I’m struggling with a wiring problem where one solution is to splice a 12g wire to a smaller gauge (22) wire. This will involve a connection to my MRC wireless command station. Question is will gauge difference create any problem. Distance of the connection to the command station will be less than 6".
If I understand your question, the answer is “no”. A very short section of small gauge wire has negligible electrical effect.
Ed
With the voltages and current flow we use on our trains, the small section of light-gauge wire will have negligible (or zero) effect on performance.
I use 10 gauge wire for my bus, 16 gauge wire for controls, and 22 gauge wire to connect to the tracks. Wires even lighter than 22 gauge are in many of my locomotive shells.
-Kevin
A greater potential concern is the mechanics of the ‘splice’ between wires so different. Making this with a wire nut will be awkward; splicing inconvenient. A suitcase or similar connector is one answer, but I think I’d just use an intermediate piece of 18ga stranded ‘lamp cord’ between the 22ga pigtail and whatever the 12ga solid wire is.
unnecessary.
consider wire nut, small barrier strip, solder, …
despite manual saying to use 22g wire, can 12g wire be connected directly to command station?
One technique I use when fitting “oversize” wire to a connection is to simply trim down the excess bare wire threads with sprue cutters (any wire cutter will do but the tiny ones work well for this, I use electronics component wire snippers because the cutting blades are designed for metal cutting). I then solder or crimp the resulting smaller diameter end into the correct size fitting for whatever the oversize wire needs to connect to.
For example, Atlas switches are designed for their small spade connectors. To connect 16 gauge wire to those I trim down just the bare stripped end to about 18 gauge, slide that into the spade and solder it. Works better than trying to splice in a short piece of 18 gauge wire.
A good builder is judged by the techniques he uses. Removing wire strands from a stranded wire to reduce the effective wire gauge to fit it to a connector is always a bad idea and the sign of a shoddy wokrmaship by an unskilled worker taking short cuts.
-Kevin
Ok, I’m not a moderator and am by no means the most respected person here, but this needs to stop. Seriously guys. It takes two to tango, so someone needs to kick off the dancing shoes and be the bigger man here. BOTH of you. And don’t anyone start to point fingers and do the old “he said” “she said”. There is fault on BOTH SIDES! Good grief.
Pretty amazing how when I take the low road I get called out, but when LSM is driving the low road at 100MPH no one seems to say boo to him.
Maybe I should be glad I am held to a higher standard, but when I took the high road for months, LSM insulted me constantly. I filed countless RAs to no effect.
I took his bait and fed our troll, I guess this one was on me.
-Kevin
Kevin, come on. I know that the root problem may not come from you. I’ve seen Mike take pot-shots too. You just happened to post the post that I got fed up with. I like you and I love all the great knoledge you share, but as I said before, it takes two to tango.
If you really feel this strongly, just let Mike wallow in his self dug pity party. Don’t lower yourself to his standards.
The same goes for you Mike. Just leave each other alone so that the threads can continue without bloodshed.
Again, I may be overstepping my position here, but I think that both parties need to take a step back.
It would help if you would elaborate on this wiring protocol.
What are you using the 12g and the 22g wires for, bus and feeders?
Rich
Someone needs to say something.
I am new here, but I am afraid to ask questions because this troll loves to attack people, so I have a lot to ask but I keep my mouth shut because of this one idiot.
I am 70 years old and I do not need his anger lowering the enjoyment of my renewed interest in model trains.
I will send you a PM.
-Kevin
OK
Agreed!
Neither one is worth taking seriously. Both are a joke.
Ok. I want to resind my comments about Kevin. Some things came to light that make me feel bad I badmouthed Kevin. Still need less confrontation though
Hello All,
A short section of smaller diameter wire should not be a problem; approximately 4- to 6-inches or less, with 10 amps or less.
I would use a “Western Union” splice.
Strip back about an inch of insulation on each wire. Begin with the smaller diameter wire being longer than needed, approximately 8- to 12-inches.
I like to twist the bare ends of the stranded wires for ease of handling.
Cross the wires 1/3 from each end of the insulation at approximately 90º.
This is where it gets trick and practice will definitely help.
Pinch the crossed wires between thumb and forefinger. With the other thumb and forefinger twist the wires in unison, keeping the 90º offset between the wires.
If done correctly, the twisted wires should resemble intertwined corkscrews. If it appears that one wire is just twisted around the other straight wire try again.
Twist the wires until the cut end meets the insulation of the other wire.
Repeat this twisting motion on the other side.
Once successful, flux and solder the connection for strength. Clean thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol.
Slip a piece of shrink wrap over the soldered joint and heat until set.
Cut the smaller diameter wire to size, strip and tin the end. The shorter the length of the smaller wire is best.
If you can make this 2- to 3-inches all the better. Less distance = less resistance.
Simply trimming the strands of the larger wire to match the smaller diameter creates more resistance than splicing and soldering both wires in their entirety.
Greater resistance = Greater heat.
Greater heat = Greater potential for fire.
Fire = BAD!!!
Hope this helps.
It’s the nature of every public forum to have one or two strident voices who simply must be heard. Please don’t allow this to distract you from enjoying what you came here to find. It’s still here, but there’s a bit more grit than you might have been used to. [:D]
Some forums allow us to block certain members whose posts then become invisible in your feed. I have never resorted to using it on any of the fora I frequent, but that’s just me. I’d rather know what’s happening in the ‘real’ world and in real time, if I can help it.
Deep breaths, there’s a lot of good people here with solid credentials and good intentions.
It doesn’t matter how long the smaller gauge wire is, nor how long the splice is, the maximum current will still be limited by the smaller gauge wire. The voltage drop will be adversely affected by the length of the smaller gauge wire.
Therefore, you should make the smaller gauge wire as short as possible. The shortest possible section of smaller gauge is achieved by simply trimming the end of the too large gauge wire down to the desired gauge and soldering or crimping that into the connector. The wire joint benefits if all of the larger gauge wire ends are included into the solder or crimp which is very easy to do. There is no difference electrically between doing that and splicing any length smaller gauge wire on instead except the voltage drop will be minimal across the former as compared to the latter.
The statement that this is somehow poor workmanship in a model railroad environment is simply ridiculous. We are in a 14 v environment guys and a few amps even with several locomotives running. The smallest gauge wire we use is within the motor inside the locomotive which is how the whole darn thing works. The biggest change in conductor cross section is at the rail/wheel contact.