250BOB Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Hi Guys, I am interested to see how you all congregate your wiring under the baseboard, what sort of grouping, securing, pathways, junction boxes etc. etc. do you choose to use. Pictures of this would be great....doesnt mater if its a rats nest or a work of art...hopefully some we will admire, maybe some we can have a bit of a giggle about......dont be put off if you have an untidy one...lets see the pics please. Thanks..............Bob. By the way......DC or DCC , it doesnt matter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cromptonnut Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I don't have a picture but some years ago I made the mistake of wiring everything up with a 100m reel of red layout wire. All was fine until I accidently connected one of the wires from a point motor switch to the route indicator LED's on the control panel (dual pole switch, one for the point power, one to switch LED's). Everything was great for a few minutes, then I went to change a point, and 36v from the CDU became routed through about 40 LED's, which glowed very brightly for a fraction of a second before mostly simultaneously exploding. That was an interesting - frustrating, and expensive - experience... On an alternative note, many years ago in my first car I, as most teenagers, expanded the car stereo at a number of occasions. One day I decided it looked a bit of a mess and should rewire it, so I took out everything and started again with wiring from the stereo through the amp out to the speakers. I ended up with two stuffed carrier bags full of spare wiring and everything still worked perfectly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Here's mine earlier this year, I've tried to keep it as neat as possible to trace any faults but to also stop wires getting snagged when moving the layout, wiring is my least favourite part of the hobby so i'm keeping it as simple as possible. Its starting to resemble a tube map now though. Graham. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I used to try and wire tidily, but then went all hippy and freestyle.... Power bus in black and red (old habits die hard), 0v power for motors in green. All Tortoise motors go to a solder tag board and then to the rails or switching/power. Red and black feeds, blue to the switched frog, green to 0v and yellow to the operating switches. Totally freestyle routing but colour coding of wires helps considerably for fault tracing. Each board has a master switch (yet to be installed) to isolate from the rest of the layout plus a master circuit breaker to each power district. There will be three once layout is completed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryMeerkat Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Not exactly perfect, but its pretty tidy and at least I know what each wire does!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Definitely a rat's nest but then again, it's a work in progress From the front towards the back From the back towards the front Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 This is the wiring for one of the 6 staging modules for "Essex". Basically its 2 power zones with feeds every 2' roughly. The other end of the module is a mirror image. Each cable carries 1 power zone and booster ground. There are 11 tracks on the staging section. 10 for storage and one run through. Its all 6amp rated stranded mains cable. Nice to work with but a pain sometimes when soldering to connectors that have "solder cups" instead of tabs. Each module has a set of din sockets on the side at each end. That way there are no dangling wires or bits of cable hanging down. Another thing I've done is to ensure that all wiring is inside the leg slots. That way there is nothing to snag when assembling or disassembling the modules. All the sockets are wired the same way so its just a matter of connecting red to red, green to green, etc. It also means I can use a long jumper to bypass a whole module for trouble shooting. In theory the 4 middle staging modules should be able to be assembled in any order. In reality though I don't think my track laying is quite that accurate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpman46 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Attached are some pictures of the rewiring undertaken on one of the sections of a 16 section '0' Gauge 3 loop test track that myself and two others purchased from the widow of the original builder. It was first used in May 1986 and although it was time worn it was extremely well made and just needed a bit of TLC. It is now in regular use at 4 meetings a year near Taunton for the West Monkton Railway Meeting Group. The pictures show some of the wiring undertaken on Section 2. Colour coded wiring used to enable route tracing / fault finding. The temporary labels shown were replaced with printed Dymo type labels at a later stage. Although the major rewire was carried out 2 years ago, minor upgrades continue to be done from time to time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted October 20, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 20, 2012 This is a section with four Seep point motors and associated microswitches: Now all replaced by tortoises! Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dagworth Posted October 20, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 20, 2012 Two views of the same board of Dagworth, the first is as it was with the original signal control system, the second after converting to computer control PICT0278 by Ravensclyffe, on Flickr PICT0281 by Ravensclyffe, on Flickr Andi Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Lots of different colour schemes here - just a thought - has anyone tried to do a 'standard' on a model railway wiring colour scheme? I'd have thought pretty difficult, but necessary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Budd Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Although these images have already appeared in my Wigmore Road Sidings thread, I thought I might as well repeat them here. This shows the underside of one of the two main boards of the layout. The layout was designed on Templot and before any track was laid I carefully pasted a mirror image printout under the board to assist with identifying the droppers and simplify the wiring up. The power bus is made of lengths of copper clad sleeper strip. The turnout operating units and rods are clearly visible as are the uncoupling magnets and the back of the control panel. The baseboard sides really are straight; it's just the wide angle lens making them look banana shaped! The wiring looms are held in place by wire ties and spots of glue from a hot glue gun. The inter-board umbilical. The control panel and the high tec turnout operating pulls! Close up of the Control Panel. Arthur Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I do like the idea of putting the track plan on the bottom of the board too, as long as it lines up right I can see it saving loads of time looking at the top side, then the bottom side, then the top again to check... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 21C123 Posted October 20, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 20, 2012 Hi all The wiring for my staging and fiddle yards which are side by side. Despite appearances it was all planned.... Back of the staging yard control panel, which is mounted on a trolley and can be moved around Which is attached to the layout by 5 off 12 core grey, 2 off small 12 core black, 2 off small 4 core black and 32 single core cables The cables go through this area, the power supplies on the right are the local controller, turntable, cdu power, panel controller, track route led power supply, note use of 4*2 timber for the legs East end of the staging yard... Diode matrix and logic chips which power the track leds on the panel Each staging yard road has a single push button to fire the points through diode matrices. Switches on the points then feed back to the logic chips which then indicate on the panel which staging road is set.... And the fiddle yad panel, only 2 points have motors so this is only track wiring. Roger Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meil Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Here's mine earlier this year, I've tried to keep it as neat as possible to trace any faults but to also stop wires getting snagged when moving the layout, wiring is my least favourite part of the hobby so i'm keeping it as simple as possible. Its starting to resemble a tube map now though. Graham. An unenclosed open frame transformer under a baseboard and no sign of an earth - erhmm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 An unenclosed open frame transformer under a baseboard and no sign of an earth - erhmm It was only a temporary measure, It has since been removed. Graham. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted October 21, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 21, 2012 some from deacon road my main control panel and part of one board all point motors and switches have fly leads in to terminal blocks so if one fails it is easy to replace Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Some real scary stuff on here already! Along with some that appear to be professionally wired and really well thought out. I'd like to think mine is half way. DC & DCC - I still don't see any difference on a small layout (and all mine are small). I have always liked the use of tidy ties and despite I always say to label everything - it is because I often fail to do so and reap the consequences when the layout is revisited/reworked often months later. Perhaps tend to overuse choc blocks for connecting. I often forget to photograph under the board. Which is a pity as it is an excellent method of support documentation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Not a pretty sight and it gets worse as you approach the main control interface but I'd have to take the stock off and turn it on its side to photograph that - this is just the buffer end clear of the table the layout is currently sitting on. I had a points motor failure on Friday when showing the layout to some friends (of course) but after tracing and testing right back to the point control box it turned out to be a bit of dirt in the D connector so after an air blast is now behaving itself. There is some logic to this wiring but my vow to make the wiring for this layout tidier didn't really work out. The wiring is actually very simple but just doesn't look like it. Each set of points has its own tag strip terminal block and each point motor is fed by a pair of wires that connect ultimately to a dpdt switch in a remote panel wired to reverse the polarity when it's switched. The relevant traction feed is fed to the two switches on the motor to feed the frog while other feeds are connected directly to the track feeds. I'll try to do better next time honest !! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 21, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 21, 2012 One of the boards of Santa Barbara showing the block detection and transponding circuits. There is also a single switch Hex Frog Juicer board. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted October 21, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 21, 2012 A definite rat's nest Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Mine is not as good as some of the above, but there again its not as bad as some of them either. The relay panel is hinged for better access and allows operation of the points either by DCC or using rotary switches and push buttons. Terminal strips are pull apart type to allow for dismantling of various boards and switch panels without having to undo individual wire connections. The empty strips are for the point indicator wiring connections from the solenoid mounted switches to the indicator panel. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Horn Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 One of the 12 Storage Yard boards owned by me, but wired up by Phil Eames over a year or so. We run 5 DCC circuits, with four independent tracks and the fifth being for the tortoise point motors. If we get a short, it only disables one circuit, but keeps the point motors and the other 3 circuits alive. The front of the train sets run under their own power and 5 DCC zones. Cheers Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
14Steve14 Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 How do some of you people that have posted above ever trace faults. The wiring is a mess, and often in the same colour. What a night mare. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpman46 Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 When the test track shown in post #8 was rewired I created a wiring schedule in Excel for each section. It's probably not perfect but it does the job. We have only ever had to sort out two minor problems after rewiring which were easily traced using the schedules (printed out in colour on an inkjet). See the attached pdf for a typical schedule. Test Track Wiring Schedule #3.pdf Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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