How do most folks handle their rail power bus wiring? Do they strip it bare and just hang it under the layout? Do inline (insulation displacement / suitcase) splices? Individually cut wire lengths? Some other method?
Hi jwhitten,
All my power busses (12 ga solid) are strung under my layout with the aid of screw in wire holders. I have driled holes in the cross-members of my benchwork and fed the bus wires through these holes where the bus needs to go through a cross member. Where I need to attach feeders i strip the insulation off of about an inch of the bus, wrap one end of the feeder around the bus multiple times and then solder the connection. My feeders are individually cut lengths of 22ga solid wire (telephone wire) and are kept to less then 6". I feel it’s OK with 22ga so long as they are LESS then 6" for my Nscale, not sure about HO.(read that in Big Book of DCC - I think) I’ve never worked with suitcase connecters.
I would not recommend stripping all the insulations off of the bus wire, or any wire for that matter, that would make for to many chances to touch wires and cause a short.
Good luck,
Tom
Yes, agree about the bare wire-- was just thinking that would be quickest & easiest. But your insulation displacement method would probably be my number two pick. That’s how I did the lighting valance. I set up the lamps and then just strung them up on 14 gauge wire in blocks of about 16 or so lamps (using 14w compact florescents) spaced about 36 inches apart (approx 14 inches down from the ceiling), it works out to be about 250-300 watts per string. The lighting turned out really nice too. I was very pleased with the results and the cost was about as cheap as it could possibly get.
I’m just a rookie at this power bus wiring but I surely wouldn’t strip the entire length of the wire. My layout isn’t very large so all I’ve done is run the power bus wires from the command station around the underneath of the layout - about 30 feet altogether - running the wires through pre-drilled holes in the benchwork crossbeams. I am using suitcase connectors to attach the feeders to the bus. Lots of modelers like to solder everything but my soldering skills are suspect to say the least and have encountered no problems with the suitcase connectors.
Dave [banghead]
Its all low-power DC (or could be AC if running DCC). Implementing bare wire power buses isn’t all that uncommon in situations where there are going to be many, many successive connections. But as MaineTrains pointed out in his reply, the biggest consideration would be short circuits and the way you would run something like that is with a reasonable bit of separation between the wires to reduce that possibility. But the busses would be under the layout in a pretty inaccessible place anyway, and you could always cover them up with cardboard or something to further reduce the issue. And it would be really easy to rig up-- just get some 12/2 or 12/3 w ground romex wire or something along those lines and run bare buses under the layout top, or under the spines if using spline. The biggest danger would be from using hand tools or something and cutting into it, or maybe drilling through it while drilling. However, either of those scenarios is still possible with insulated wires as well.
And when you think of bare wire power buses, don’t forget that the biggest, nasties, deadliest bus of them all is hanging right overhead nearly everywhere you go-- the power company doesn’t insulate their wires as a rule (would have to be really thick) so just touching a couple of those would ruin your day pretty quick. I’ve seen it happen to a large bird before-- it wasn’t pretty.
Most folks or most folks who will respond on a forum? 
Heavens no. Bare wire is asking for trouble in multiple ways. I also twist my bus wires so baring them would be realllllly bad.
Have tried both. The inline gets harder as the gauge of the bus gets smaller. Suitcases work best when both bus and feeders are close to the same gauge. Because my feeders are generally smaller gauge they don’t work for me. Also on our club where we used suitcases they start coming loose after a while (five years or so).
Yes, terminal blocks. It costs more but when a change is needed they are the easiest and most flexible. Need to add a feeder no problem, need to change a section of track from one power district to another, no problem. etc. I used teminal blocks on my modular layout. I was able to completely change the wiring scheme (reversing loops, turnouts, and accessories too) in about 2 hours. Had they been soldered, suitcased, or direct-to-the-point connections it would have taken a week.
I too have used 12 GA solid wire with terminal blocks. From the terminal blocks, I have run 18 GA feeders. I have several districts to reduce any problems with the entire layout. I also have used twisted wire for the bus lines, so I don’t see how one could use stripped wire. My 2 cents.
Jeff
When you say “bus lines” – you’re referring to the POWER bus, right?
If that’s a yes, then why are you twisting those? Do you run DCC? Are you having problems with induced noise or something?
If its some other bus (cab control for example), I agree completely and I wasn’t referring to those.
I suppose I meant the latter… 
You are referring to the POWER bus, correct? If so, why are you twisting them? Are you running DCC? Are you having problems with induced noise or something?