I hear ya Bob. In the end it's always an amalgam of preference and experience. On some of my sections, I have used insulated bus wires because there were not all that many power drops to contend with. After hearing bad things initially about suitcase connectors, most of what I hear these days is positive. Probably having the proper crimping tool helps. But I still think they are an expensive way to make a connection...especially if one is retired and has the time to wait for the soldering iron to heat up. I hope your Karma runs over the Dogma.
Jim ________________________________ From: Bob Werre <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, January 25, 2011 11:26:11 AM Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Re: Something new (to me) about DCC Jim, A lot of wiring has to do with Karma or it's cousin Murphy, I've found out! Besides shorting out maybe a dozen wires multiple times in that control panel (visualize all those control panels on the Starship Enterprise that seem to always emit sparks when things go wrong). I once crawled under the layout. In that process I bumped two hanging wires together (that I had temporarily disconnected) where their stripped and curved ends interlocked without my knowledge, causing a shutdown/short out of nowhere. I just prefer not to push my luck any further than necessary. Several times I wished that I would have used liquid tape on all the solder joints under the layout. Bob Werre BobWphoto.com > > Bob: > > If you're just running a few feeder wire drops it probably makes sense > to retain > the insulation on the bus wires. But if you have a lot of drops, it's > faster in > the long run to have bare bus wires. > > In the 5 years I've been running my layout with bare copper bus I've > never had > any of the problems you describe. Among the reasons: I keep the bus wires > widely separated (at least 4 inches), I use insulated wire for the > feeders, and > everything is routed neatly, tucked up high under the layout and > anchored so it > doesn't droop and snag. > > The only shorts I've ever experienced came from the big, bare wires on > top that > are spiked to the ties. > > Jim > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
