I was reading through electrolove’s post about soldering track feeders and got to thinking… Atlas offers track feeder connectors (wires already attached to the rail joint connectors). I plan to solder my rail joints for continuity of electricity anyway, but I’m not great at soldering the feeder wires to the track. Has anybody used these ‘terminal connectors’ as their track feeder wires instead of soldering wires to the rail?
Also which is better for buswork and feeders, solid wire or braided?
I’ve used them in some places, since I had a bunch laying around from my previous layout. They work fine if you solder them in place, and are careful not to pull the wires from the crimp that connects them to the rail joiner.
There are also folks who make their own wired joiners by simply soldering the wire to the joiner first, and then putting it on the track. This is particularly good for joints where you don’t want to solder the track together, say to provide an expansion joint, or at the junction between track and switch.
I used braided wire for the buss, since it’s more bendable and easier to route under the benchwork. Solid wire for the feeders, as it’s easier to solder.
I make my own - at the price for the Atlas already wired ones, can get a box of plain rail joiners and sodler my own wires to them, and end up with a couple dozen pairs. I have one of those ‘helping hands’ things with a weighted base and two alligator clips that I have set up just right to hold the wire and joiner in position for soldering. I also have one of those good automatic wire strippers that makes quick work of removing a tiny bit of insulation fromt he end of a length of feeder wire, and then I do a quick 90 degree bend with a pair of needlenose pliers. Once you get a system down, it takes longer for me to type this all out than to actually do it.
–Randy
I make my own power connectors, too. That’s all I use. I never solder rail. Too many problems with melting the ties and getting the track out of gauge. But then, I hate flex track and never use it except for long straight runs. I use a drop of Rail Zip on every joiner about every three months and have very few power problems.
I’m going to use the Kato Unitrack track feeder sections, with no soldering. It’ll be more costly, but much neater.
I bought a couple of sets of those when I was just starting out, but quickly realized they are way too expensive to use when you want feeders every 3 feet or so. Also, it’s very easy to solder a feeder to a rail joiner myself.
I use a scrap piece of track, and slide the joiner on to hold it. Then I turn the track upside-down, lay the feeder on it (with the wire perpendicular to the track), weight down the wire so it stays put, and solder it. Like Randy said up above, it takes longer to type it than to do it.
I like the wire perpendicular to the track because I get a smaller solder joint that way, and it’s a lot easier to slide in those replacement ties on the flex track. Note that I model in HO, so I can’t say how this works with other guages.
When I do this, I make half of the connectors with black wire, and half with red. My convention is outer-rail Red, inner-rail Black, and I install all my feeders that way. Once under the board, I can then connect them to the right track bus wire without crossing wires and getting a short.
Well, I asked the question on this forum several times about how to solder feeders and track sections together with Unitrack, and have yet to get a response. This tells me either no one has done it, or they are not willing to share the information. Besides all that, I’m going to use Unitrack. Doing so, I am also NOT going to drill holes in the roadbed and screw up expensive track. So my choice is clear.