Help with wire for DCS

I purchased all my wire from OGR Magazine because it was twisted pair, 14 gauge stranded, inclosed in a nice yellow casing. I think I used 3 or 4 100 foot rolls of it. The key was the 14 gauge twisted pair, which was great for DCS.

Mike,
After setting up many different layouts I prefer the 16 gauge wire, especially for a DCS layout, it makes everything function perfectly. OGR has some real nice wire, there are also electrial supply houses to order from. If you can get good wire on sale, thats the time to invest in your quality wire.
PCRR/Dave

I recommend high quality 16 Gauge wire when building a DCS layout, it does cost money but make
everything function properly.

quote:

After setting up many different layouts I prefer the 16 gauge wire, especially for a DCS layout, it makes everything function perfectly. OGR has some real nice wire, there are also electrial supply houses to order from. If you can get good wire on sale, thats the time to invest in your quality wire.

Thanks!... but wouldn't 14 gauge be even better than 16 gauge?

Mike,
No, in my experience once you reach the 16 Gauge size nothing much changes when your wire gets bigger, unless you are bulding an incredibly large layout. Even then the 16 Gauge wire would still work well. Myself I can't see using 14 gauge wire when 16 will do just fine, I have other places I need to spend my money while building my layout.
PCRR/Dave

VBK,

I've used 14 ga. and 12 ga. speaker wire with no issues. Layout is almost 10 years old. A lot of the speaker wire has a copper and a tinned or silver lead and makes it easy to keep things straight also. Joe

Mike ,

I bought a 500 Ft. roll of 16 gauge speaker wire from Best Buy.
It looks just like regular electrical cord -2 wires but one has a red stripe this makes it easy to see in the low light conditions under the table.

David

quote:

Posted January 26, 2012 08:34 AM
Should I be safe going with 14 gauge stranded wire

Yes.

The bigger the wire the better the signal. On smaller layouts 16 ga is fine. If you are building a layout that is on the large side use 14 and you will be good to go.

Marty, what do you cosider "a larger layout" ? Is 8 X 22 large or is it medium?

 

North Star,

   Don't know what Marty will consider large, however my last layout was 30' long x 6' wide to the L and then another 22' x 6' on the 2nd leg, with 4 different levels and I still used 16 Gauge wire thru out the layout.  I only considered this a fair sized layout.

To me a large layout needs to be above 32' - 40' long x 16' wide on multipule levels

before I really consider it a larger layout.  Then I might go to 14 Gauge wire.

PCRR/Dave

 

 

Hi, the wire size question is probably our most posted topic.  Alot depends on the size of your layout and the size of your blocks. If you have a very large layout, lets say your runs are fifty feet or more it would be best to go with a 14 gauge wire.

But, 16 gauge is more then enough in most applications.

I have twenty foot runs that have 18 gauge wire running to it with no problems at all. But they are very short blocks that the most that will ever be on them is one engine and a few cars.

I have everything fused for 8 amps and they never over heat even under high draw conditions like three engines, or a short.

 

That said, if your runs are fourty feet or shorter 16 gauge is fine.

 

The important thing to remember with wire is that you use twested pair, stranded. The more strands the better, this is due to the signal characteristics of the new control systems and how it acts over conductors. I do not like solid wire under any circumstances for the above reason.

 

As for where to buy your wire all I can say is that the best conductor I ever worked with is the product they sell in the OGR on line store.

Not that there is anything wrong with speaker wire as stated above. What I don't like about it is how the insulator, or skin will stand up under heat. Every wire is rated by not only how much current it can carry but how much mechanical stress and heat the insulator will take.

 

Well, I hope I was of some help to you and I wish you luck.

 

Mario E.