Model Railway Forum

help please whats the best way to link 3 dropper wires nto 1 to the bus wire would a terminal block work thank you keith leadbitter

Best way is to use Wago connectors for your terminal blocks, and connect these to your bus via a Scotchlok connector.

'Best' way - solder.

Steve M wrote: ↑Sun Aug 04, 2019 9:00 am 'Best' way - solder.

As with many things in life there are often more ways than one to do a particular task. Absolutely nothing wrong with using mechanical connectors such as Scotchloks to provide bus connections, so long as you take care to use the right size for the wire. Likewise, solder is fine provided you are happy to take a hot soldering iron under the baseboard, which I am not, and are competent enough to provide reliable solder joints.

I have a large DCC layout with droppers on every piece of track, plus Electrofrog points with polarity switching. I estimate I have around 900 droppers. Soldering every one of these to the bus wire (2.5mm solid copper) under the fixed baseboards is out of the question. Hence the mechanical means works fine for me.

I use terminal blocks - seem to work well. Ensure bare wires are twisted together. I make sure I have a long enough dropper wire in case anything goes wrong (but obviously not too long).

I also use terminal blocks. Added advantage - if you have a problem with wiring in a particular section it's easy to disconnect and solve the problem.

+1 for the terminal blocks.

In my order of preference...
1) Twist and solder.
2) Use Terminal blocks (Cheap when purchased in multi packs from places like Toolstation or Screwfix)
3) Use Wago style connectors (Expensive)
4) Use ScotchloK/Suitcase connectors (You must use the correct size of connector for the wires)