Power Feed Connectors

[fURNITUREMAN]

Over the past few years I have experienced a small number of problems relating to the performance of several trains be them diesel units of steam locos.

I think I have at last identified the problem in that there is a power variance on parts of the track.

I am going to revamp the wiring and install. a bus bar system. This will allow me to fit Droppers

or Power fee connectors at various intervals around the circuit which should improve the flow of power and hence give greater efficency to all my stock.

My question for the 'techies' is there any preference to soldering the droppers to the rails or using power feed connectors as in Peco pre soldered rail joiners?

Also as it has been suggested do I have to use either 3amp or 4.5amp wire?

[Chrissaf]

Put 10 forum members in a room and ask them this question and you will get 10 different recommendations. Each have their own preferences which usually start with "This is what I do and it works for me". I tend to base my solutions on my electrical training & experience in my 'working in technology' lifetime career. So although there is no total 100% 'right and wrong' way to do something. The solution I decided to employ was based upon a certain amount of research and my lifetime career experience knowledge and electrical apprenticeship working latterly in the area of digital signal transmission and IT.

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My question for the 'techies' is there any preference to soldering the droppers to the rails or using power feed connectors as in Peco pre soldered rail joiners?

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Personally, I would always favour direct to rail soldered wires. The PECO PL-80 pre-wired rail joiners are OK and favoured by some on here for convenience if not happy with soldering. But at the end of the day, the transfer of current from the controller to the loco motor is still reliant upon physical / mechanical tight clean contact areas of the mechanical track joiner.

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One of the reasons for incorporating a BUS power distribution and dropper system is to relegate the track joiners to just the function of physically joining rails. Over time, track expands and contracts and is subject to vibration. Track joiners can tarnish and loosen. One of the key reasons why older track and older layouts develop intermittent power distribution problems.

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So my view is....why still rely on the physical track joiner for the transfer of current into the rails using the PECO PL-80 when directly soldered wires to rails is so much more robust and reliable than metal joiners, powered or not.

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Also as it has been suggested do I have to use either 3amp or 4.5amp wire?

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As a rule of thumb, the size of wires should be defined by the layout size and number of dropper locations rather than any arbitrary current rating.

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It is generally accepted that the main BUS wires should be 24/0.2mm or 32/0.2mm for larger layouts with longer runs. Whilst droppers should be restricted to lengths not more than 300mm using 7/0.2mm wire.

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These numbers define the number of strands and the diameter of the individual strands. So 24/0.2mm wire is 24 x strands of 0.2mm diameter wire and 7/0.2mm wire is 7 x strands of 0.2mm diameter wire. Stranded wire (rather than solid conductor) should in my view be used. Solid conductors (more so the thinner ones) are prone to vibration induced metal fatigue and can break. Sometimes inside the outer insulation. This makes finding the break a lot more onerous.

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According to my cable supplier catalogue:

7/0.2mm is rated at 2 Amps

24/0.2mm is rated at 4.5 Amps

32/0.2mm is rated at 10 Amps

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The next question is the number of droppers. Some just suggest a dropper somewhere convenient on each side of a point, so that DCC point clips (Hornby track only) are not required. Such that there might be several track pieces between two adjacent points that share one common dropper. This is fine, but it still means that some track pieces will still rely in the longer term on the physical reliability of those track joiners for long term stable power distribution.

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My personal view is to put a dropper on every single individual track piece (including points) such that no track power is reliant on a single track joiner to function. But I have always gone a bit overboard in the track power distribution area. My own layout has about 45 metres of track and every piece has its own individual dropper and I have not had a single power issue since it was built in 2013.

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[walkingthedog]

My preference is based on 60 ish years of railway modelling. Solder direct to the rails. Fishplates are just for joining track together, nothing else. 

[96RAF]

If you think about fishplates conducting power along the rails, the problem arises when a fishplate becomes loose, hence if it is a wired fishplate then you have the same problem, a loose fishplate still makes for poor power transmission.

 

The advantage of a soldered bus system is the copper bus wire is less resistant than nickel silver rails, hence less voltage drop per measured length, which can become important on a large layout.

[RDS]

My view exactly WTD. (apart from the 60 years that is!)