Buss Wiring for track power

Spelling question:  Is the term in this cas spelled "bus" or "buss".

Yes

that's correct 

however i use solderless suitcase connectors to attach the track feeds to the buss wire.

graz posted:

Yes

that's correct 

however i use solderless suitcase connectors to attach the track feeds to the buss wire.

Great..... thanks for saying I am on the right track....so to speak.

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Spelling question:  Is the term in this cas spelled "bus" or "buss".

spelled "case"

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Spelling question:  Is the term in this cas spelled "bus" or "buss".

In this case, it's buss.

Actually it's 'bus' when used as a conductor for something.

Thank you, rtr12, for that clarification. I have always entertained the later interpretation as mode of transportation.

1. Electrical term it called,  Buss Wiring.

2. Run your Buss wiring where it is comfortable so when you have perform maintenance. 

Good luck, John 

If you have a conductor then you're probably on a train, not a bus.

Mill City posted:

Thank you, rtr12, for the clarification. I have always entertained the later interpretation as mode of transportation.

You are welcome. I think BUSS probably comes from the 'Buss Fuse' from the Bussman company and is always thought of as being electrical. I just looked up the word 'buss' and it means 'kiss' which is a new one on me, never heard that one before?

In large electrical equipment there are 'bus' bars made of solid, heavy copper that connect the various switch gear within a larger enclosure. This is most likely where we get the use of 'bus' for describing our train wiring and the one I knew about from being around the stuff during my working life.

In addition to 'bus' bar and the mode of transportation that Ralph Kramden drove, a 'bus' is also defined as: a set of parallel conductors in a computer system that forms a main transmission path. (I just looked that one up ).

Slow night and not much on TV, as you have probably already determined by now...

The more popular term appears to be BUS WIRING.   This is what happens on a Google Search.  Note they don't want to search for BUSS WIRING.

I used these tap splice aka suitcase connectors to splice feeders into the main buss. Some folks are not fond of them but I have had no problems. They  are fast, easy ,and you can add feeders anytime, anywhere.

In the Navy we used the term "bus" [correct] to describe the big copper bars in the 440 3 phase AC of our ship board switchboards. I can understand the confusion since some of the Navy manuals as well as commercial texts like Audels used "buss" at times. Since I am now long years obsolete I could be wrong.

Yes.

I use "suitcase" connectors to attach feeder wires to the bus.  You can also run the bus between 4 position terminal blocks and let the outer ones connect to feeders (jumper them).

George

I use a bare 12-gauge wire as a common buss on my DCS layout.  It starts at the transformer U posts, goes completely around the layout, and ends up back at the U posts. 

I do not use a buss for hot, but run a 14-gauge from each control panel toggle switch to the respective block center rail.  If you are going to go DCS some day, popular teaching is do not use a buss for hot, with multiple drops.

If you're going to go to DCS, a common bus for the outside rail won't be an ideal setup either.

GRJ, I, and several others with large layouts, do not agree on that.  No point in starting a discussion that will lead nowhere, so let's just note our disagreement.

Noted.

Thanks to all for your remarks. I had to be away from this site, so could not reply earlier.  I am concerned about the DCS comment. I am currently using just TMCC, but wanted to add DCS at some point as well, so I can run both types of engines (Lionel and MTH), using their respective systems. Sounds like I will encounter problems. Thanks again.

RickO posted:

I used these tap splice aka suitcase connectors to splice feeders into the main buss. Some folks are not fond of them but I have had no problems. They  are fast, easy ,and you can add feeders anytime, anywhere.

These connectors do seem to look like a quick way to go about it.

Thanks to all for your remarks. I had to be away from this site, so could not reply earlier.  I am concerned about the DCS comment. I am currently using just TMCC, but wanted to add DCS at some point as well, so I can run both types of engines (Lionel and MTH), using their respective systems. Sounds like I will encounter problems. Thanks again.

If you are going to add a DCS system, I would get Barry's book, read it and follow his advice as best as you can. If this is new wiring I would definitely follow Barry's advice for wiring the layout. If you are adding to an existing bus wired system, then consult some of the forum members here that have had success with the DCS system and this wiring method.