How To Wire Up Your DC Model Railway / Railroad Layout - Tutorial Tuesday Episode 27
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- How To Wire Up Your DC Model Railway / Railroad Layout - Tutorial Tuesday Episode 27. For More Photos and information visit our website:
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I will be retiring at Xmas and one of my first tasks will be to start putting a layout together. Been dreaming of it for years but always put off by the complicated wiring etc ....just found your site and watched two videos tonight and now feel much more confident. With your support and very clear and easy to follow videos I know it's going to work !!
Hi Paul, the real secret is to keep it simple and not to ambitious, then you will complete it in good time and have something you are happy with and can enjoy. DC in particular is very simple with insulated points. Have fun and keep us updated
Thanks. This helps a lot. The book I recently bought on track wiring has more chapters dedicated to constructing controllers from scratch than explaining the basics as you have done. You have helped me nicely.
Sadly too many people make it sound far more complicated than it is with DC. Glad we could help
Hello. Following our communication recently, I took the drastic action of ripping my set-up up, and starting again. Learn by your mistakes is the mantra here. I have spent a good few hours watching your videos, both yours and your sons and found them all to be perfect, and just what I want, they both spur me on and inspire me. However, always a However, a bit like a But coming in. I noticed that a load of your videos are growing whiskers, but nonetheless informative. Is it possible that you still sell the DC Controller box kit and the coach lighting kits. I haven’t got this far yet but working on it. My new and restarted layout is still 8’ x 4’ but instead of cork and gravel type ballast for the track, I have bought a roll of Roofing Felt. A complete roll for just a small amount made my wife ecstatic. Never mind, at 78 years I’m entitled to go nuts now and then, or is it the other way round and go sane? 😂😂😂. Keep going, I’m enjoying watching. Oh and I tried to get onto Instagram, tech failed me so I gave up.
to simplify it when I wired my layout up, I used a common colour for one side, and different colours for each circuit so when it came to connecting up I knew at a glance what wires powered up what section of track, so the left side on mine was red, then each other side had a different colour with a trace colour my next step is to wire them all up via standard on/off switches on the live side( multicoloured ) so I can "set the road" electronically via switches, on the earth side connect up using fly leads between the switches I also will be using multi plug connectors to join the controler wires to the rest of the layout
Great explanation, just starting to laydown the late father in laws liliput setup and this really has helped.
Glad we could help, have fun with it
if you only hook up the inside line in the siding to the black cable on the mainline you would power the line providing the points are set to straight on siding and left spur on the main siding. this allows for the siding to be isolated by changing the points. i have done this on a small "reverse" siding on my station to allow for a station pilot engine.
I was going to write this too! But you beat me to it :)
You could do the same as above but just solder the wire from track to track rather than back to the controller. Will do the same job and could be less hassle for some people. Good video btw.
possibly but the connectors they use are very easy. i would just drop the extra wire into the same connector as the black wire. no need to solder.
Thanks for sharing Doug, usual excellent video and audio quality. regards Kev
Great video. User friendly and easy to understand. I have a large collection and no layout as yet, but am planning on starting to build one soon which I’m hoping will be a similar size to yours, and the dc wiring although simple has been worrying me. No longer! Job done! Have subscribed. The other thing I’m hoping to achieve on my layout is mechanical point work with levers and I’ve devised a cunning way on how to make it work simply. Perhaps when I put in to testing, I’ll do my first video on here and share my idea with everyone who hates wiring like me! 😂
Thanks for your support, glad we could help, have fun with your layout
Another good article, Doug. I like the Saracen APC's.
They are the JB kits, now available from Airfix
I started my own first layout (On30 narrow gauge) just over a year ago and used similar connectors that you have - often commonly called chocolate block connectors. However I’ve since learned that it’s not a great idea because soldered cables that are clamped in the connector block, or indeed unsoldered cables clamped in the connector block, can quite easily shear …over time - and that you’re actually better off with those sprung-loaded connectors that just pinch the cables. I’d be interested to know your thoughts on all that?
Chocolate box connectors or indeed most connectors can occasionally fail, less often if there is no movement, so we always place them where we can get to them
Like the small under the table mounted controller you have. Simple and efficient, which make is it?
It's our own controller box using cheap electronic components, full details on our website
@@BudgetModelRailways Found it, thanks!
Great
Great video. Thanks.
Great job!! Quick question- If you wanted to use that siding to store engines could you install some kind of switch to pick which part of the track to send the power to? Just wondering how complex that would be.
The point switches the power off as its insulfrog so it's really easy
Informative video - just one point, I would have found it even more helpful if different colour wires had been used for the two rails- rather than only red wires for all
Excellent very helpful
Great vids mate! I am literally starting HO/OO DC model trains with the Prisoner Of Azkaban train set bought 2nd hand from the UK. I would like to know about electrical point switching. Have you made, or can you please make a vid for beginners like me? Regards, Jas.
Great video
How long should a continuous loop get before 2nd/3rd/4th additional power points are required?
@@DaveForeman-p1c we have run 9ft by 9ft with no issues. 12ft by 10ft depended on which loco we ran, but a 2nd power feed solved it
thanks for easy explanation for new comers.
Your welcome
Thank-you!
Your welcome
Excellent video once again from you two......if you were to look under my layout you would see an electricians nightmare!!.......ps love the little red engine!
Wondering why you use the same colour wire for both tracks? Convention would suggest two colours?
Because that's what we had, we are budget model railways lol
@@BudgetModelRailways fair enough;
Love it!!! thanks for showing this and making things simple, for a person who's had a stroke like me and gets confused.
thanks guys keep doing what you do. Massive thanks again. Wheely Lee!!
Glad we could help. For some reason people seem to want to complicate things especially DC wiring! I had a terrible job trying to explain to someone that I didn't need to isolate sidings as the points do it!
For the situation you present here, then DCC wiring is exactly the same.
Can you use these fish plate connectors with PECO Setrack?
With any 00 track yes
Well that,s so simple. No how it was explained to me thanks
Hi, ive got a gaugemaster d controller for my dc layout. Can i have a power wire coming from the controller thar leads to a choc box, then power the track and a signal light from the choc box? Or can i put a couple of wires into the terminal on the back of the controller? Thanks Andrew.
DCC Wiring is probably simpler than DC Wiring when you think about it. DC, especially if using multiple trains on a layout, needs careful isolation of one controller over another. DCC doesn't need such isolation for a basic layout. Your controller just powers the entire track all the time and which loco runs is controlled by the digital system. I can see why people are confused by DC wiring. It is a lot more complex as you need to work out isolation, which is not required in your basic DCC layout.
There is no isolation required if you use insulating points. Unless you need to run two trains at the same time then all you need is two wires with DC, not sure how you get simpler than that
Help please. I want to connect my drop wires to my controller but because they are too short i need to use a connector box to join them together. I'm unsure if I need to get a certain type of connector box as there seem to be ones with different amp ratings. What type is the one you use and does it have an amp rating on it? Thanks, Johnny.
I use the smallest cheapest ones I can get from discount hardware shops and have never had a problem
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm hopeless with electrical things and always like to ask more knowledgeable people if I'm stuck. Thanks.
I have a question that I can’t find anywhere: compositors wiring to points, turnouts: The compositors I have, have two strips one end. Question is: What direction should they face?
Sorry I have never used them,
@@BudgetModelRailways thank you anyway
great info!
how so you manage to have that second train running while you do all of this? Is this running from a separate transformer and on a self-contained loop?
Correct, we have two upper loops both on separate controllers
@@BudgetModelRailways Thanks for the reply. So those are essentially separate layouts - trains can't flow between both via switches etc?
@@TONY_FEZ yes and no. They are a separate high level layout in effect, but the two lines are not connected by switches etc, as they represent an up and down running line there is no need to connect them. This simplifies wiring etc we just use two controllers.
@@BudgetModelRailways great, thanks so much for clarifying - doing something similar myself.
We have access to efficient cheap DC controllers so its much cheaper and easier for us to do this than using DCC
Good simple video . Thank you . How far will a transformer power track for before it starts to lose power ?
It easily powers our loft layout which is 9ft by 10ft round and round layout
Budget Model Railways it’s 5 m x 5 m
is there another way to wire the track like this..ebay want from £6.00 to £12.00 for wired fishplates
You can solder them yourself, although new fish plates are also very pricey, so soldering the wire direct to the rails is the cheapest way. They are probably worth the investment for reliability
I couldn't see a link to where you can get the fish plates soldered to wires - unless I've missed something? The earlier video on soldering would have saved me a lot of hassle!
Peco sell them, ebay just need code 100 for set track
You can get wired fish plates from Gaugemaster
Helpful video
When you add more wires to the same loop, say to compensate for power drops, do you connect them to the controller the same way you did for the siding? With one of those block thingies?
A connector block yes.
Why do you use all red wires instead of red positive and black negative?
Because we have masses of red and didn't need or want to buy any more , we are budget model railways! Lol
@@BudgetModelRailways fair enough. I just thought having a colour code would be easier to understand for the people you are teaching the basics to.
Wiring is just a logic problem. Just got to remember to not get your wires crossed :P
Help needed please. Have started laying track admixture of Lima,Hornby and peco. Have diamond crossing do I need extra power feeds or switches as there is 2 tracks crossing each other Thanks. Happy Christmas to all
Hi John it depends where the power feeds are and what the track plan is, it would be ok though. The only problem we have had with diamonds is poor running at slow speeds due to the larger plastic frogs on some
Thanks, may have to rethink track plan
I find the best way to plan and test a track plan is to lay it out with the track on the floor or a table and just see how/if it works
Good idea thanks
What's the music at 7:36?! Thanks :)
1:45 "This is quite good as this is very simple unlike DCC" ? I really don't understand what you mean. It is actually much much much much simpler to wire a DCC layout then a DC layout as there is no need to have isolated sections except in rare situations where polarity would inverse (like loops). Also your points in DCC are not "power switches", the current goes both way all the time.
You don't need isolated sections with DC the points do it,its an old fashioned misconception. Our 36 ft loft run with a passing loop, six road fiddle yard and three road goods yard is powered by just two wires,how many would you need to do DCC?!
@@BudgetModelRailways Budget Model Railways First let me just do a disclaimer that I'm in Canada so products might be differents. On DC, you need to isolate sections if you want to run different trains at different speeds, have one in in a siding unless your points act as isolators like the one you appear to have but I got some Atlas RR, Bachmann USA, Peco and Roco that are not. The only switches I can think of that can be modified to do that that are available here are the Kato Unitrack ($$$). I don't know the total length of my tracks, but I can tell you that there is only one set of wire that connect the whole layout and I don't have any issues. At out club, they divided/isolated the network in several sections with circuit protection so that a short on a section doesn't shut down the whole layout as we can get 10-15 trains running at the same time but I guess the same would be true on any larger DC layout with that much traffic on it. There is also some boosters on the club's layout to accommodate more power for the locos.
All our Peco points isolate as do hornby, so that must be different? As we don't want to run multiple trains, and on a small layout there is no need, then DCC has no advantages. Whilst you may only use 2 wires, ( plus ' some' dropper) in the UK people tend to wire every bit of track and certainly every siding etc. Hence the comment DC is less wiring
I’ve always found dcc a lot simpler than dc more cables but no isolation or anything
You don't need isolation with DC its a myth, modern insulfrog points do it all for you
I think that i am going to have a z or n scale/gauge end to end so i Will have marklin ho and z or n
Why does TH-cam keep unsubscribing!
I watched this when I was just starting out and I was a little confused. Now after trial and error on my own and after watching this I get it, very very helpful, many thanks.
Everything confused me when we started! Sometimes you just need to experiment to get some context
great video
Wow nice video BUT you are teaching people to wire their track? surly you should be using black/ blue for negative and red/brown for live not just red as this will confuse most lay people just a thought? but good video best wishes Ken
I have an up and a down line plus a four track station and two loops for each direction acting as sidings
I want to bring a train from the outside line over to tge second line so that the train can get into the sidings.
I hope you understand.
I would install two sets of points so that the outside train can cross over into the loop and the other train( in the same direction can cross over to the outside line.
How can I do this without burning something from having a separate power source on each track?
Complicated question- sorry
It's complicated and why I have never done it. I keep both lines seperate and accept that the goods sidings can only be accessed in one direction, which was very common on the real railway
Morning are you still making the 3d Controller box if so can I order one Thanks. Michael King
www.budgetmodelrailways.co.uk/store/p15/BMR_PWM_SINGLE_CONTROLLER_CASE.html#/ Currently available on our website but only for a few more weeks
Thank you, you make things so easy for us novices. Can you do diamond crossings in DC?
@@fredbloggs-nt8rb thanks. Yes you should be able too with no issues, except I belive the large frogs can stall some locomotives at slower speeds.
@@BudgetModelRailways Great, thank you.
Hi my name is rob i have just found your page and your comments on common rail. i note that you connect the negative side of the out put to the outside rail which goes all round the layout. Question where do you connect the positive wire to ? I am currently building a dc layout on a very tight budget and would like to go the common rail route. I thank you in advance for any help you can give me on this.
The other wire goes to the other rail, it does not matter which is which as long as you have one wire on one rail and one on the other. We have just made another video on wiring which might help. I'm not sure what you mean by common rail, that sounds more like DCC?
Hello,please can you activete the english traslation in italian for the videos ,thank you.
Fine job Doug. now your doing the camera work
and the narration At this rate, you'll be putting Dear Ol' Dad out of work! =-)
I’m even more confused now 😩 what was that little white thing they wired it into, they never explained.. do you put all the wires into one hole or different wires different holes?
It's a connector block, two wires in two out simples
@@BudgetModelRailways Cheers! Watched a few more videos after yours and have a better understanding now, thank you!
Great video makes things look simple thank you Douglas
Many thanks that helps a lot 🏴🇬🇧👍🏻
Great tutorial. Good learning experience for me. Thanks!
Glad to help
I use the hornby track piece and default controller you get with the sets like flying scotsman ect and its much easier
Easier but unreliable
Best channel on model trains.....simplicity is always the key.
Very kind thanks
Hi there, just saying thankyou for you videos, very helpful, love your layout.
Thanks for watching and commenting happy Christmas
RIP any loco that goes sailing off the end of the track
Been there, done that, bought the T shirt
Enjoy that you simplify it for us newbies. Thanks. It seems that you are running your track wires (22 gauge?) under the layout direct to your controller (maybe up to 10 ft) Do you use a bus wire (maybe 12 or 14 gauge) to connect your feeders to? With just one or two track connections per layout are you soldering track together or just using metal joiners to get a good electrical connection? Thanks again
You don't need feeders with DC that's DCC , we just use fishplates to transfer power. Sadly there are lots of out of date myths around DC layouts
@@BudgetModelRailways Thank you for busting that old myth. I am quite relieved as multiple feeders and buses seemed very complicated. So I understand then that you would solder one end of the wire to a metal track joiner and the other end you would connect to the transformer. What wire gauge would be best to use on an N scale? I don't see that info in any videos or comments. Thanks so much
@@johnredfernjr8363 you need one wire to each rail a positive and a negative. Not sure about wire I just use whatever I have. One if the issues was older points were not reliable so you had to add wires and switches. With modern insulating points that's not an issue, peco in particular.
Thank you!
Quick Question but can you run mire then one train with DC?
Not on the same track at the same time, but on different parts of a layout yes, you just need insulating points and another controller
What type of connectors are you using ?
1:06 fishplate connectors :)
I guess distance from power source has some bearing on how large a layout you can get ...?
Possibly but our 9x9 ft was quite happy with one power supply
@@BudgetModelRailways That is good to know thanks
What felt are you using please as I am going to set up my own models
Whatever I can find cheap
do you need that white thing your wires go to or can they go stright to your controller? also when i hold my wires ontop of my rails it sparks
If the wires were long enough then yes. Perhaps the track needs a clean
@@BudgetModelRailways i tried it on brand new track my wires are silver colour should they be brass colour?
No nickel silver is right so not sure sorry
How so you control two trains over the same track with different power supplies?
Why would you want two trains running on the same bit of track, I'm curious
@@BudgetModelRailways For crossovers into yards and to switch operating lines
UK practice is to only use each line one way, so there would still only be one train on each line. If you have switched running directions and want to run two trains surely they will meet head on. If you want to just run a short distance then use isolating points. This is forgotten by DCC people who use electro points. If you really must run two trains on the same track then you need DCC with the huge cost and complexity involved.
Fine job. Are more tutorials on your series for the shunting layout in the works, Douglas?
Very good as always Doug nice looking car train in the background too.
Thank-you. My bought-in Track Mat layout is coming on. It looks as though some cleaning tlc, especially on the points will help. I' m also thinking (scary?) that replacing track power clips with soldered joints will help. So thanks for the indicated soldering tutodial : to be watched soonish.
We had all sorts problems in the early days until we switched from power clips to either powered isolates or soldered wires
ive got a dc double track simple loop.2 trains and 2 controller.my question is can i put a cross over between the 2 track without converting to dcc?thanks
You can but then they won't be isolated so both will run, you would also need to ensure you get the wiring right to avoid a short
Nice video
Great video. How do you wire signal lights on a dc layout? Thanks
Sorry we have never done that, so I don't know
oh this was very helpful thankyou!
I’d like to see your guys tips on how to make a big nice looking layout but for sort of dirt cheap
Check out the other videos on their channel, there are loads of ideas...😀
Decent video as usual! But the siding you wired up would still need to be isolated to hold a loco? (For use as an engine shed) Or would changing the points stop the power still?
The points should still stop power from the main line, but not from the extra wires added in this video. You could put a toggle switch in the circuit so you can connect and disconnect that section at will.
Both of you are correct, but as I only want to hold wagons there it's not an issue. Thanks for the info
It’s monday
this was uploaded last Tuesday
Great tutorial, learning lots.
I do have a quick question regarding extra wiring to your loops. Is it the same as the shunting wiring, placing it into the same connections to the controller?
Thanks in advance 👍
Pretty much yes
@@BudgetModelRailways thank you might need 3 of your control boxes at some point lol
6:21
Question, what was the white thing that you used, and where can I get one?
Also, would you need multiple if you have multiple reverse sidings in different areas of a shunting layout?
Haha, I clearly know what I'm talking about!
Thanks for the great video. I have played with ho scale trains on and off for 40 years (but nothing for the last 25 years) so basically I am re starting with ho again and have purchased a 30 year work in progress lay which has a basic oval track layout on a 4 foot by 10 foot plywood that hasn't run in 20 years. There is one complete oval with one curved track that has a place to connect 2 wires, the stamp on this curved track where the wires are says ATLAS (OR ATLA 5, can't tell for sure). The wires (red and a blue) are connected and come under the plywood sheet but now I would like to connect these wires to the old throttlepack transformer that came with it. The transformer says the input is 100 to 120 volts AC 60 HZ and the output is 16 volt DC and 18volt AC. Total output 18 VA. On the back of the transformer where you hook up the wires, there are 2 screws that say variable DC, 2 screws that say 16 volts AC and 2 screws that say 12 volts DC. The question is which wires do I hook where, and is there a neutral wire and a hot wire and which part of the track rail is the hot wire and which rail is neutral. By looking at the curved track that has the wires connected, I cant tell which wire goes to the inside rail and which goes to the outer rail. Appreciate any help you can offer to get the train running. Thanks. Peter
Hi Peter. It will be one of the 12v outlets. It doesn't matter which wire is which. Wire it up and try a loco is the simplest way
I have re-watched this again great video what type of wire do you guys use from your controller to your wire block? Thanks again. Keep up the great work.
To be honest whatever suitable wire we can find to avoid paying the high model railway wire prices