Workin on my n scale layoyt, are there some good resources on line about wireing, ie diagrams and stuff like that? Should I sodder the conections, if so, what is a good soddering gun to get?
Thanks
you do not need massive amounts of heat to solder to n scale track so a weller 40 watt pencil iron should be good. thats what i use. also use 20 0r 22 gauge stranded wire. radio shack wire is good. also use a paste type flux in addition to the rosin core solder. it makes the solder flow better.
There are a lot of good on-line sites for wiring, electricity and electronics. Try these:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/Basics/BasicIndex.html
http://home.comcast.net/~dloman77/index.html
N-Scale magazine has a regular column on electronic projects and has run a series of tutorials on basic wiring in past years. You would probably have to get their set of CDs of all the back issues to get those though.
As for soldering, you can’t just twist wires together and tape over them and expect the joint to be reliable. Either solder the joint or use a terminal strip. A soldering gun is a bit too much for most electrical work or for soldering N scale track or wires to track. I would recommend about a 30-35 watt soldering iron. Get one that comes with a holder, or buy a holder for it. You don’t want a hot iron rolling around on the bench or layout and burning stuff–or you! The sponge that comes in the holder is for wiping the tip of the iron with to keep it clean. Moisten the sponge and periodically wipe the tip of the iron across it to get the solder blobs and gunk off it. For electrical and electronic soldering and for soldering rails and soldering wires to rails, the ONLY type of solder to use is 60/40 rosin core electronic solder. It has flux built into the core of it. Some people advocate the use of flux paste to assist in making the connection, but I’ve never found it necessary with this type of solder. NEVER, NEVER use any kind of acid flux with electrical soldering. It will eat away at the joint. I have found a 1/8" flat tip the most useful on a soldering iron. I won’t get into how to solder properly here as it would take up too much space, but if you’re not sure how to solder, t
That depends upon which control system will be used, how many trains will be run, and if there are reversing loops in the track plan. Wiring is much simpler for Digital Command Control (DCC) than the traditional straight DC wiring.
Once again that depends on what type and brand of track is being used. When I did my n-scale layout with Atlas sectional track (circa 1974) I did not solder the joints. I discovered that a bell wire fit almost perfectly into the curve of the rail joiners so I just slid the wire in, then pushed the track sections together. I only got the soldering iron out when I used flex track. That was before the days of all this ez-track, uni-track, and the like.
So to clarify, I am using n scale code 55 track. I went to radio shack today, and bought a 40 watt pencil solderer, some 40/60 rosin core solder wire and some 22 guage wire for puting the whole mess together. I also bought a swith for controling my turnouts. When I got home, I relized that the one that I bought would not work, I think. I bought a toggle switch (contacts rated 3A at 125VAC/1A at 250VAC <–what the package says). Anyways, I think this is the wrong kind of switch, I do want to put in toggle switches, but am not sure what kind I need to buy. Can someone help me.
Thanks
If the switch mashines are attatched to the turnout, they are solenoid-type machines and require a “momentary” contact to activate, like a push button. Radio Shack does have “momentary” toggle switches that do the same jobs as 2 push buttons
[#ditto] Here. This is not a suggestion here, just something I’ve done in the past. I’ve used DTDP toggle switches with a "momentary push button switch wire in series to one side of the switch to operate the switch machine. The other side of the DTDP switch was used to control signals at the turnout and on the control panel to indicate which way the turnout was thrown. Ken
I’ve used a similar setup like this only it used SPDT switches. Momentary PB was on the common to the switch coils which in turn was wired to negative of power source, coil wires to the A/B of the SPDT switch, switch common wired to positive of power source. LED/Lamp power tapped off the A/B from switch.
Slightly cheaper solution, but knowing what I know now, I would go with a DPDT setup to keep the circuitry seperate.