HO powering and soldering

[jimdavis88]

I'm using HO E Z track on a new layout and want to know how often (distance in feet) I need to power the track? Also, do I need to solder the rail joiners?

[Trainman203]

I've "almost" never done either one on 50' of mainline. I've always thought that such work was overkill by frustrated electricians.   In 10 years only 2 joiners have let go; I soldered them and everything was fine.  There are people who really like to solder who will tell you that a lot of such work  is needed.  Sometimes that may be the case but in mine it was not and my layout is subject to periodic high temperature and humidity.

[RAM]

Well I guess it is like, how much water does it take to fill up my glass.  Well how big is your glass.   How big is your layout?  If it is 4 by 8 I would say at the most two feeders.  I don't use E Z track, if I did, I don't think I would solder it.

[WoundedBear]

I've "almost" never done either one on 50' of mainline. I've always thought that such work was overkill by frustrated electricians.   In 10 years only 2 joiners have let go; I soldered them and everything was fine.  There are people who really like to solder who will tell you that a lot of such work  is needed.  Sometimes that may be the case but in mine it was not and my layout is subject to periodic high temperature and humidity.

Curious....is your track all painted and ballasted?

Sid

[jward]

A 5 amp booster for every 50 feet of track? How many trains are you running?

[jimdavis88]

Sid,

Nothing is painted and no ballast yet.

My layout is "U" shaped in a room 9' * 16'

I have a main run that is "U" shaped and does this loop twice as I have an 8" riser. Total run is about 100'. The 2nd loop is 50'

I have connected and re-connected old Lionel 027 track a million time's as a kid (60 years ago), and I guarantee the rail joiners were abused. The run was about 50" I only ever had one power connecter and it always worked fine.

On another layout last year I bought a Piko ICE train and set up a 4 * 8 layout and only used one power connecter and it works perfectly.

So when I read on various message boards that guys solder every rail joiner and added did power connecters on every track, it seemed like overkill to me. Mechanical pressure connecters (rail joiners) make an absolute great electrical connection and are used on millions of products worldwide. But I'm asking experts here who know by experience and I truly appreciate your valued opinions.

[Trainman203]

Yes Sid, all track painted and ballasted.  The layout is nearly 12 years old, the paint and ballast maybe 8.  When the two bad joiners failed separately (long after the ballast job), I located them with a multi  meter.  One joiner I slid back and forth which fixed it but I soldered it anyway.  The other I just soldered.  At this slow failure rate, and this point in time, plus 3 years projected in the layout's remaining life, running feeders and soldering joints which haven't failed just isn't worth it. 

I just don't like electrical work.  My layout's  DCC wiring consists of the two wires from the command station to the track.  Period.  End of thought.  Works for me.

[Maletrain]

A lot of the differing experience and recommendations has something to do with the different environments that people use for their layouts. 

If you are using sectional track that is not glued down on a layout that is inside the house, then just a few track feeders are needed and rail joints really don't need to be soldered.  The joiners are not going to corrode very quickly, and all that really needs to be done is to slide them a little to break the corrosion if they develop a lot of resistance.

If your layout is using flex track that is glued down and ballasted, then soldering a high resistance rail joint is harder to do without  melting some ties, at least in the small scales like N and Z.  And, if that layout is in a garage or attic that is not controlled for temperature and humidity, then the likelihood of corrosion on the rail joiners in much higher.

So, most people try to do things to ensure a long reliability period on the finished layout if they expect it to last.  However, that still should consider issues like the potential for turnout mechanical or electrical failure.  Good practice is to not solder turnouts to the adjacent rails, and to solder independent feeders to the turnouts before laying them, plus ballast them with water soluble glue.  That way, turnouts can be replaced without very much disruption to adjacent track and scenery if that has to be done.

[jward]

So when I read on various message boards that guys solder every rail joiner and added did power connecters on every track, it seemed like overkill to me. Mechanical pressure connecters (rail joiners) make an absolute great electrical connection and are used on millions of products worldwide. But I'm asking experts here who know by experience and I truly appreciate your valued opinions.

The crucial difference between model railroad track and those other connectors comes when you ballast the track. Many of us secure the ballast with a glue and water mixture that tends to seep into the joiners. Added to the problem is that we use some method of eliminating the surface tension of the water mixture so that is soaks into the finely grained material used for ballast better. This also means it gets into the joiners better than it normally would. My experience has been that the joiners work well until the track is ballasted. After that, you start to see continuity failures. Soldering the joints may be overkill, but it is better to do it right the first time rather than spent time and frustration trying to track down and correct problems that should never have been in the first place.