Model Railway Forum

Thanks Brian. Any idea about the best place to buy suitable wire please? I’m going to bump into this issue when I get round to sorting my points, and I have plans for some LED signals, so having a decent supplier lined up seems sensible.

Cheers.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the maximum cable run is about 3m. Will using this type of cable cause any voltage drops over that sort of distance? My layout at present uses DC, not DCC. I found one website that had the recommended cable but stated that it was not suitable for DCC or points operation if a CDU was used. Looking at the pins, bog standard bell wire would work just as well, but I had no luck finding any with a black sheath. Who’d have thought that buying wire would be so difficult?

I think for those long runs you may need a 16/02 wire - Brian will correct me shortly .
Once you know what you need, have a look at the website below. I found them to be very reasonably priced with quick delivery.

https://www.jprelec.co.uk/delivery-information

Steve:

Thanks for the reply. I've found a couple of sites that sell the 7/0.2mm wire, and that link that you posted is very interesting. I'm not sure if the X8011/GM14 pins will accept the larger cable though, not for crimping, anyway. At face value I can't see why not, but not having tackled this stuff before I'd rather get it right first time!

Cheers.

For DC rail feeds 7/0.2mm will be fine
For solinoid point motor feeds and the return use at least 16/0.2mm wire.
Always remember that you cannot have too larger wire size, but too smaller one will only lead to problems!

Thanks Brian, I’ll flex the plastic tomorrow and order some wire.

You may want to look at eBay for sellers of 7/0.2mm wire and 16/0.2mm too, or I have used BitsBox before... https://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?mai ... th=200_202 Their P & P is just £1.90 per order
There are many on line retailers selling wire in various lengths and 100Mtr rolls CPC Farnell is always good for larger purchases as too can be Rapid

I ordered this: https://www.electronelec.co.uk/acatalog ... a100_2d235

The site seems to have a lot of bits'n'bobs, and the wire is UK-made. The gotcha is that they charge £4.95 for postage, but I did buy a few other bits, and the wire is a 100m roll. Not quite sure how much of that I'll end-up using though!

Oh, forgot to mention. I found this site where I ordered some Hornby X8011 pins: https://www.hornbytriangspareparts.co.u ... CTORS-A12A . They seem cheaper than most sources on eBay and postage was a very reasonable £1.50.

I read tha you were preparing to use pins to anchor the track.

There are other alternatives that allow you to lift the track without damage. Some use PVA white glue. I use mini Phillips x screws which are fractionally larger than pins, if things work out wrong, just unscrew and start again.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154552861231 ... SwzhRZkthN

Hopefully will show you, 6 to 8 mm will work ok.

Rgds