What gauge wire do you use for your bus? Feeders? How far apart do you place feeders? Is each main on a separate bus?Thanks
PJB, did you see my web page, Toy Train Layout Wiring - Bus Wiring? The largest surplus stranded wire I had available was #10 stranded. That served well for the common. The individual TIU Outputs/blocks/circuits are fed with #12 stranded. Tracks taps off the #12 feeds are #16 thhn solid for Taps to track from #12 stranded terminal strips.
Wire taps to track are made so that every third track section is tapped or every track joins a tapped track, which would be after every third joint. ( -- -- -- tap->-- -- -- tap>-- )
All commons are electrically connected. After they leave the control areas, the track and accessory commons are separate.
The control panel below shows the two Main Tracks. Black is Outside Main and the Red is the inside Main. The Mains are divided in half so I can run 3 passenger train loads on each Main. The left side is North and the right side is South. Example: TIU #1 is wired with Var 1 - red N Fxd 1 - blk N Fxd 2 - blk S Var 2 - red S .
See more detail in these two pdf files.
