Fast Tracks

I went through a lot of places but only found 18 AWG wire for the attachments to the rail from the 12 AWG bus rail.

Normally, a 20 or 22 gauge is only to be length of 10 cms (4 inches), but given I have the 18 gauge, does it now move the length a lot more or just little?

_________________
"Life is about learning"

sambear,

This is all normalized at about a 3 amp draw, and presumes solid good copper connections.
(Caution not all wire is actually supplied as pure copper)!
#18 wire is ~ 0.034 volt loss per foot, Amps for open air chassis: 16
#22 wire is ~ 0.108 volt loss per foot, Amps for open air chassis: 7

18 AWG can handle a little more than twice the amperage of 22 AWG.

The 18 AWG has almost one-fourth the voltage loss of of 22 AWG.

You can likely handle 6 to 8 feet of 18 AWG run (compared to 4" - 6" of 22 AWG) from your 12 AWG buss with only negligible loss of voltage (less than one quarter volt).

-ed-

_________________
-ed mccamey-
COSLAR RR - http://www.coslar.us/
NMRA Standards and Conformance Department
PROTO & FINE Scale Coordinator
I estimate I have about 5 pounds of coupler springs somewhere in the vicinity of my workbench.

Well, I probably made a big mistake by connecting the wires to the rail before placing the rails down. I did it three times and each time the wires broke off the rail. It also was very hard to move the rail while trying to connect to the next rail and even dropping the wire through the holes was very tough.

_________________
"Life is about learning"

Sambear;
An improperly soldered connection of this type will not perform well, and breaking is not an unusual occurence.
I have used #18THNN stranded wire for my buss to rail (soldered) connections, and use suitcase connectors at the buss, which I have ran as @12THNN stranded throughout the network.
The previous post was on the mark about 22 or 24 not being adequate for this type of wiring. All wire has resistance and it varies by several aspects. Your best bet is to hit your local electrical supply house and buy your rolls in commercial (500' rolls) and not monkey around with lesser grade material. Also, if you haven't really learned to solder, read up on it. For a seemingly simple act, there are a lot of considerations, and dong it right will pay off in big dividends.
Rich

I have started to wire the layout. There was a good youtube clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjSV447EVtQ by nwteacher) that helped me learn more about soldering the 18 gauge wire to the rail, though I will not connect it underneath the rail as he did), mine will be attached on the outside.

Now I need to find the suitcase connectors, nobody in Saskatoon has the bigger ones I need.

_________________
"Life is about learning"

sambear,

clean - clean - clean. The wire connections must be soldered with non-acid (rosin fluxed) solder. The rail base and side must be cleaned thoroughly, and use a small 'dab' of flux, apply heated, clean, and tin'd iron. I use the H&N solder flux "Super Safe" and it makes a difference.

I also recommend you pre-tin the lead wire - when you hit the joint with the iron - things just melt together and bond well almost instantly. Soldering is just a technique that some modest practice makes for good skill. Its not an 'art' or in any way really difficult. Take the time to practice some and become focused on all the technique (clean, flux, heat).

-ed-

_________________
-ed mccamey-
COSLAR RR - http://www.coslar.us/
NMRA Standards and Conformance Department
PROTO & FINE Scale Coordinator
I estimate I have about 5 pounds of coupler springs somewhere in the vicinity of my workbench.

I am the same, I also use 'SuperSafe' flux and when I solder anything now. Moving around the layout is going to be fun, not sure to use my solder resistance station or just the Weller iron. Just hope suitcase connectors (once I find them) work well keep the 18 gauge leads tied to the 12 gauge bus.

_________________
"Life is about learning"