# Type of Wire to Use



## DavefromMD (Jul 25, 2013)

4 x 8 HO DCC.

I've seen a number of posts and articles on the type of wire to use for wiring layouts. I see stranded wire recommended often. Is stranded wire the type that has muliple smaller strands of wire inside the insulation?

Why would this be preferred over single strand or solid wire?

Sizewise I see a number of recommendations for different guage sizes. Mostly 18 and 16 with a few 20s thrown in. What is the preferred size and why?

I ask because I am converting from DC to DCC and on my DC layout I used whatever I had that would reach to my various blocks on my 4 x 8 layout. I have all kinds in use - stranded, speaker wire, solid wire and I think everything from 16 guage to 20 or even 22.

I connect to terminal tracks and have 3 drops where I soldered 20 guage wire to rail joiners.
Will the wires to rail joiners be sufficient?

I will be getting a Digitrax Zephyr which has a 3 amp power supply.


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## rkenney (Aug 10, 2013)

I run straight out-of-the-box post war Lionel so I can't make a recommendation about DCC per say or any of the rest of that alphabet soup.

However the difference between stranded and non stranded wire is pretty simple. Solid wire is for stationary installations. That means the wire will be permanently affixed to a supporting member (as in house wiring) and will not be flexed or moved during use.

We've all bent wire back and forth until it broke through, imagine the peril of doing this with your house wiring.

On the other hand, consider the wires running overhead to your home that sway in the breeze. It wouldn't be good if they broke. Even a stationary piece of machinery that vibrates will need a flexible connection to power.

Having said all that it will generally be much easier to wire your layout with an easily flexible wire (stranded). If you want to make long busses solid wire, that's fine, but they will be harder to solder feeds to. Also small solid copper wire breaks fairly easily. :smokin:


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

I can't address sizes needed for HO, since I run N-scale. But stranded wire (many tiny wires inside the insulation) is so much easier to work with...it bends easily, and it is easier to solder to. If you should want a solid end (such as securing to a terminal strip), you can simply solder it into a solid condition. You can't make a solid wire stranded!!

I use telephone wire , which is solid, for power drops to my track because it is already about the size of one strand in a stranded bundle. It is easy to solder to the track, it bends and shapes easily.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=21311&highlight=wire
Try this for starters. And I do like the stranded wire for its flexibility, you can tin it first if soldering. Some other aplications for stranded wire are light fixtures, lanps, wire run in conduet for lights, mostly because of its flexibility. Some larger wires, say 6,8 guage are stranded too but with much bigger wires inside, again a flexibility issue. One large wire would be impossible to bend.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

On a 4 X 8 DCC layout just about any wire, tho preferably stranded,
is going to be sufficient.

Are you planning to expand your layout? Otherwise, a 3 amp
DCC system seems overkill. For a layout that size 1 amp
is sufficient unless you also plan to run sound locomotives
then the 3 amp makes sense.

Don


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## DavefromMD (Jul 25, 2013)

Don

I pan to run at most 4 locomotives at a time, no sound. I believe in another post you stated you run 6 locomotives with a Bachmann EZ 1 amp system on what sounds like a bigger layout than mine. So it sounds like it would be OK for me seeing as all I want to do is control the locomotives individually. Nothing fancy.

So how come I see recommendations like about .5 amp per HO loco and systems that have 2 or 2.5 amps say up to 4 HO locomotive and 3 amp systems say up to 6 HO locomotives in their literature? What are they basing that on?


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Simple answer to these questions really. For Don, Digitrax Zephyr is the basic system. Buy it and you get3 amps, whether you need it or not.

For the rest -- it's marketing. A good rule of thumb is 0.5 amps for an HO loco, but each one is different. Some manufacurers are more conservative than others and don't want to over-promise, others will tune locos to run on as little power as possible and extrapolate that way. Kind of like the EPA mileage rating on a new car.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Oh yeah, for the wire: I got what seems like a couple of miles of solid wire laying around, and I've used nothing but on my layout with no issues. Mine is all rigidly mounted to the bottom of the layout.


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## Howard1975 (Jan 6, 2014)

You can basically use any size wire for a small layout, to save money. But the "experts" recommend the larger wire sizes, because they don't heat up as much. Also, a thicker wire can handle a larger amperage load, and for a longer distance. Also the larger the wire, the more voltage you will get at the end of the wire, in other words, less voltage loss. A very large wire might lose a quarter of a volt in 30 feet, while a tiny wire might lose 4 volts -- for instance. Larger layouts really need 12-14AWG wire for the main DCC bus, for less voltage drop and increased reliability. The feeder wires (which connect between bus wire and track) can be smaller, such as 16-18AWG, perhaps even 20AWG. 

The other issue is your locomotives you intend to run. The modern locomotives made recently in HO scale, with the can motors, usually draw no more then half an amp at most. The older open frame motors need more energy. Many Athearn engines (especially made in the 1960's - 1980's) might need one full amp. A few early models can need 1.5 amps, for a single motor. And add the large light bulbs in those old trains, compared to the LED's most new stuff have. An LED is far more energy efficient, compared to any bulb.


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## trains galore (Jul 22, 2013)

I just use figure 8 wire for the track feeds, the thicker it is the better as it can handle more current, this might be important if you want to run old trains as the motors can pull a fair bit of current as previously mentioned
Also I think for dcc you are meant to use thicker wire because of more current or something, not sure though as I don't have dcc just plain old dc with blocks/switches:laugh:
Also I prefer multi strand as single core non flexible can be prone to cracking internally, it's not really meant to be moved around! might be ok for some parts of the wiring but I just use the multi strand figure 8 as it is cheap!


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Ok, I'll bite: everybody says "use stranded wire because it's flexible" or "solid wire isn't meant to move." I freely grant the properties of the different wires, but does yours move? Mine doesn't. It's stapled in place on the bottom of my layout or soldered to the track. Hasn't moved in years, rather like the wire in the walls of my house.


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Solid wire is fine just not as flexible. The stranded is easier to work with.


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## trains galore (Jul 22, 2013)

I know it's just that I prefer multi stranded most of the time as I'm lazy, although I like using single core if you need to solder a wire onto a pcb, multi stranded can be a nightmare as all the little strands stick out as you are trying to push it through a small hole in the board


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## Mr.Buchholz (Dec 30, 2011)

16 or 18 gauge wire is your best bet. I've always used 16 gauge automotive wire, and never had an issue.

-J.


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