Wire connectors

[AceinOz]

What do people use to connect dropper wires to the bus wire? I know one method is to solder. What about using suitcase (Or scotch lock?) connectors? If so, what size - AWG14-16?

[morairamike]

I soldered mine after wrapping the dropper around the buss wire. Reason for this is it's unlikely to come apart or go high resistance. As it's under the layout access isn't always easy later.

[96RAF]

I used 5 x junction boards. The bus feeds in one side, droppers are attached to the + and - bus rails and the bus continues out the other side to the next one. There is a handy three way led power indicator to show DCC, DC>> or DC<<.

These are mounted topside for convenience of connection and the boards hidden by a suitable building, etc. The dropper wires still need to be soldered to the rails.

The last one has a bus terminator fitted to protect against spikes that may occur if a loco derails or in event of some accidental short circuit.

[Flashbang]

Twisted & soldered. Screw terminal blocks. Wago 221 or similar style connectors. Ready made connector blocks. Suit Case/Scotchlok connectors (must be of the correct colour size though). Earthing bus blocks. Barrier strips.

All are suitable, it is really what is right for the end user. grinning

Of all those I've listed, the Wago 221 style is probably the easiest to use and rewire into. In case you don't know what Wago style connectors are, they come in 2, 3 and 5 way internally connected blocks. Wago example...

https://www.wago.com/gb/electrical-interconnections/discover-installation-terminal-blocks-and-connectors/221

[Brew Man]

Just got some WAGO 221 5 way connectors that Flashbang mentions and they look really great and straight forward to use. The 5 way will allow one bus wire in and one out then 3 dropper connections, or you might be able to squeeze two wires into each slot and get more droppers connected. Of course you'll need two connectors in total for each junction location - one for each phase of the bus. If you're going to have to crawl under the base board they will be much easier to use than terminal blocks.