Wire size for feeders

[Michael Whiteman]

Is anyone using 24ga wire for feeders on their HO layout. I've always used large but was wondering if 24ga would be acceptable on short runs drawing under 1 amp. I don't believe voltage loss would be an issue considering the size of the wires on a decoder. Your thoughts...........

[Paul S.]

Is anyone using 24ga wire for feeders on their HO layout. I've always used large but was wondering if 24ga would be acceptable on short runs drawing under 1 amp. I don't believe voltage loss would be an issue considering the size of the wires on a decoder. Your thoughts...........

24AWG should be just fine, Michael: it's good for 3.5 amps with about 25 ohms/1,000 feet resistance.

22AWG is good for seven amps, 16 ohms/1000 feet, just as reference.

[Tim R]

I use 22 AWG solid wire for feeders on my N-scale layout. I can make them very inconspicuous, and no, I do not solder them to the bottom of the rail. I like solid wire for this because it stays where you put it.

[Paul S.]

The way I skin this cat is to drill a 1/8" hole (I use a 6" airplane bit) located between two ties, but just at the end of the ties. Then I cut a slot in the cork roadbed between the ties. I pull in my feeder wire, strip, bend and tin the end, bend the wire to suit in the slot, and the solder the feeder to the rail web.

I then use clear acrylic adhesive (opaque will do too) to fill in the slot and the hole. This also provides strain relief.

[herronpeter]

I’m sorry Tim, I keep forgetting about the smaller sizes involved in N scale! It’s probably quite hard to solder the feeders to the web of the rail. I’m in O scale and use wood tied so no melted ties and plenty of room between them to get the soldering tweezers in to do the job.

[Tim R]

I take the end of the wire and squish it with a flat jaw plyer. I then bend the flat part about 90° and trim it so it just catches the rail base. I then put a couple of bends in the wire so it kind of jams in the hole in the roadbed and the flat is sitting on the rail base. Solder with .015" rosin core solder and it just about disappears when I paint the track.

Tim

[Guest]

I use 18G stranded for my feeders and 12G stranded for my bus on my HO layout. I connect the bus wires and feeders using 3M suitcase connectors.

Joe

[Eric - Housatonic RR]

I also use 22 AWG solid wire for feeders on my N-scale layout, with 12 AWG stranded wire for my power busses. All connections are soldered. The feeders are soldered to the rail web and are very inconspicuous when painted. For HO, I would stick with 22 AWG, but 24 AWG would be ok for short runs with sufficient feeders throughout the layout.