Hi,
I’m trying to find thin stranded wire to wire the switches on my layout, but all I can find in my local stores is either to thick or single stranded and not flexible enough.
Where can I order wire similar to that manufacturers use for switches, and what
gauge is that? 24 gauge? I can’t tell.
Thanks - I’m desperate…
Kyle.
Your local hobby store should have what you are looking for. I found telephone wire works well. Where about do you live I have about 3 or 4 spools of if it here in Northern Ontario.
Andy
Thanks for your reply, Andy.
I live in the LA area, and the selection of our local stores is poor.
That’s why I’m looking for an online source.
Telephone wire is single stranded, but I prefer stranded wire since it will
bend easier.
Hi jasbourre, I see you use telephone wire on your layout. Is that for HO? Do you find it thick enough without having voltage drops. I prefer single core wire, but, not counting telephone cable, it is very difficult to find here in Spain.
You might want to try Radio Shack …
Regards,
Burlington John
I have an H.O. scale layout & the thinnest wire I use is 22 ga. on the drops to the main feed. I use solid core copper wire to solder to tracks & I get it in 100 or 500 ft. spools at my local hardware. a 500 ft roll(spool) sells for about $24.00. My mains(black & white)
is 14 ga. stranded. I used a smaller gauge wire & had a lot of voltage drops. Even on the swiches I use 22 ga. wire & U can get that in 2 or 3 solid starands. Usually red, white & black or green. radio Shack also sells all kinds of wire. Speaker wire is too light
for trains, even “N” ga.
Well, some speaker wire is robust enought to handle 300 watts, so there is speaker wire and there is SPEAKER WIRE.
Radio Shack, an electrical supply store (call an electrician & ask), sound equipment stores, all have wire that will do the job. You’ll pay a lot less if you can find a Mom & Pop independant hardware store.
I happen to think that there is a lot of hype about voltage drops. Your average basement layout with 40-70’ of track will not have significant voltage drops if the wires from the power source/controller to the rails are heavier than 22 gauge and are not longer than about 10’. If you use a 14 guage as a bus just long enough to get under the layout to the far side of your main, and then use 22 guage drops from the rails to that bus every 6-8’, you should have no concerns.
Check Home Depot and Lowes. Look for doorbell or termostat wire.
I had a roll of alarm wire that I got at Radio Shack that worked well for feeders. It was stranded, but tinning solved that. The role was a gray and white lead twisted (but not fastened) together. I think it was 22 guage.
Unfortunately, I ran out and the nearby Radio Shacks didn’t have it. They still sell it, though.
Check out your local auto parts store for strained wire!
Gordon
Thanks for all your help, guys!
I ordered some 22 gauge stranded wire from Radio Shack. A couple rolls of stranded hookup wire and 50’ of 2 line stranded speaker wire. That should do it.
I somewhat gave up on trying to find certain things at my local stores. The days
of a good selection there appear to be gone. At least in my neighborhood…
Ordering over the Internet still works though. [:)]
Here are a few of the stores in the L.A. area that sell stranded wire:
Apex Electronics on San Fernando Rd north of Penrose across from the sand pit.
Marvac Electronics. They have stores in Pasadena, Costa Mesa, & other cities.
Fry’s Electronics. Stores in Manhattan Beach, Fountain Valley, Anaheim, etc.
Look in the phone book under Electronics-Dealers. Most of them will carry stranded, small gauge wire and they will be much cheaper than Radio Shack.
Bob Hayes
As you can see, Radio Shack, electrical or automotive stores, all carry hook-up wire. It comes in a variety of colors which is very nice to keep your wiring organized. It also comes in various gauges, the higher the number the thinner the wire, and, it is comes either stranded or solid core. Solid core is easier to work with, and can be formed to keep a postion, while stranded wire is less likely to break from constant bending, but does not hold position. Your choice !!
If you are concerned about voltage drop, the resistance of thinner wire will be higher, therefore, over a given length of wire, you will drop voltage determined by the equation V=I x R where V is your voltage, I is your current, and R is the resistance of the wire per linear foot. If you had a 12V supply voltage, and 300 ma of current being drawn, and the resistance of the wire was 0.1 ohm, the voltage drop due to the wire would be .03Volts, so at the device, the voltage would read 11.97 volts.
If you are using it for switches [turnouts], I buy Model Power three-conductor hook-up wire. It is single-strand 28-gauge, plenty flexible for any place I’ve used it. Every hobby shop around here carries it. The Radio Shack hook-up wire has a clear plastic coating that makes it hard to separate, but it’s available in 24-gauge with two, three, or four conductors. I prefer single strand wire, because my stripper sometimes takes some of the strands with the insulation on the multiple-strand wire.
I have been using old telephone wire with very good results. It’s all color coded. I usually find a building being torn down and get permission to get the wire and the phone terminal blocks. Much of the wire is in 25-40 foot lengths. I strip the outter casing and then separate the strands by color. Works great for tracing. All my track power off of the main buss circuit is blue/yellow - yellow/blue so that leaves plenty of other colors for switches, signals and switch indicator lights on the main panel. It may not be the latest technology but it works well for me however, I am not DCC so I don’t know if that would make a difference.
Cterriers