Is strand wire ok for feeder wires or should it be solid core wire.
Thanks Billy21
stranded or solid work well all depends on preference personally i used solid 20 gauge wire for my ho layout
'tis fine. Just be sure to twist the strands together at the stripped ends. You don’t want any stray ones touching the wrong thing.
When I looked at the wire I saw that strand wire was divided into two. When I strip the wires do I only need to use one half or do I twist them together. When twisted together it looks like a lot of wire to solder on the side of the track. I think the wire is 18/2.
Billy21
It sounds as if you have some old-style appliance line cord (modern appliance cord has three strands.) If you can peel the strands apart without damaging the insulation, do so. Even if you don’t, you can use the strands separately if they both originate and terminate at the same place - say the connections of a switch machine and its remote control switch.
If there is any possibility of movement, stranded wire is preferred. If your wire will remain in place, never bent, twisted or flexed, forevermore, then solid wire is satisfactory but stranded wire can still be used.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Have you confused “stranded” and twin conductor “zipcord”? Since electric circuits need two wires to work, a power feed and a power return, much twin conductor wire is made. Ordinary lamp cord (zipcord) always has two conductors bundled together in one insulation coat. Plenty of twin conductor wire is made in sizes smaller than lamp cord, and it all works fine for railroading.
Stranded wire is made up of a dozen or more fine conductors twisted together and then insulated. Solid wire, is a single solid piece of conductor (copper usually). Stranded wire is more flexible than solid and is the choice for things like power cords.
Some twin conductor wire is solid wire (Romex house wire) and some is stranded (lampcord).
If you have a lot of twin conductor wire that you want to use for basically single conductor jobs like track feeders, you can just pull the two conductors apart, giving you a pair of ordinary wires.
From the way you phased your question I get the impression that you are wondering how to use 18 gauge twin conductor speaker wire for track feeders. If I have it, I use solid wire for track feeders 'cause it is somewhat easier to solder than stranded. But stranded can be used, it’s not all that much harder to solder to the rail.