I have two loops, they can be run separate and also trains go in & out on them. Now is there any different wiring I need to know? Or just like the book says every 3 feet put in feeder wires along the track. Guess I am asking, just use the same wires for both loops…
(no reverse loops)
thanks
Mike
Yes, that’s all there is to it. I would advise color-coding your wires (use red for the outside rail of each loop, and black for the inside rail, or something like that.) Use the same color for bus wires and feeders. It really helps.
To test your system, you can start with a single pair of feeders. The track will probably be good enough for a test, but the 3-foot rule (well, it’s more of a guideline, actually) is a good one for reliability and good power distribution.
Basically yes. How big are the loops? I’ve done 4x8 size loops with only one set of feeders and zero problems.
outside loop is about 15 X 21 and inside about 12 x 15 or so
I soder two 3 ft sections of flex track together with an 18ga feeder wire in the center. I use unsodered rail joiners between the 6 ft sections. It is much easier to soder the feeder wires on the woork bench. After mounting the flex track, I drill a small hole in the roadbed and pu***he feeder wires through. I join them to a 12 ga buss wire under the layout with suitcase connectors or terminal strips. With this method my locomotives are never more than 3 ft from an electrical feeder. I am using Digitrax DCC and this works great.
Yup, you will definitely need feeders. One per piece of flex track (every three feet) is a great idea but definitely over engineered. As jamnest says in the prior post if you get near the joints ever other section it should be plenty. I however, would never recommend soldering anything (leads or joiners) until the track is in place.