Large layout power

[crobin9150]

My apologies if this has been addressed in previous post.  I am new to the forum however I have been working on building my layout and have discovered that on on leg of the layout I have a loss of power. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  I am using the Bachmann controller that cam with the initial set and plan to upgrade at some point to the EZ command.

[BobZ]

My layout is U-shaped, 12'x16'x8' by 4' wide sections. I am using EZ Command Control with a EZ Command 5amp Power Booster. Power feeders are about 10' apart. So far I haven't had any power problems.

[jward]

When I got into DCC I ran a n l shaped layout 13-6 on each side. AS long as you have enough power feeders to the track you should be fine. Remember wire was a lower resistance than rail, so adding a feeder to the places that give you problems will help eliminate them.

[crobin9150]

Any guidance on power feeders

[trainman203]

Google is your friend. Bottomless model railroad wiring videos.

[jward]

Most people run a pair of bus wires under the layout, then tap off of those for feeders. The easiest way to describe it is to look at the electrical power system on your street. The overhead lines on the poles are the bus line. The wiring to each individual house are your feeders. All the houses are your track. Note that if you do this it is absolutely vital that you get the polarity of the two wires correct on all feeders. Get just one set of feeders reversed and you have a short. I'd advise wiring one set of feeders at a time. Then, with the power disconnected, use the continuity tester on a multimeter to make sure the two rails are still isolated from each other. If they are not, the last set of feeders needs to be reversed. Note that is you do not disconnect the power supply/ DCC command station when doing this you will get readings through the internal circuitry of the command station that look like a short but are not.



I did not do that. I wired my layout, and the subsequent one, for DC block control. All feeders came from a centrally located control panel, and no runs were more than ten feet long. Various sections (blocks) were isolated from each other using insulated rail joiners, and each section had its own set of feeders. If I ran into power problems, I simply tapped into the wiring for that section for another set of feeders.

I found 18 guage doorbell wire, with two conductors of different colours, to be adequate for all wiring. Others use 12 or 14 guage wire for the bus, and smaller wire for the feeders.