Model Railroading > bus and track feeder wire: stranded or solid?

what types of wire do u modeler prefer for your bus and feeder wires?

as i remember, stranded was easier to solder with.........

66

Solid wire.

For the track drops, 22 gauge solid wire works, but for the buses, I like 14 gauge stranded wire..

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

You can get 14 guage house wire for lower cost - its solid.

Posted from Android

what would be the disadvantage of using stranded wire? 

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> what would be the disadvantage of using stranded
> wire? 

14 gauge solid and 14 gauge stranded wires have about the same DC resistance per foot, but the wire bundle diameter is about 15% greater in the stranded wire to achieve this. Stranded wire is preferred in applications where it has to flex, as copper "work hardens" under mechanical action and becomes brittle (and fractures), an effect that is more pronounced in solid wires. If the wire is fixed in place, solid is fine. For a tilt-up section, I think stranded is better.

Ray

For our DCC layout, we used solid bus wire. Just bought a spool of house electrical wire at menards. (14 gage I think). For the drops from track to bus, I have a mix of stranded and solid. I personally like soldering the stranded onto the rail better, in my opinion, it's easer to form to the side of the railhead. I don't think it makes a big difference which route you go. We used suitcase connectors to tie the drops to the bus. That saved tons of time when you are talking about around 300 drops for the layout. 
Also, if you have decently long runs of bus wire, twist your two bus wires to reduce the signal "noise". 
  -Caleb

Solid wire for both for a couple of reasons.  Solid wire is easier to fish through the layers of the layout (plywood, foam, etc).  It also can be peeled back using a wire stripper to allow attachment for feeder drops easier.  This is handy when you're trying to splice in a set of drops after running the bus.  Finally, it's just easier to form into a shape for soldering, whether it be to attach it to a rail, or to the bus under the layout.  I'm not sure of the cost difference between solid and stranded, but I would think solid is cheaper (just based on common usage within houses). 

-Sean

thanks for the info everybody, i will use solid wire for both the feeders and the bus............

66

I didn't really care for when I ran solid wire for my bus. It seemed to kink and I had some difficulty pulling it through my half inch hole drilled between my layout segments. This, however, is a very minor complaint but a complaint nonetheless. For connecting feeders to the bus, I used actual 3M Scotchlok connectors properly sized for both the feeder and the bis. They were pricey, but I was able to buy the exact quantity I needed online (Mauser Electronics I believe). They were worth every penny. 

Would never use suitcase connectors for anything as they can cause resistance problems over time as they do not make a good connection between the wires. Have been down that road with them over the years also they can cut softer wire making it a weak spot.
Stranded wire will carry more amprage than solid but in our scale its not a big deal unless you are in say G scale pulling some amps. Check your buss size as if you are using ten amp boosters then you would want 16ga or larger for the buss. The figure used for wire size is
for roughy a 100ft run with minimal amp drop at that length. I always solder my connections to the buss just takes a little more time and a little more heat but there is no worry down the road of a loose connection. In our hobby most are using DCC which does not like any loose connections due to signal that is sent to operate our trains.
-------------------------------------------------------
> For our DCC layout, we used solid bus wire. Just
> bought a spool of house electrical wire at
> menards. (14 gage I think). For the drops from
> track to bus, I have a mix of stranded and solid.
> I personally like soldering the stranded onto the
> rail better, in my opinion, it's easer to form to
> the side of the railhead. I don't think it makes a
> big difference which route you go. We used
> suitcase connectors to tie the drops to the bus.
> That saved tons of time when you are talking about
> around 300 drops for the layout. 
> Also, if you have decently long runs of bus wire,
> twist your two bus wires to reduce the signal
> "noise". 
>   -Caleb

i was going to solder the feeders to my bus as i want to make sure the connections last with no drops in voltage........

66

66, that's how I did it, 12 gauge solid bus and 22 gauge solid feeders, everything soldered everywhere except at commercial grade terminal strips.

No problems to report, and that's 8 years in a northeastern (variable humidity & temperature) basement since I did the first ones.

~RGDave