question about bus bar

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

I have seen a couple of layouts in person and a few up for sale. Thay all have had a bus bar on them. What would be the senigficance of using it. Thanks.

2

traintravler

It would allow easy changes or additions to the track wiring.

It would also allow easier and faster troubleshooting of track shorts or other wiring problems.

BOB H - Clarion, PA

3

That is not a buss bar. That is called a terminal strip. It is used to make wiring of different circuits easier and cleaner. It also allows different sized wires to be connected. A buss bar is used for making one half of a circuit with a lot of connections but still carrying the same polarity.

Pete

4

More basically, it’s simply a mechanism for making electrical connections.

Those connections could be used for the purposes Bob mentions, but they could also be nothing more than a means of of mechanically and electrically connecting two wires.

BTW, what you pictured is actually a terminal strip. Each pair of tie points is electrically separate from the next pair. If it were a bus bar, all the tie points on it would be electrically connected to each other.

EDIT: Pete beat me to it!

5

I use these all over the place. They are a great way to avoid having to do a lot of soldering under the layout. If you have a signal, for example, with a lot of wires, it’s better to connect it to a terminal block like this so that you can simply unscrew the connections if you have to take the signal off for maintenance. Likewise, if you build lighting into a structure, and just run wires out the base, they can be connected beneath the layout but still be easy to remove. I’m adding a long section of layout right now. I built the benchwork in 3 sections, so that it could be removed and re-installed elsewhere if necessary. (No plans to, but you never know.) I’ve installed terminal blocks at the boundaries, so that I won’t have to cut a lot of wires. Terminal blocks provide a solid, reliable and insulated connection. And, they’re easy to undo and redo.

6

I use them with my Tortoise switch machines. Solder a short piece of wire to the Tortoise and terminate the other ends on a 8 position terminal strip. Makes connections under the layout a snap.
The terminal strips go a long way to make some wiring easier.

7

Here is a picture of mine. It looks much neater now. This was taken as I was wiring things up. The board it is attached to is hinged and flips up out of sight when access is not needed. The wire going in comes from another terminal strip that is connected to my power/ DCC unit.

The wires leave this terminal strip and go down this 18’ table like fingers. This makes the length of the wire runs shorter and more desirable.

Brent

8

Like Mr B I make all of my under the layout wire connections with terminal strips. This allows soldering connectors to the wire at the work bench. Mostly I use shorter strips and sometimes dedicate one as positive and one for negative current. Or you can divide a longer strip for both relying on the color of the wire to remind you whats what. If you use the terminal jumpers as pictured there is only one wire necessary on the in put side.

Happy Railroading

Bob

Bob

9

10

My mistake on calling it a bus bar. I now know its called a terminal strip.

11

Don’t worry about it. We all make mistakes.

That’s the important thing - That you gained something here.

12

No sweat. We all learn something new every day.

Good to have on board.

Pete

13

This is great. I have just been pondering how to make use of a terminal strip to have power come in from one source and then go out to several output lines. When I looked at the terminal strips at Home Depot and asked how to do that I was told I would have to run jumper wires from one terminal post to another to get multiple outgoing lines from one incoming line. Now I see that there are “terminal jumpers” to do that. So, where do I buy these terminal jumpers??

thanks

wdcrvr

14

Hi there,

I just happened to be at the computer when I received your post.

Try this link

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/755/Terminal-Strips/1.html

If you are just getting started you may want to think of your wire needs and color codes you would like so that you can have a uniform system from the get go

Happy Railroading

Bob

15

Mine are just the same wire with the insulation removed.

  1. Strip wire.

  2. Bend wire with needle nose pliers.

3, Cut off off “U” shaped piece and insert in Terminal Strip.

  1. Repeat as many times as required.[C):-)]

Brent