dcc power to ez track

[tford]

can you solder power wires to ez track from the buss or do you have to use the ez track terminal? if you can solder has any one had any luck / is there do and don'ts specific to ez track?

[the Bach-man]

Dear TF,
I solder leads all the time- no problem!
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Jim Banner]

Yes, you can solder feeders to E-Z Track.  I solder them to the outsides of the rails and push them down through the table via small holes drilled close to the rails.  Others prefer to solder the feeder wires to the bottoms of the rail joiners where they are completely invisible.

DO make sure the rails are squeaky clean, do use a non-acid flux, do use rosin core solder and do use a soldering iron of about 25 watts.  Most important, do practice, even if this means wasting a piece of track.  

DON'T over heat the rails, don't use acid flux or acid core solder, don't use too much solder.

Jim  

[duff]

For some of my yard tracks, I have soldered directly to the end of the bumper track piece, hiding the wire with landscaping material.

For the mainline, I have soldered the wire to the underside of the rail joiner.  The wire then goes between the EZTrack pieces.  Some creativity was needed, as the two base pieces pinch the wire.
I was generally successful in removing the joiner, and doing the soldering away from the actual track.

[Jim Banner]

Would it be possible to file or carve a small notch in the plastic base where the wire fits?  This might save pinching the wires when you solder them to the bottoms of the rail joiners.

Jim

[duff]

I think the connector tab for the base looked to be approximately in line with the rail.  But I suppose the wire could have been routed towards the center of the rails, and a notch made there.