you guessed it!! another wiring question!!!!

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I have my main bus wires… now I have two loops that run indepently ,but trains can get on either one by switching…

My question is… do I just run feeder wires from the loops to the main bus for power for each loop?

thanks again

Mike

2

Do you mean like this?

If so yes just run the feeders straight to the track at the locations you selected.

3

I think that would be it… one loop stays on top, while the other is partially on top then duck underneath for staging or just making the train disappear for a minute…

4

I find all this bus wire stuff confusing, thought i read on here-

http://www.wiringfordcc.com/wirefordcc_toc.htm

not to run the bus in a continuous loop.

Not saying your way is incorect or anything!

5

Your bus only needs to be as long as it must to get a reasonable length of feeder wires to the farthest reaches of your tracks. If you have a loop as in in the schematic, you could make a “Y” out of your bus by having it branch left and right as soon as the two wires leave your controller/booster. Even then if you have a loop less than 15 feet in total length, you will only need to run your two bus branches left and right for about 5 feet and run the two sets of feeders off each end. That way, your two sets of feeders are kept nicely short, and your spacing between the power feed to the rails is kept to about 8 feet, which is optimal.

Some folks will insist on soldering feeders to the base of each section of rail. I have never had the need, but if I found that continuity was lacking in a section, the first thing I would do is to gently press on each rail section join to see where the continuity was intermittent. I would then attempt to crimp that joiner a bit to see if I could restore the reliable connection, and then slide some support (more ballast?) under the joint to keep it from dipping as the locomotives and heavier cars pass overhead.

6

amI right to think to have the main bus wires follow underneath the mainline and have the feeders drop down to them and in case of the track underneath, just run feeder wires to it…

also took some long thought and think it might be better if I get the power boosters & circuit breakers first , instead of trying to put them in after…

any recommendations?

thanks again

Mike

7

It would probably be best to wait until you have the circuit breakers. Or at least plan for them. For example, if you break the layout into 4 power districts using breakers, you will have FOUR bus lines going out, one from each section of th breaker to the areaof the layout it serves. The feeders from each distric will connect to the appropriate bus line. Then you will have ONE bus line from your booster to the breaker (which may be very short if you locate these together).
You cna plan ahead and go wire it up for now - what I did was put a terminal strip where the breaker is going to go. I planned for 3 power districts, so I used an 8-position terminal strip. 2 IN from booster, and 3 sets of 6 OUT to the districts. For now, with no breaker in place, I merely connected jumpers from each district to the IN terminals. I will remove these jumpers and connect the breaker in place and all is done, but for now I can run trains because everything is connected together.

–Randy

8

wow… talk about confusion setting in now…[xx(]… I know that it is probably simple, but reading it is getting me scared!!! I am thinking 3 districts… think I will wait and buy everything I need and do it all in one shot…

here is the line that confuses me for the moment: “The feeders from each distric will connect to the appropriate bus line. Then you will have ONE bus line from your booster to the breaker (which may be very short if you locate these together).”

think I need photos!!! [8] to understand!! hahaha

what would be a good guess on how much it would cost…???

9

You just need one PS-Four from TOny’s, that will handle 4 districts.

It’s simple. You need to power the breaker from your booster. Then you need to power the layout. It’s all quite logical. Power to the breakers, breakers feed the sections, Just like the breaker box in your house.
The manual for the PS-Four is on Tony’s site, it shows how to wire it up. Don’t think too hard, you’ll make it more complicated than it is.

–Randy

10

Thanks for the info…

and I would still need a booster… right?

so while I wait to get all the things I need,… I did a quick test track… took about 10 minutes to build… programmed a proto 2000 Rs-27 and had a broadway limited give me some problems… but didn’t really stick with it… but was happy just to fiddle around with it… now I know it works…

Mike

11

went check out the circuit breaker and looks simple enough… and maybe get a few boosters well at least one…

Mike

12

What system do you have now? And how many trains do you intend to have running at the same time? That will determine if you need to add more power or not. --Randy

13

NCE powercab… I know I can run four with the possibilty of 5… but four would be the max

14

OK then you will definitely need a SmartBooster since the PowerCab can only run 2. That should be it, unless you plan on triple-heading all of them. There should be enough power int he SmartBooster for 4 or 5 trains, I’ve run more than that with the 2.5 amps of my Digitrax Zephyr. --Randy

15

no triple heading… mostly double

thanks for the info

Mike