I plan on building a layout in a 17’ X 24’ ROOM. I would like to know the best and the safest way to set up power outlets for the whole layout. The layout will be three levels around the whole room with two penninsulas.Like how many breakers and what amps to use.If I could just be recomended a book to get, that would help considerably. All coments welcome. Thank you
Personally if it were me I’d check with a local electrician as building/electrical codes vary by location. One thing that I did when I built my train room (which by the way was wired by a profession electrician) was to have all of the outlets switched so that when I left the room I could throw one switch and kill (I know that that’s not exactly the most politically correct word to use but I really can’t think of anything better) the electricity to all the outlets, that way I don’t have to worry if I had turned everything off.
First of all welcome to the forum! [#welcome] You’ve come to the right place to ask questions and get inspired.
As for your question, " I would like to know the best and the safest way to set up power outlets for the whole layout." Probably not the answer you were looking for and not trying to be sarcastic, but the short answer is have a Licensed Electrician do it. Based on your request for info on the number of breakers and amps to use, it appears that you might be in a little over your head trying to run a new branch circuit. Its not that electrical work is hard to do, but it is like many other things in life and requires a bit of knowledge. It is one thing to wire the low voltage side of your layout yourself, its another thing to be installing household current. Make a mistake with the low voltage and maybe nothing happens or maybe you burn up an electrical component or decoder, (if you plan on using dcc). Make a mistake with high voltage wiring and you could cause a fire or injury or death to yourself or someone else. For a few hundred dollars, you could get an Electrician to install some outlets for you. Ask around and you might be able to find someone who would want to do it as a sidejob which could save you some money. Installing a few outlets is not typically a big job but you want it done right so there are no issues.
I know that you may want to try to do this yourself regardless of what I said above and I would suggest you go to the Library, Home Depot, Lowes or what ever building supply place you have near you and see what they have for books on home wiring and do your homework. If you know of an Electrician maybe you can ask to work alongside him to install the outlets so that, 1. you learn something about wiring and 2. you could help reduce the cost by being his helper. If you know him well enough you may be able to ask him to explain to you things in the book that you are unsure of if you try to go it alone.
Bottom line is do it right and make it safe. Be
If you were able to switch off every outlet with one switch, that would mean they were all on one circut. For an average room, usually all of your outlets are on one circut & lighting on another.
If you are building this room from scratch, the first thing I would do is look at the power sources you’re going to use for the railroad & how many of them you’ll use. they should all have the amperage listed on them & that would tell you how many you can use on 1 circut. As a general rule of thumb, you don’t want to put any more than an 80% load on one breaker. Example: if you have a 20 amp circut, you don’t want to put any more than 16 amps on it.
Although I’ve never had the luxury of a new train room, I would recommend at least 2 circuits - 1 for lights, and 1 for outlets. You may need more than 1 circuit for lighting. Keeping the lighting separate means that when a power tool trips the circuit breaker, you can still see your way in and out of the room.
As suggested, putting the outlets where your train power plugs into on a master switch at the room entrance is also a good idea.
You didn’t ask, but good lighting to me is critical for enjoyment of your layout - both construction and operation. Planning your lighting in advance will reduce the need for magnification, and reduce eyestrain and headaches during operations.
Last, but not least - some states/areas REQUIRE a licensed electrician to do the installation, regardless of your own capability. That was true when I lived in Edgewater, MD and I went to install central AC. Despite my knowledge of NEC, and having installed and wired panels for churches in other states, I could not get the permit or an upgrade in house service from the electric company without a licensed electrician.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
Correct on all counts. Another option to consider is to set your boxes, pull your wire, hook up all the outlets yourself & then have an electrician check it over & make the final connection for you. Make sure your electrician will do that for you before you start though. When I wired my woodshop I was told to decide how many outlets I would need, double that number & add some more. That’s what I did & then found out the electrician was going to charge $40.00 per outlet. Then he told me I could do it the way explained above & save quite a bit of money. He checked it all over for me & I had everything right but now I also have piece of mind which is priceless.
Let me describe what I have done.
The layout area of my basement had a single 15 amp circuit for two lamps. I added a 20 amp circuit that provides a ‘belt’ of floor outlets every 12’. The 15 amp circuit was re-strung with #12 wire and now has a 20 amp breaker as well. It breaks into two circuits:
- One for those two existing lamps(controlled by a wall switch).
- Another circuit comes off of a second wall switch and controls the lights over the layout area.
This was a week of evenings/week-end project to get done, but the results made it worth it. My Dad was a retired Master Electrician and ‘supervised’ my work. If you are not up on electrical code, hiring an electrician is the way to go(you can be the ‘helper’ pulling the wires). BTW, my layout is in a 25’ by 20’ ‘L’ shaped area.
Jim
One thing to consider is as you built the bench work you may want to install outlets of the face of the layout or on the legs supporting the front of the layout. This way you can plug in power tools without crawling under the benchwork to get to the wall outlets.
Be careful if attaching the power to the layout framework(I did that). Some local electrical code will not allow exposed Romex or loose wires. To be honest, my layout is about 24" - 30" deep and I can get at the wall outlets just fine.
Jim
Rather than go to a licensed electrician, who would have a vested intere$t in having you gold-plate your electricals, I recommend going to the electrical codes inspector at your local building department. That way you will get suggestions on your minimum and optimum requirements - and the least complex way to get them. And the price for the advice is right…
My own railroad room/double garage has three separate circuits:
- Room lighting, from a wall switch. The original single wall fixture was extended to five double flourescent fixtures, using a screw-in plug and cascaded plug-together circuits salvaged from old display cases.
- Power tool/ floor fan/vacuum cleaner power, three existing wall sockets on a circuit separate from the lights. The same circuit powers a couple of outdoor recepticles - the GFP socket is in the garage.
- Layout power. A ‘super extension cord’ plugged into the ceiling socket for the (not installed) garage door opener. That gives me 20 amps on a separate breaker for all layout power requirements. The ‘super extension cord’ has multiple outlets (in standard boxes) mounted to the benchwork. It qualifies as an extension cord because it’s plugged into the ceiling outlet. If, instead, it was connected with three wire nuts, it would be permanent wiring, requiring all the usual permits, rough and final inspections and Fee$.
If I had a workshop with heavy machine tools, I would want a separate circuit with its own breaker to power them. Since my machine tools are all of the hand-held variety, what I have is plenty.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
In that size room, more than one lighting circuit will probably be needed, just because of the load. 12A max on a 15A circuit, 15A max on a 20A circuit.
A single 15A circuit should be enough for the power supplies for the railroad - let’s take the time to yet again mention that a DCC booster than puts out 5 amps DOES NOT draw 5 amps from the wall outlet it is plugged into.
BEST would be to have the wall outlets controlled by a switch at the room entrance - that way you cna leave the room and be confident that you didn’t leave a soldering iron heating away in the far corner of the benchwork. A LIGHTED switch is even better.
ANd work of this sort is subject to a code inspection. Failure to get a signed off inspection could result in your insurance company denying coverage if the cause of a fire is traced to the layotu room. If you want to save some money, do all the rough-in work yourself and hire an electrician to make the connections prior to inspection. Remember the electricals have to be inspected BEFORE the wallboard goes up.
–Randy
A model railroad does NOT use a lot of power. However, it often needs a lot of outlets, because you need a large variety of voltages, and it’s easy to get wall-warts to supply those.
The ability to turn the whole thing off from one or two switches is very important. I’ve grown to 2 switches, myself, because the layout is distributed and I have a bunch of different power supplies for structure lighting and such. You really, really don’t want to crawl under your layout and unplug a dozen cords to turn the whole thing off.
If you have a room air conditioner (or expect to use plug-in space heaters) do NOT have them on the same circuit as your trains. The voltage drop when one of these things kicks in can reset a DCC system.
Keep the outlets down at knee level, the standard height for outlets. Don’t be tempted to put them between the levels of your multi-deck layout. First of all, you can’t make a nice cloud or mountain backdrop scene with an outlet in the middle. Second, if you plug a tool into it, you will inevitably drag the wire across your layout and take out trains or scenery.
But, so far you are doing the right thing. You’re planning ahead, and soliciting advice from the experts (yeah, right) as you go. There really is a lot of knowledge here. Welcome aboard.
Using an electrician is good if you are uncomfortable with wiring, but expensive. I’d had some electrical engineering classes in college, and had done some electronic projects through life. I boned up with a couple good electrical wiring handbooks (sold at the Home Depot, etc. box stores). All are good at doing it, and showing how to total the amps and draw an electrical plan.
I studded 3/4 of my basement for a train room (19’ x 20’). Mapped in my layout, and then established the number of canned lights 35) to put in a drop sealing over the layout. I drew my electrical diagram and went to my city engineer and obtained a building permit for it.
I put three 20 amp breakers into the electrical box and ran #12 two wire and 3 wire romex cable into the room. I wired in one GFCI circuit for 15 (20)amp wall receptacles activated by one wall switch with a light to see when power was all off. I used several outlets on each wall. I wired the 35 can lights into 6 dimmer switches (6 circuits) so all or part of the lightout could have light … full or dimmed. I ran one computer ground fault receptacle line to the center of the room… for future use if I ever wanted to run trains with a computer (or also good for the room if ever selling). Off one of the outlets I wired a switch and a wall light under the steps, which became my DCC test rack area.
The sequence: Approved electrical layout and building permit. Did all the rough wiring (pulling, cutting, into boxes with wires hanging out). City electrician inspected and approved the rough. Finished the walls, drop ceilings, and installed all lights, switches, receptacles, lights, etc. City electrician inspected final results and issued approved certificate. In both inspections, he said my work was better than that of most electricians. I’m sure it was beacuse I was very careful and had plenty of time.
This is not hard for one wh
I have been an electrical contractor for 45 years, specializing in industrial controls. When I started my first layout (8’ x 12’ HO) last march, I ran 3 - 20 amp circuits thru a 3 pole contactor. 1 circuit to the layout, 1 circuit to the utility outlets around the layout and 1 curcuit to the work area. The contactor is controlled by the lights in the room. When I turn off the lights ALL power is disconnected. I have an additional circuit that is not disconnected for battery chargers only. I would reccomend having a pro do your wiring, especialy if you don’t understand what I just said.
good luck CCG