# DCC Bus wiring



## lrbusjockey (Jan 20, 2014)

Hey, guys. :newbie: I'm new to the forum, but an old railroader from the '80's. Been a while since I have tried my hand at a layout. I'm in way over my head now, so I'm gonna go for broke....actually, I am broke...lol. Anyway, I have decided to go DCC with my 'N' scale layout. I have purchased a NCE Power Cab and have already installed a decoder in my Kato Silver Streak Zephyr E5A. I am very pleased. I'm gonna love this. My question: I have not done any wiring on the layout. Can I run my bus wiring thru the small metal eyelets that screw into wood and have a round eyelet on the other end? I'm gonna use 12 gauge wire for the main bus and probably 16 or 18 gauge for track power drops every three to four feet.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

Unless you plan on a huge layout (40 ft.+),16 Ga.wire is largel enough for N scale buss along with 20-22 Ga. short feeders.uch easier to work with too.Ga. 12 is a huge overkill.

A common and reliable way is to have feeders every four to six feet of track,directly soldered to the outside of the rails.

Then you can tie your wires many different ways.Recommended though...use colour coding and avoid spider webs with wires going in all directions.Have dedicated harnesses for track current,turnout control,accessories,etc.Believe me,electrical issues always show up...some time.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

sure, why not??
basically same as i did, 12 gauge for eight section main bus..
each section feeds about thirty feet of track...well, supposed to, haven't
gotten around to cutting the section spacer gaps in yet, lol
eighteen gauge drops, stranded, every three feet, or less in some places..
made a small switch / indicator light panel to feed the section buses..
some spots were eyelets, most were just holes through my 1x4 bench work framing..
I used 12 gauge solid house wiring, easier to make nice and straight between supports..


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Well come on go for broke is my moto!:sly:
10 Gauge stranded bus 64amps of DCC power!

But yea For N step it back a little 16 for the bus and 20-24 every 3 feet for the drops is way more than enough wire for the power your going to push.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

yes, 16 gauge is more than enough...solid house wire is good for 15 amps plus..
I used 12 because I got enough for all the bus's for free...
easy choice ..


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## lrbusjockey (Jan 20, 2014)

Thanks, guys. All of your comments are very helpful. Using 16 ga wire for the bus will be much easier and a LOT cheaper. And 22 GA for the feeders will also be easier and less expensive. I plan to solder bare copper (solid) wire to the track and drop them thru the base of the layout, then connect them to feeders from the bus. Saw this idea on the internet and it looked like a very neat and efficient way to supply track power. Thanks, again for all your comments and suggestions. I am very excited about this project.


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## Brakeman Jake (Mar 8, 2009)

I used stranded wires throughout.Wires get handled a lot during layout building and solid wires (specially the tiny feeders) have a tendency to break all the time.


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