Feeder Wires from Lionel Fastrack to ZW

Stirling watch this video how to fix your fastrack problem real easy fix. http://www.lionel.com/Customer....cfm?documentID=6968 

 

 

It's easy to add power drops if you get the crimp on connectors.  I put a drop about every four sections of track.  I know it's overkill, but I wanted to try to eliminate any problems in the future.

Your welcome!!

Other than the short pieces of Fastrack (less than 10 inches), they all (including curves) have the tabs to hook up power.

 

I bought 100 of the terminal connectors from from Mouser.com.

 

Each of the 3 loops on my layout is divided into 8 blocks. Since I run DCS, I have only one power drop per block.  Add some sidings and some bad crimps and you get close to using 100 connectors.

Okay I retract my last post...that bending of the joint only worked for a little bit. The problem is back, so I guess it does need a feeder over there. 
What kind of wires do yall suggest? 

Stirling the feeder not going to do any good if the track not making good connection you need to bend center tab good also your other track my follow you may need to bend them all i did it to all my straight pieces. Stirling bend the tab not the rail the rail will just bend back out and also do both tabs not just one end on both sections.

That's just what I did. I bent the center rail tab as per the video. I may, like you said, have to do some more. I'll try that in the morning and see what happens. 

I have done this to all of my fastrack! Works great!

I used #14 gage stranded wire on my layout.  I put a drop every forth section.  I have two loops.  I ran red for the center rail on one track and orange for the center rail of the other.  I used black for the outside of each, but you could pick another color.  I wired my loops one at a time so I didn't cross any of the wires.  I ran multiple wires to a terminal block in one area and connected the terminal block to another block in a differnt location and connected that one to the TIU and Transformer.  I have six terminal blocks on each loop.

The .187 spade connectors are actually too big. The .125 connectors are the ones that Lionel uses.

Okay. I went back and bent a few more of the center rail tabs as per the aforementioned video said to do. 

Everything runs smoothly in one direction....but going the other way the power still drops and the trains stop. 
I'm going to wait to try anything else until I get my TMCC hooked up so that way I can test this with constant voltage to the track with a slow running train. 

Stirling got to do both ends of track and also John is right make sure you have the smaller terminals because i had trouble with mine not making a good connection with the bigger terminals and i forgot to mention that too. Boxcar bill sent me some terminals been working great since.  

I know I'm splitting a hair here (almost literally!), but I thought the Lionel ones were 0.110" (not 0.125")? 

 

I've used 0.187s myself at some point because I needed something and Radio Shack had them at the time (and of course they sort of fit, even if not technically 100% correct).

 

-Dave

 

Stirling,

I've been where you are brother. And the advice above is good stuff, along with Lionel's video. If you see this power drop after running trains for some time, it may be due to frequent flexing of the track joints under a very heavy locomotive, i.e., a scale Northern or Big Boy. I should have been aware of what was going on when the sound on a Legacy Sante Fe Northern would suddenly stop but the train kept going. The tender is much shorter and was not spanning the dead spot (I have yet to take the tender apart and install the 9 volt battery; call me lazy). What will drive you crazy in the case of a heavy loco flexing the track is that when you remove the loco to apply the leads of a continuity light, the symptom, but not the problem, goes away and the light may indicate current. I have to relocate frequently so I don't screw my track to the tabletop, but that might help cure the flexing.

As a wise man once said, "A man with many power leads enjoys his trains; he with one mutters to himself a lot."

If your eventually going the TMCC route, use a good sized wire at least 16 or 14 ga.

 

I made sure my track joints were good and soldered 14 ga feeders directly to the tabs on the fastrack, DONE!

 

Feeders come out from a 14ga buss and are spaced 12' apart on my 10'x16' layout. there are no power delivery issues anywhere, at this point my layout is 10 years old.

 

Should you need to make changes, a brief touch with a hot soldring iron will release the wire from the tab.

 

Good track wiring is crucial for trouble free operation, don't skimp.

 

 

I have a drop about every six pieces for conventional.

 

A conventional low power issue "fixed" by raising voltage and going to command is no fix at all. That weak connection will limit the proper function of the command train too. You just wont notice the extra strain the system is under as easily. That weak connection could also get quite hot under load. Find it, and/or fix it right, even if you have to ad a drop to every piece   

The .110 is the correct size for the Lionel Fastrack tabs. I have 14 gauge feeder wires every 4-6 pieces of track depending on size of pieces of track. I use the .110 solderless crimp connectors crimped and soldered to the tabs. Maybe overkill but once together I'll hopefully never have to tear it up to fix track problems.  I also solder track on all 3 sides of switches to prevent problems.

Stirling,

   Rick O is giving you some great advise and it turns out exactly the same as using the 12 track join rule when using 1' track.  I have found it's not the exact length of track that is important for attaching your power drops, but how many track joins.  If you use longer 36" tracks where possible you can use less power drops.  I use the 12 track join rule, no matter the length of FasTrack, and have no power/signal loss when I build in this manner.  It runs both DCS and Legacy perfectly in this manner, especially well when running both DCS and Legacy together.  Further if you like realism on your FT layouts Rick O's building techniques are incredible, making FT so life like you swear you're a looking at a real Railroad in his layout pictures.  Myself I am a toy train kind guy and want my layouts to be a child like wonderland of trains, even so I appreciate Rick's talents and his knowledge, his layouts are top self stuff.

Have fun

PCRR/Dave

I did use the .110 size connectors on my layout.  I had these in my stock and grabbed the pack when I took the photo as it was the only one I had with information on the package.  I didn't even notice they were the wrong size.  The ones I used were blue for the 14 gauge wire I used.

Okay, update. 

 

The TMCC is hooked up and operational. There is still a small lose of power on one area of the layout (same area as permentioned) but it does not seem to be as bad now that the constant voltage is going through it. 
I may still look at getting a feeder installed just to be safe.