I used suitcase connectors to hook the feeders, 18ga. To the bus, 14 ga. I've heard it's a no-no , the suitcases, but i've had no issues in 3 years. Great video.
Me and you think alike, i wired my layout the same way. However I ended up not soldering my track pieces toghter instead dropping feeders from each piece of track to allow for expansion and contraction of track due to temp change. Well done and nicely explained.
Sparky, great use of the box car method!! It can get confusing and that's why I started using the method. nothing worse than wiring and then you find out you got something backwards, so much fun!! Great basic tutorial. Thanks D. Muse
Video so nice I watched it twice. I’ll be going a lot more into bus lines, and other wiring soon in my videos on the show layout. As well as connectors and suitcase connectors. This was a grate basic wiring video tho. And dose cover what most need to know.
I've used a red sticky label (as a reminder of polarity) on one side for a long time, however I like your idea of the open door on one side to keep track of polarity, neat! Sometimes the bleedin obvious takes a little longer!! Well done.
Wow!!! Tip from pro builder. Use T-taps on the end of your feed wires and just snap them to the main bus. Only need two wires to run your bus. Besides with all those jumpers you give yourself more places for failure of electric flow.
Great video sparky, I have had so many people explain it to me on how it looks and most of the time they just drew it on a piece of paper, I’m a visual person and this helped out a lot. Hopefully I can really get my layout up and running soon.
Really liked the video Sparky. You did the best job of explaining bus wiring and feeders as well as those terminal blocks. Thank you so very much it was most helpful.
If you want to simplify and save wire, whe wiring a loop like you show here, it is not necessary to run the bus all the way arounf the loop. Run it down the middle and pull feeders to both sides of the loop off a single central bus. As long as you keep your colors correct, the bus doesn't need to double back on itself.
You Ca Ca...nadians and your fancy wire gauge terminology. LOL. Great tutorial this is great for basics, short sweet and simple. Have not used much of those Euro Style terminal blocks but a benefit of them over a screw style terminal block. well that's not good description of it you know what I mean. is you don't need Spade terminals for those Euro Style terminal blocks I most likely will not use those Euro Style style terminal blocks because I have whole bunch of I guess I'll say US style terminal blocks that I get for free. Good trick with the boxcars. A trick that is mainly good for smaller layouts I learned from ic82 and that is a simple color coding trick white is always on the right.thanks for sharing.
Vary helpful, I think I might try this in an attempt to solve that corner issue I've been having. Also what did you do in the reversing loop sections to prevent shorts?
I use red and black wires as my bus line. Red wire=rightside rail. If sitting in the engineers seat of the locomotive, looking ahead, rightside rail=red wire. Red=front rail, black=back rail.
I could be mistaken, but the concept of a bus line is the same for DCC and older DC analog. It's about being able to run DC current from your controller to the farthest points of a large layout. Since rails are not an ideal conductor, you lose a percentage of power the further away the track is from the controller. You run a bus line like that in a loop around your layout, so you can then attach feeder wires between the bus line and the track rails above. This ensures a nice, even distribution of power to all sections of the track. That said, there ARE different considerations for wiring DC vs DCC when it comes to turnouts and reversing loops.
Question. Instead of soldering couldn't you just use the power lockon pigtails as your feeder and connect those to your bus with those splicer connectors? Wouldn't that be just as good?
you can do it that way. but would be more costly is all . once you get the hang of soldering, goes pretty simply. just remember to use soldering paste.
@@sparky107107 I know soldering would be better but this is going up on a ceiling layout. Don't see how I could lay the bus line and solder up on a ladder. ?
Always use stranded wire!! The only exception is in house walls. Airplanes, cars, household appliances, computers, high tension lines all used stranded. It has less resistance, more flexible and less likely to fail if just one strand breaks. It's an engineering Best Practice.
So, why couldn’t you just put a battery pack inside the locomotive and that would feed the dcc? Instead of the tracks. Would be perfect for outdoor layouts.
To put it simply. The information sent by your control unit. Can get to the loco faster. Think of it as a pipe. You want to water your lawn. One pipe means the water has to get all the way to the end then build up pressure before doing the job. If you have many pipes off a larger pipe. ( the drops). Then the water can builds up faster in each pipe. And does the job sooner All about speed of the information. Farther to go. Longer it takes. More distorted the message gets. Lots of drops. Less distance to get to where it has to go. Clearer the information is
@@Greatdome99 so that's why folks have districts with separated power. Power can only go so far. Learning a lot these past few years. Have a good picture of what it looks like. Thanks!
I have brand new flex track an brand new csx locomotive I cleaned the track a brand new transformer but I have 4 used brass turnouts an 2 brand new silver turn outs train will not move no sound nothing please help PLEASE I’m very new to this hobby
a video showing what you mean. and how it is working would help a lot. and you will get lots of advice. can be a number of things, testing the transformer, to the rail joiners. dirty track to dirty pick up's on the locomotive. again, a video would help figure out the issue.
@@bansheeo3831 Could also be a reversing loop that isn't isolated, causing a short circuit. Look up "DC Reversing loop" and see if you have that issue.
your bus wire is just an extension of the power line coming from your control box to the track (14 awg). The feeder wires go up from the bus line to your track. (typically around 18awg wire.) the reasoning this is so. Is that the 14 awg wire will have more power (electricity) running through it on a longer strands. you could have just one wire set (red/black) connecting to it however doing so will lower the voltage the longer the distance.
like in most videos on YT, HORRIBLE, as a beginner, Im waiting for you to explain why a terminal strip is needed --you're making this vid to show people how to do something but your not articulate
The bus wire is the main power source. As in house wiring the use of a larger gauge wire carries current easier with less voltage drop allowing equal voltage for the length of the wire. If he was to use 22 gauge wire ( the larger the wire # = a smaller diameter wire) the drop in voltage going through the wire would be lower as its voltage is drawn off for each wire. Anything wired close to the power pack would work but the farther away from the PP it may not, hence using a larger “14 gauge” wire allows balanced voltage. Now using a buss strip allows multiple draws from just one connection to the buss strip. The more you cut into the buss the higher the chance of shorts and lost connectivity. It’s also easier to locate problems by disconnecting a feeder wire one at a time at the buss and not having to figure out it the main buss wire is the problem. Hope this helps some and definitely keeps asking those questions.
I used suitcase connectors to hook the feeders, 18ga. To the bus, 14 ga. I've heard it's a no-no , the suitcases, but i've had no issues in 3 years. Great video.
I have a bunch of those connectors. just have not used them yet.
I'm starting to think about wiring my layout now . I like that box car trick .
The boxcar door is awesome! Never thought of that!
Me and you think alike, i wired my layout the same way. However I ended up not soldering my track pieces toghter instead dropping feeders from each piece of track to allow for expansion and contraction of track due to temp change. Well done and nicely explained.
Thanks sparky! You helped a lot!
Nice Sparky. Thank you for sharing
Sparky, great use of the box car method!! It can get confusing and that's why I started using the method. nothing worse than wiring and then you find out you got something backwards, so much fun!! Great basic tutorial.
Thanks
D. Muse
Hi Sparky great information in how to wire you train layout. Thanks for sharing. Greeting Nick from New Jersey
great explanation, love the visual using the box car, wish I had seen this months ago
Thanks, Sparky, good and simple explanation. Just what I needed.
Great video sparky, explained bus lines in a simple easy to understand way 👍👍...Reid
Thx for sharing Sparky. Thumbs up!
Video so nice I watched it twice. I’ll be going a lot more into bus lines, and other wiring soon in my videos on the show layout. As well as connectors and suitcase connectors. This was a grate basic wiring video tho. And dose cover what most need to know.
Very helpful video. I had never seen the boxcar trick for polarity. Thank you
I've used a red sticky label (as a reminder of polarity) on one side for a long time, however I like your idea of the open door on one side to keep track of polarity, neat!
Sometimes the bleedin obvious takes a little longer!!
Well done.
Hay thanks for making this video!! Varry helpful
Miss that layout. Like ur wiring scheme. Those rail power dist thingies are cool.
Great tutorial Sparky! Lots of good information and clearly explained. Thanks! Cheers, Dan
Wow!!! Tip from pro builder. Use T-taps on the end of your feed wires and just snap them to the main bus. Only need two wires to run your bus. Besides with all those jumpers you give yourself more places for failure of electric flow.
Good video sparky!
The polarity didn't change......just the point of view. But I do see how you could get easily mixed up. nice video
i agree it don't change unless your crossing tracks
Dang Sparky, you can hand-hump the cars so good, who needs power??-jk-A very informative video to help out a fellow model railroader-Thanks Sparky!!
G'day Mate, from one sparky to another very well explained, Tezza.
Great video on bus lines and feeder wires! Linda 🚂🙂
Thanks Sparky👍
Greta information, thanks for the video. I think it helped about 1.8K people.
Great video sparky, I have had so many people explain it to me on how it looks and most of the time they just drew it on a piece of paper, I’m a visual person and this helped out a lot. Hopefully I can really get my layout up and running soon.
Great info Dave thank you for sharing.
Really liked the video Sparky. You did the best job of explaining bus wiring and feeders as well as those terminal blocks. Thank you so very much it was most helpful.
That is the best explanation i have seen how a bus wire works thank you very much just brilliant
Best I've seen and it makes it easy simple and complete
excellent vid Sparky, thank you.
Great video great understanding of bus
If you want to simplify and save wire, whe wiring a loop like you show here, it is not necessary to run the bus all the way arounf the loop. Run it down the middle and pull feeders to both sides of the loop off a single central bus. As long as you keep your colors correct, the bus doesn't need to double back on itself.
Good video well explained
This helped immensely. Thank you.
You Ca Ca...nadians and your fancy wire gauge terminology. LOL. Great tutorial this is great for basics, short sweet and simple. Have not used much of those Euro Style terminal blocks but a benefit of them over a screw style terminal block. well that's not good description of it you know what I mean. is you don't need Spade terminals for those Euro Style terminal blocks I most likely will not use those Euro Style style terminal blocks because I have whole bunch of I guess I'll say US style terminal blocks that I get for free. Good trick with the boxcars. A trick that is mainly good for smaller layouts I learned from ic82 and that is a simple color coding trick white is always on the right.thanks for sharing.
well done lil bro...vinny
👍👍Great explanation. Thanks.
Good video sir
THANK YOU FOR VIDEO
Nice you are using DIN terminal blocks.
Great Video
Hey sparky nice explanation sir. Oh hey I FB messaged you just now.
Vary helpful, I think I might try this in an attempt to solve that corner issue I've been having. Also what did you do in the reversing loop sections to prevent shorts?
i do not have a reversing loop. single main line that dog bones and runs parallel to itself.
Use plastic railjoiners both ends of reversing loop
I use red and black wires as my bus line. Red wire=rightside rail. If sitting in the engineers seat of the locomotive, looking ahead, rightside rail=red wire. Red=front rail, black=back rail.
Thank you. At least I know now what I bus line is. Otherwise, I guess I have to learn about electricity, etc., if I wish to upgrade to DCC.
I could be mistaken, but the concept of a bus line is the same for DCC and older DC analog. It's about being able to run DC current from your controller to the farthest points of a large layout. Since rails are not an ideal conductor, you lose a percentage of power the further away the track is from the controller. You run a bus line like that in a loop around your layout, so you can then attach feeder wires between the bus line and the track rails above. This ensures a nice, even distribution of power to all sections of the track.
That said, there ARE different considerations for wiring DC vs DCC when it comes to turnouts and reversing loops.
You Got Me!
Question. Instead of soldering couldn't you just use the power lockon pigtails as your feeder and connect those to your bus with those splicer connectors? Wouldn't that be just as good?
you can do it that way. but would be more costly is all . once you get the hang of soldering, goes pretty simply. just remember to use soldering paste.
@@sparky107107 I know soldering would be better but this is going up on a ceiling layout. Don't see how I could lay the bus line and solder up on a ladder. ?
Sparky. Where can i get some of those terminal blocks? They look so awesome.
Rick Bailey eBay they are very cheap come from China with free shipping
Where can I find all the information on start to finish how to wire a layout and how to install DCC?
Did you use stranded or solid wire for your bus wires?
solid #14
Always use stranded wire!! The only exception is in house walls. Airplanes, cars, household appliances, computers, high tension lines all used stranded. It has less resistance, more flexible and less likely to fail if just one strand breaks. It's an engineering Best Practice.
Can I use terminal blocks instead of strips? I live in Edmonton & Canadian tire doesn't have strips only blocks
you can, you just have to make sure you use jumper wires to make them all black, or all white.. well half and half.
So, why couldn’t you just put a battery pack inside the locomotive and that would feed the dcc? Instead of the tracks. Would be perfect for outdoor layouts.
So when you attach the wires to the rails how how far down the track should you add more wire
some people say every 3 feet, i am more like 5 to 10 is ok . and after every switch
@@sparky107107 ok thanks I am planning on starting my first layout this weekend
That’s exactly what I was going to ask (how much distance for each feeder on track) thank you sir and looking forward to my first layout too.
What is the purpose of the bus line? 50 years ago we ran the track voltage directly to the rails and that was it.
Size of the layout my man,
Rails, particularly Nickel Silver, is not as good of a conductor as brass, even if rail joints are soldered together.
Can you explain in simple terms why it is needed to keep jumping the bus to the track every so often and after switches?
To put it simply. The information sent by your control unit. Can get to the loco faster.
Think of it as a pipe. You want to water your lawn. One pipe means the water has to get all the way to the end then build up pressure before doing the job. If you have many pipes off a larger pipe. ( the drops). Then the water can builds up faster in each pipe. And does the job sooner
All about speed of the information. Farther to go. Longer it takes. More distorted the message gets. Lots of drops. Less distance to get to where it has to go. Clearer the information is
The bus wires provide less resistance between power supply and train. At far points on the layout, the voltage drop is significant.
@@Greatdome99 so that's why folks have districts with separated power. Power can only go so far. Learning a lot these past few years. Have a good picture of what it looks like. Thanks!
Nice work have you seen my 200 subscriber video
You should really take a look at it Sparky. It's a blast! LOL! Cheers, Dan
Danny Holt he did
I have brand new flex track an brand new csx locomotive I cleaned the track a brand new transformer but I have 4 used brass turnouts an 2 brand new silver turn outs train will not move no sound nothing please help PLEASE I’m very new to this hobby
Running on DC
8x10 layout
a video showing what you mean. and how it is working would help a lot. and you will get lots of advice. can be a number of things, testing the transformer, to the rail joiners. dirty track to dirty pick up's on the locomotive.
again, a video would help figure out the issue.
@@bansheeo3831 Could also be a reversing loop that isn't isolated, causing a short circuit. Look up "DC Reversing loop" and see if you have that issue.
This is no help..im even more confused.
your bus wire is just an extension of the power line coming from your control box to the track (14 awg). The feeder wires go up from the bus line to your track. (typically around 18awg wire.) the reasoning this is so. Is that the 14 awg wire will have more power (electricity) running through it on a longer strands. you could have just one wire set (red/black) connecting to it however doing so will lower the voltage the longer the distance.
like in most videos on YT, HORRIBLE, as a beginner, Im waiting for you to explain why a terminal strip is needed --you're making this vid to show people how to do something but your not articulate
The bus wire is the main power source. As in house wiring the use of a larger gauge wire carries current easier with less voltage drop allowing equal voltage for the length of the wire. If he was to use 22 gauge wire ( the larger the wire # = a smaller diameter wire) the drop in voltage going through the wire would be lower as its voltage is drawn off for each wire. Anything wired close to the power pack would work but the farther away from the PP it may not, hence using a larger “14 gauge” wire allows balanced voltage. Now using a buss strip allows multiple draws from just one connection to the buss strip. The more you cut into the buss the higher the chance of shorts and lost connectivity. It’s also easier to locate problems by disconnecting a feeder wire one at a time at the buss and not having to figure out it the main buss wire is the problem. Hope this helps some and definitely keeps asking those questions.