bus, stranded wire is certainly more flexible, therefore can take more bending back and forth before the strands would begin to break. Stranded wire does not hold position very well, so you need to use ties, or other means if you desire neatness.
Solid wire is rigid, therefore it will break sooner than stranded wire when bend back and forth enough times. Solid wire however will hold position much better, and is easier to solder to the the tracks because you don’t have any little loose strands like you might have with stranded wire. However, you can twist and tin the end of the stranded wire before you solder to the tracks, and this will prevent loose strand issue.
If you are going to subject the feeder wires to considerable bending and flexing, then use stranded wire, if not, use solid.
I have a small supply of color coded phone wire. It is solid wire that came from I think a 50 pair cable.
Once my feeders are connected to the main bus- they don’t get moved, so flexibility of the wire isn’t an issue for me. I bend the wire and then solder to the bottom of the rails. I solder feeder wire to each section of track that I use. Then I don’t need to solder the track joiners for electrical conductivity, that way the track can expand and contract with temperature changes.
Craig
Do you mean drop feeders which connect from the main bus wire to the track? If so, use solid wire, 18 to 22 ga. Much easier to solder solid wire to the rail.
Did anyone ever think that if you had a track feeder at each section of track, and the track was nailed or glued in place, why would we ever need rail connectors which don’t look proto at all. Our track system would look realistic wouldn’t it.
The connector size used may be a little over sized compared to prototype, but rail connectors (joint bars) are certainly used on proto. They generally have at least 4 rather large bolts running through them and more if on switches and heavy use trackage. As for wire connectors on rails, each section uses wire jumpers from one section of track to the next. Seems the proto can’t rely on the track connectors to carry electrical signal impulses either.Tracks carry all kinds of info and shunting for signals, crossing gates etc., not unlike DCC. We worry too much about showing wires, connectors,joints etc. The proto does not. Want more realism, be a little messy, unless you are modeling the Swiss railway of course.[(-D]
I’ve seen those wires jumpering sections - including some broken ones! What sort of signals do the tracks carry? How come they don’t get messed up in the damp weather? I just assumed there was some sort of grounding going on.
Jim
The metal wheels and axles on prototypical rolling stock are not insulated like our models, and literally short out the track to trip detection circuits. Way back when, everything was powered from batteries, you may still see the remains of the battery cellers at places where there are control cabinets. These batteries powered relays that were ‘upside down’ so that the coil actually lifted the contact agains gravity. This was for fail safe - if the power failed, the contact would drop, causing a red signal. The rails were connected in parallel to the relay coil. Short out the rail (yes, a dead short across the battery) and the relay would drop out.
Modern systems use solid state electronics to accomplish pretty much the same thing as the relays and batteries. At least in the cabinet I got to see in when a signal maintainer stopped by the club I used to belong to, there is a line voltage power supply constantly charging gel cell type batteries that operated the crossing gate. In some cases, the grade crossing controls are a bit more sophisticated and can detect the speed of the oncoming train, dropping the gates while the train is further away for a fast train but holding off until the train is closer for a slow freight, all in the idea of less inconvenience to the auto traffic. I’m sure the fail-safe there is to default to the sooner dropping of the gates - everything on the railroad is designed for safety.
–Randy
Its called stress fatigue. Now, if you have enough movement in the track to cause stress fatigue, you have a lot more problems than which type of wire to use. There really isn’t any movement to the feeder wires once they are connected so I wouldn’t worry about that. While I have used both solid and stranded for feeder wiring, I prefer to use solid for that and most everything else for that matter. Solid can be bent into position and it stays there while you solder it. A big plus in my book. There is very little difference in conductivity between the two BTW so it is really your own preference. Try both and then use what works for you.
Here are some finished feeder installs:
On the original subject, I use solid for my track feeders because it is easier to solder to the track, and easier to feed down through the benchwork. My track bus is #12 stranded, because it’s easier to feed along under the benchwork.
–Randy
Good morning and happy new yr!. I posted a note on another DCC forum regarding the connection of wire from under the table to your feeder wire. I’m talking about using a product that makes the connections fast and secure. How do I know.my electrician friend who helped wire my layout introduced me to a product called SCOTHLOK, and low and behold MR has used this product in connecting their bus bars to feeders in the Feb 2007 issue. Please check this out.!If you want to spend all kinds of time soldering be my guest.but if you don’t…check this out…it is a great time saver, and my back and shoulders love it…regards Tom
Slightly sidetracking again but this brings me onto a night shift i was on a few weeks ago. We were out Thermit welding a piece of new rail in the track while it was chucking it down with rain, it was while the welders were setting up the weld and and myself and a couple of other guys wer
Its all about the resistance of the person! I will have to look for it, but I have copies of incident reports of people killing themselves with multimeters (the 9V battery kind, not the plug in kind). Theoreticly, a 1.5V AA battery has the potential to kill a person.
Back on subject, each type has its own pros and cons as have pretty much been explained thus far. To recap:
Standed: Flexible but has slightly higher resistance per foot and slightly lower current rating per foot.
Solid: Easier to solder to rail, looks better on rail, higher current capacity & lower resistance per foot BUT is rather inflexible. Some brands are more flexible than others but once a solid core wire has sat for a number of years it becomes very brittle.