(Very) Basic wiring questions

[Karhedron]

Hello. I haven't really visited this part of the forum and I have suddenly realised that my GCSE soldering experience has long-since deserted me.

 

I am planning to wire up my modest BLT and I would like a bit of advice. I know how to wire points and where to put the insulating breaks but I could really do with some advice for really simple stuff. What do people use to split power outputs? I have 8 point motors which means at some point I will have to split the 16v AC output from my controller into 16 wires from each terminal and I do not know how to do it without making something that looks like an exlosion in a spaghetti factory.

 

Trying to jam 16 wires into a single terminal block does not sound like a good idea and trying to solder them all together into a single blob doesn't sound too smart either. Please can anyone suggest how to split and join all these wires neatly?

[gwrrob]

Use a tag strip with several tags,available from Squires,All Components et al .You will need to join the tags together.Someone with PC drawing skills will do a diagram better than my description.Then you woud use one wire into the power input either side.

[Kris]

Take a single Bus wire out then branch of this near each point. This will form the common return. For the wire with the switches on, again take a single bus wire to your control panel then split at this point. You will then have all the spaghetti back to the points from this point but unless you go down the DCC route for controlling the points this will be unavoidable.

[Kenton]

Simple Rules of point wiring:

1. insulating joiner on every frog rail

2. provide power to every point stock rail

3. provide isolated section breaks (if for DC) and power them through a switch (preferably switch the common return rail)

3b. provide power from bus bar to every isolated siding rail (isolated by Rule 1) (if for DCC) not switched.

 

You do not say which point motors. - it makes a difference on how many wires.

But whichever:

Use the principle of a common return bus - not 16 wires but one common wire from each point to the next point and so on with one wire at each end back to power supply. Then the switched side one wire to each switch (separately powering each point motor) then finally one wire from the other side of each switch (the other bus) to the +ve power supply. So only ever 2 wires to join (easy to solder or use a terminal choc bloc)

 

[Ed] or if I was quicker typing I could have said "ditto what Kris said"

[Karhedron]

Use the principle of a common return bus - not 16 wires but one common wire from each point to the next point and so on with one wire at each end back to power supply. Then the switched side one wire to each switch (separately powering each point motor) then finally one wire from the other side of each switch (the other bus) to the +ve power supply. So only ever 2 wires to join (easy to solder or use a terminal choc bloc)

OK, I think I get the gist, I make the bus by daisy-chaining the connections rather than having a long wire with branches off it.

 

That sounds sensible, I was trying to think of how to get 16 wires going into 1 and boggling slightly at the prospect.

[Dunmar]

Hi

Just in case you want to go down the road of the 'Tag Strip'- first pic shows tag Strip having all terminals connected at the top and the wires to the right side are the distribution wires! The second pic shows the power passing thro' a CDU and soldered to the end of the tag strip - any amount of feeds can be taken off. Hope this helps.

Bill.

[Karhedron]

Thanks for the pics Dunmar. Please can you tell me how you connected the top terminals?

[Kenton]

OK, I think I get the gist, I make the bus by daisy-chaining the connections rather than having a long wire with branches off it.

Yep that's a better description of what I was trying to say.

[Dunmar]

Hi,

The topmost terminals and the bottom terminals are connected with a short length of layout wire which has been stripped of its insulation- looped through the two end terminals and soldered to each other terminals in turn along its length. The two power wires are soldered to the first terminal in each adjacent row. The remaining terminals are used to feed components. The beauty of it is that you can readily obtain a power supply for other 16v components. I have also used this method for 12v supply. ( now read that back to me )

Bill.

[Dunmar]

Hi,

The topmost terminals and the bottom terminals are connected with a short length of layout wire which has been stripped of its insulation- looped through the two end terminals and soldered to each other terminals in turn along its length. The two power wires are soldered to the first terminal in each adjacent row. The remaining terminals are used to feed components. The beauty of it is that you can readily obtain a power supply for other 16v components. I have also used this method for 12v supply. ( now read that back to me )

Bill.