question on track feeders

Are you checking with a load such as passenger cars? There may be no voltage drop with no load.

My theory is: if the train slows down, add a feeder.

Dave  Ripp,The only load was just one engine,i have another engine that wasn't packed away when i tore down the old layout that i can add to the track to see if there is any voltage drop,i will do that tomorrow, & i will post what happens.

If it will be difficult to add more feeders later I would add a couple now just to be safe. If you need to do any blocking as for DCS, sidings, or something it might be easier now also. I'm not as knowledgeable as many here are, but I would rather be safe than sorry. If you can easily add these things later I think I might just try it as it is and see what happens. Adding a load to your track could make a difference later on.

What determines how many feeders to use is track joints.  You should have no more than 5 joints between feeders.  Less is OK.

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Dennis

Every switch should have a feed on each leg.  Always feed between all switches.  Min wire size 16 ga, 14 better.  Drops min 18 ga X 12-15" long.

Not knowing your future inventory give star wiring a consideration.

I would add as many feeders as you can. relying on track pins or joiners is not a good idea. if you get a bad connection the pins or joiners will heat up and can potentially start a fire.

Well today i added another engine to the same track as the other engine that i had on there yesterday,both have 2 can motors each & there was maybe 1 volt drop in one area on the loop & there was the same reading in the rest of the loop,however after reading the responses i received i will play it safe & add more feeders probably a total of 4 or 5 feeds for each loop,probably over kill for the size of my layout besides it isn,t hard to do plus like doing wiring like this,i will soder the feeds to the sides of the rails,because when i took down my old layout i found some corrosion under some of the tracks where i had connected the feeders ,at least with the wires sodered on to the sides of the rails i can see if there is any corrosion going on.