Im sure this an OLD subject!! But ill ask anyway,what gauge wire works the best for track. Im useing gargraves track. Thanks for your help.
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The portion of my layout that uses star or paired wiring. I use 14 gauge. 16 would probably be fine. The Main Line is buss wired. 12 gauge buss with 14 gauge feeders. It’s a fairly large layout with long wire runs. Again. 16 gauge would probably work. In any case. 16 would be my minimum.
My layout is 12 x 24 on the main platform with a 15 foot yard extension. All the primary power wiring is #14, and the drops are #18. I have experienced no significant voltage drops even under maximum loads. I measured, voltage with an 8A load all around the layout, the biggest voltage drop from the transformer to the load connection was less than one volt.
John,
My layout is 8x24.So I should have no problem with 14 gauge. Thanks everyone for the replies!
2nd hand railroad, you did not mention size??
My RR is fairly large around the wall layout with different gauge wires used depending on distance needed to run for a particular block.
Short runs use 14 ga.
Medium runs use 12 ga.
Long runs use 10 ga.
May be over kill but I have no patience for "That's good enough" or "That will do".
Compact layouts can use 16 ga.
Tom Lee,
my board is 8X24
Tom, you run a lot of conventional stuff, voltage drops are much more critical in your case. Even a 1V drop can have significant impact operationally. My longest power run is probably to my 10-track yard, it's 24 feet total to the head of the track. With an 8 amp load on a yard track, I drop around .6 volts at the yard track from the measured voltage at the transformer. There is actually more drop at the transformer from no load to 8 amps than through the wiring to the yard. Since I run command, that amount of voltage drop is a non-issue. Also, it's rare to never that I'd have 8 amps being drawn in the yard, that would be a bunch of engines all starting up there.
