# gone from planning to buying



## MrDuane (Oct 21, 2011)

Aaah, it was a sweet trip to the store, a nice 2165 USRA Light Mikado 2-8-2, w/ Paragon2 Sound/DC/DCC, HO. A NCE starter kit and trackage. after I left the store I remembered I'd forgotten a question. When I wire the track, will two wires suffice, or will I need to electrify it every so many feet? There will be no reverse loops , a 8x13 area continuos loop with a few spurs.


----------



## deboardfam (Oct 8, 2010)

Typically they recommend you do a drop every 3 feet or so to make sure you have power throughout the track. I will let someone a little more experienced chime in though. Sounds like a heck of a sweet shopping day though. Nice stuff


----------



## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

With brand new trackage,you would likely get away with minimal wiring,specially if the layout isn't a very large one.However,it's after a while that problems MAY occur as adverse conditions (humidity,temperature rises and drops,corrosion) do take their toll on rail joiners that may start losing power here and there.

Many will solder every joints (or most of them) so that power flow is 100% all the time,others will have drop feeders every three to six feet and many will do both.

Personally,I will not solder a single joint as I like keeping some insurance against possible expansion.However,I will have feeders at every piece of flextrack (three feet lengths) so I'll be sure that should a joiner start fading,I'll not even notice it.

I've read somewhere (didn't test this though) that lengths of track are slightly resistive so power might drop in some areas on large layout,so that multiple feeders are still a good idea,even with soldered joints.Then remains the job of keeping tracks clean for reliable operation.


----------



## waltr (Aug 15, 2011)

For a temporary layout I have gotten away with only one power connection to the track. Since the track isn't nailed down it is easy to fix a loose rail joiner.

For a 'permanent' layout it is recommended to run a power bus under the layout with feeds about every 3 feet to the track.


----------



## MrDuane (Oct 21, 2011)

It occurred to me while walking doggie this morning. But if I run wires to the track, that is still a drop over distance as much as the track, isn't it? 

I'm basically going to use flex track for most all of it, and at 3' a section, that's a wire drop every section.


----------



## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

MrDuane said:


> But if I run wires to the track, that is still a drop over distance as much as the track, isn't it? .


It is, but wire has resistance as you know. If you consider the resistance of the track, and the resistance of the wire to drops to the track, you basically have two resistors in parallel which lowers the total resistance. The drops to the track would also be a backup power feed if some joiner somewhere went bad.


----------



## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

I'm not sure I get your idea right but having drop feeders the length of the track isn't going to be "bulletproof".Drop feeders are very light gauge wiring so that you can solder them to the track and being small means that they should be as short as possible.This is the purpose of "buss wires" that usually follow the track underneath the layout so feeders are barely as long as the thickness of the benchwork.Buss wires are of a heavier gauge (generally 14 or 12 ga.) making sure the power doesn't drop over some distance.

The electrical path is simple...command station and/or boosters...to buss wires...to feeders...and to tracks.On larger layouts that need boosters,you'll have as many buss wires as you have command station/boosters combinations...these are called "power districts".


----------



## Conductorjoe (Dec 1, 2011)

I always feed power about every 12-15 feet. I have a block system and some blocks only have one feed.
Several things can effect the power, loose rail joiners or bad turnouts can loose power.
You can also solder track together at the joints once it settles into place.
The other thing that regulates power to the track would be the size of the power pack. The stronger the power pack the less feeds needed depending on the size of the layout.


----------



## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Even the power bus wires will have some resistance to them but copper has less resistance per foot than nickle silver does. The track also gains extra resistance at each section of track. Rail joiners, even soldered are going to have a higher resistance than the rail itself thus even more loss in the track. Feeders every few feet even tho they are small gauge wire will still be lower resistance than trying to feed the power to the track only in one place. 

Soldering rail joiners is a great idea. But DONT solder all of them. The track will expand when it is warm, the materials that make the layout will expand or compress depending on both heat and humidity and your track is going to have to compensate for that. I leave a small gap in every other piece of track and butt the others tight. The pieces that I have butted together tight I solder the others I leave alone for expansion. That gap provides an area to expand into and so far I have not had any issues with warpage or deformation. I also add a feeder to every section of track that is soldered together so if I do get some higher than normal resistnace in the joiners that I did not solder I dont even notice it.

Massey


----------

