# Is it really necessary to run jumpers from each and every piece of flex tracK??



## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

In N scale, some suggest to run power feeders to each and every piece of flex track. 
While I understand one doesn't want to go to far without having feeders, but each and every piece seems a bit too much. Surely, not 15 or 20' without feeders, but every three? This is assuming the rail joint are *not* soldered.


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

In the end its up to you. You can always come back and add more feeders if you experience voltage/ amp drops


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## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

I was mostly concerned about long term. (back to not soldering rail joints)


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Well if youre not soldering your rail joints then you dont have a reliable connection and then i would say yes put feeders on each piece of track


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

I didn't want to have ANY problems with power drop so I've run feeders on every single piece of track, although for some of the smaller ones I did just solder the joiners.

I installed well over 100 feeders this weekend between my yard and the industry branch.


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## Bucklaew (Oct 7, 2010)

*Personally *I have found that adding jumpers at every track joiner was a good idea. I also found that soldering the joiners to the track was a good idea as well. Good connections to power actually is a good idea. Having worked on electronics most of my life, I have found that soldering connections was far better than wire nuts also. I have found over the years that twisting 2 wires together can corrode and stop working. Solder the connections and no corrosion problem. A lot of have our trains in enviromently uncontroled areas(like garages, and basements) so anything that can cut corrosion helps.

My 2 pense worth, and off the soap box.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

I solder flextrack every two joints,meaning flextrack sections are in pair,and I have a feeder for each of these six foot sections,wich is enough.However,I wouldn't go longer than six feet without an expansion joint,thus that many feeders required.


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## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

A lot of soldering and a lot of drilling.


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Yes, but in the end youll be glad you did.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

videobruce said:


> A lot of soldering and a lot of drilling.


Yes it is.......but it's worth it for reliability. I like running the engines slow so it's critical for smooth operation to have consistent/reliable power.




























Make a bunch of feeders at a time, I used about 6" in length, pre-bend the ends so that they sit nice in the root of the outer edge of the rail. Use suitcase connectors to attach the feeders to the buss line (it will save you a TON of time over soldering those connections.)


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

Total agree with sstlaure's comments. It is well worth the effort.


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## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

sstlaure; I like that idea of placing the feeders, BUT,

My problem with that is I want and plan to use resistance soldering, so there is a problem just how to do it. Plus It would be hard to reach many points at the rear of the shelve if I don't pre-solder first before laying the sections.

I started to pre-solder a number of pieces of flex track, but have to watch polarity since I'm using Peco and you can only bend it one way.


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

I am sure that you are using colored wire (black & red or two other colors). The colored wire is great for not reversing the polarity (for example...black is negative and red is positive). I learned the hard way.....I did not mark the wires as to what they served...what part of the track system they feed power to....had a little mess on my hands, until I marked the wires.

I hope this helps.


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## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

Yes on the red and black. I'm going to have to re-think some of my electrical blocks within a couple of my interlockings where I have multiple x-overs as I now see my original blocks aren't enough due to the self power routing frogs.


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## dualgauge (Apr 4, 2009)

I to solder every other joint like Brakeman Jake said. On a door layout soldered two pieces together with drops then bent track to fit curve, keeps kinks out of curves. I don't solder but every other joint so track track can expand and contract.Dan


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## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm concerned with expansion & contraction, so I guess I will have to solder jumpers on each and every piece of sectional track.

I just don't see the attraction to sectional track and the popularity fo Kato.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Model Railroader did an N-scale layout with the Kato sectional track. It was called the Salt Lake Route. I don't think they did every piece of sectional track. (I use flextrack so you're looking at a TON more feeders to do every piece. You may be OK to do every 2nd or 3rd piece. I'm sure they covered wiring in the various articles about the Salt Lake Route)

http://mrr.trains.com/en/How To/Art.../12/Building the N scale Salt Lake Route.aspx


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## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

sstlaure said:


> You may be OK to do every 2nd or 3rd piece. I'm sure they covered wiring in the various articles about the Salt Lake Route)


My layout uses Kato and there is no way I'm wiring up every little section of track - that would be mind-boggling, the whole underside of the table would consist of nothing but wires!

I have quite a few feeders spaced out at reasonable intervals soldered to the track joiners. I have researched others using this track and they don't seem to report problems. If I have any problems I'll just put a drop of stabilant 22 on it (I bet no one's ever heard of that stuff).


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

xrunner said:


> My layout uses Kato and there is no way I'm wiring up every little section of track - that would be mind-boggling, the whole underside of the table would consist of nothing but wires!
> 
> I have quite a few feeders spaced out at reasonable intervals soldered to the track joiners. I have researched others using this track and they don't seem to report problems. If I have any problems I'll just put a drop of stabilant 22 on it (I bet no one's ever heard of that stuff).


I soldered feeders onto ever connecter when I had the bunkbed layout. Wires were everywhere but it ran engines no problems. I would just think more track cleaning would be required with less feeders. Which is not really that bad if one has a decent method of doing it.
What is this stabilant 22 X? It is not transmission fluid or an ingredient of it, is it?


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## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

Xnats said:


> What is this stabilant 22 X? It is not transmission fluid or an ingredient of it, is it?


It's not a contact cleaner, it's something that works differently. It's used in the aerospace industry but anyone can buy it. It's expensive but it WORKS! I have a small bottle that will last me for the rest of my life. It isn't for moving contacts, but for stationary electrical contacts. It works at the interstices between the touching metals. If I have any rail joiners that cause a problem, one drop and it will be fixed.

Here's a review -

http://ralaudio.com/stabilant-22-contact-enhancer-m-2.html?info=stbrv000


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## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

Notice the copyright date of that article; 1990.

Back in the '80's I remember the product "Tweek" coming out that was sold in high end audio stores. Someone analyzed the composition and claimed it was mostly distilled water.


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## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

videobruce said:


> Notice the copyright date of that article; 1990.


What does the date of the article have to do with the product's effectiveness?

Nothing.


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## videobruce (Jun 15, 2011)

22 years old, things change, new products come out.
There could be products better.


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## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

videobruce said:


> There could be products better.


The wheel is thousands of years old too, but is there a better "product" available? 

There could be a better product, but you didn't give any information about anything better. Just because an article has a certain date doesn't make the information in it useless. I'm all ears if you have a product in mind that's better, but until then it's fallacious logic to say the date of an article equates to a product's current effectiveness unless you have data to make that claim.


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## nuckaler (Apr 17, 2012)

A trick that one of our club members used to make sure the right wire(colourwise) is soldered to the right rail over the whole layout was to put an old piece of rolling stock on the track and mark the sides with the colour of the wire to be soldered to the track.That way where ever you move the piece of rolling stock you will always connect the right wire to the right rail.Hope this helps


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

nuckaler..........That is a great idea....:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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