I know the procedure is to lay track and test it for awhile before caulking it to the roadbed. However, that means the feeder wires will already be soldered and I need to have enough room to get the caulking and a putty knife to spread it under the track. I’m thinking 6-10" of slack in the wires would allow this. Is that about right or would it affect train performance by having feeders of that length?
I haven’t heard of attaching feeders to the track before securing the track. Typically you would attach temporary feeders using alligator clams or something similar to test the track. After the track is tested, then secure the track and add the premement feeders. It would be a good idea to test the track after caulking down but before soldering the feeders and connecting to the bus.
I have had to lift some track a couple of times to fix a dip or a frost heave, and because I left a few inches of slack the feeders stayed attached. I just pulled them back down from underneath after. Flawless.
I agree that you should test your track before you solder anything. Then glue it down, and finally add the feeders.
Susq. and CTR,
How often would you attach alligator clamps? My expanded shelf layout goes around a 14 x 14’ shed.
after every piece of flextrack or turnout i’d laid.
Paul
As a rule of thumb, I usually leave the length of my hand in slack.
I leave 4 to 6 inches of slack in feeder wires.
Eh? Slack. Give me some slack!
LION thinks it is always good to have extra slack in all of your wires. It lets me pull them out a little bit and work on them, after all, the LION does not work under his tables. Him does not like getting hot solder in his nice handsome fur. About 16" of slack is what the LION allows.
Such is especially so for switch and signal wires. LIONS do like to play with wires.
ROAR
I leave a few inches of slack on all wiring connections, not just feeders. Think of structure lighting, streetlamps, signals and so forth. Maintenance is just a lot easier if you can lift something up a bit when necessary.
My preference is to solder feeders to the underside of rail joiners rather than to the rails themselves. It’s not perfect, but I don’t melt any ties that way, and in general I don’t even need to bring the soldering iron to the layout. If I have a power issue, then I’ll solder the rail joint, but that doesn’t happen very often.
Hi Eagle Scout,
I have never actually used clamps myself as there has been little need to, However, being an electrician by trade does help my situation.
To try answer your original question as I see it, especially if you are soldering feeders under your rails for appearances sake. In general terms the few inches will not matter very much with the feeder. Your train will always be slower at the point which is electrically the furthest away from the power source. Even a half volt drop will show in the apparent speed of a train unless you are using the tiniest of wire sizes which may not take the full current load of your locos.
I can understand that a shelf layout may not allow you easy access to the “other side” of the rails having once been limited similarly and prewiring may be your best option. It is your railway!
Regards from Oz
Trevor
wrap the last few inches of each wire around something round, like a pencil to form a “pig tail” that looks like a coil spring. then you can stretch the end of the wire out and back as needed.
charlie
No wire on my layout runs from one end to the other in a straight line. There are always a couple of right-angle bends along the way.
Even more important, no wire runs between two permanent anchors. There’s always a stud-and-nut terminal at one or both ends, easily disconnected for troubleshooting or to accommodate new/revised construction.
Also, it isn’t absolutely imperative to have caulk under every square centimeter of flex track. The world won’t end if you leave a little holiday at each feeder. Some folks advocate installing feeders by soldering to the underside of the rail, which pretty much eliminates the possibility of laying track and soldering feeders later.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with track that is mechanically and electrically bulletproof)
My 22 gauge feeders are 12 inches, but this is easy for me to keep them this length since my layout is a 2 foot wide shelf layout and I run the bus (16 gauge) right down the middle. Just remember this, the longer the run and the smaller the wire, the greater the resistance. The more resistance, the less electricity you’ll have at the end, which may effect the performance of your loco.
Obviously you’ll want some slack in the feeder wires for any work or maintenance that might need to be done without cutting the wires. Sometimes it’s better to run the bus (larger wire) closer to the feeder (smaller wire) instead of having a long feeder.
I run a Digitrax Zephyr Xtra and have 13.5 volts consistently around the track
Hi!
Me thinks your read of the track laying procedure is not what I’ve been doing on any of the layouts I’ve built over the years…
I first lay out track center lines, install roadbed (using caulk on the current layout), install trackage (I still prefer track nails, although some folks prefer caulk).
Once I’m happy with the track configuration (actually a continuous review thru the entire process), I run two Buss wires (14 avg) under the layout, trying to stay close to the trackage as reasonable.
Then I drill holes for feeder wires. Using DCC, I did mine 3-4 feet apart. That may sound like a lot, but I promise that no one has ever complained about “too many feeders”. For this layout, I used 20 awg.
Then I install the feeder wires. I prefer a color code to help keep track of which feeder goes to which rail. I push the feeders down the holes, bend and solder to the track.
When the topside soldering of the feeders is complete, I curl under the layout (with safety glasses and long pants) and solder the feeders to the Buss wires. I certainly want some slack - anywhere from 1 - 4 inches. But the feeders are all well under 18 inches in length.
Remember, thruout all the phases, test, test, test, and review what you have done. If there is a problem, stop and work it out. Lowering your level of “good enough” will bite you over and over for the life of the RR.
Like you, I prefer to solder my feeders to the rail in advance. I normally do the soldering at the bench, attaching a 12" to 18" 24 gauge magnet wire feeder to the bottom of the rail. The small size of the feeder allow me to use a 1/8" hole through the Homasote/plywood for the feeder. When the track is in place, I then solder the feeder to the bus, cutting off any excess.
Right now, I’m running DC with small currents, so I have no issues. I’m pretty sure my wiring will support the “quarter test” since every piece of rail gets its own feeder. I’ll know for sure when I test with the club’s NCE 5 amp DCC system.
Fred W