Soldering to the rail direct is far better dont rely on joiners ..... your layout will thank you for it & you'll spend more time running trains less detecting which fishplate is loose, all it takes is the track turned over a couple of sleepers removed use a file to provide a key for the solder to adhere to the rail, tin the rail with a little solder present a tinned wire to the rail apply your iron for a second & hold the wire while the solder cools with some pliers to act as a heatsink .... job done.

Good rule of thumb is droppers/wires every three foot for good cover on your layout for conductivity especially in DCC, it wont hurt to use more frequently in fact every piece of track having droppers is recomended.

Cant help with the DPDT switches ... sorry

 

QUOTE (upnick @ 2 Dec 2010, 20:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Soldering to the rail direct is far better dont rely on joiners ..... your layout will thank you for it & you'll spend more time running trains less detecting which fishplate is loose, all it takes is the track turned over a couple of sleepers removed use a file to provide a key for the solder to adhere to the rail, tin the rail with a little solder present a tinned wire to the rail apply your iron for a second & hold the wire while the solder cools with some pliers to act as a heatsink .... job done.

Exactly the way I did mine

As for how many, one pair of droppers for EVERY piece of track however small and nothing less I say. Never have to rely on a rail joiner then. I've used this picture before, but it does demonstrate the point well:-

Paul

 

QUOTE (jeffr @ 3 Dec 2010, 06:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>If I have several lengths of rail and points on a section fed through a DPDT switch and I put droppers on each will they all have to go back through the switch?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

Jeff. based on this use of a switch, I assume DC control so droppers which under DCC , normally connect to bus wires, cannot be used in that manner but certainly bridge each metal fishplate with a bonding wire ,will help witg DC .

 

Jeff,

QUOTE (jeffr @ 3 Dec 2010, 05:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi.

I hear a good deal about droppers.

I understand what they are for i.e to take power to the rails and not rely on just fishplates.

However, I have read several postings which indicate, one can't have enough (almost).

Please would contributors advise me where I should have them?

Would this include at the throat of a point after a length of rail?

If I have several lengths of rail and points on a section fed through a DPDT switch and I put droppers on each will they all have to go back through the switch?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

My recommendation would be one dropper per length of rail, attached to the centre of the rail relative to its length to permit equal expansion in both directions as the connection acts as a 'fixing point'.

Always solder to the underside of the rail as it looks much neater as per photo of track by sprintex above.

Graham Plowman

 

Just to add more confusion, I soldered droppers onto the Frogs as well, as I am using insulfrog, bad move, too late now!

Cheers, Chris.

 

QUOTE (jeffr @ 2 Dec 2010, 19:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi.

I hear a good deal about droppers.

I understand what they are for i.e to take power to the rails and not rely on just fishplates.

However, I have read several postings which indicate, one can't have enough (almost).

Please would contributors advise me where I should have them?

Would this include at the throat of a point after a length of rail?

If I have several lengths of rail and points on a section fed through a DPDT switch and I put droppers on each will they all have to go back through the switch?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi Jeff.
What you can do is join all droppers on a section to a mini bus for that section only & then take two wires back to the dpdt switch on your control panel rather than run every single dropper wire back to the switch.

 

QUOTE (TonyDaly @ 3 Dec 2010, 09:37) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Jeff.
What you can do is join all droppers on a section to a mini bus for that section only & then take two wires back to the dpdt switch on your control panel rather than run every single dropper wire back to the switch.

This is what I did when I first build my layout with DC, knowing that at some point in the future, I might convert it to DCC.
When I finally did convert it to DCC, it was a very easy process to install a mains-rated cable for the DCC bus and then attached all the droppers to it directly.
I removed about 2/3 of the entire wiring of the layout in the process.

Graham Plowman

 

Thanks to all the contributors.

A very concise explanation

Jeff

 

i'm putting them every 6 inches. Thats only because my layout is in a shed and not in ideal conditions.

 

Every 6" ??
now that is an overkill unless you are using Setrack of that length of rail between fishplates/joiners but even on a normal flex length of 36", droppers at each end is sufficient.

 

QUOTE (Sol @ 4 Dec 2010, 08:20) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Every 6" ??
now that is an overkill unless you are using Setrack of that length of rail between fishplates/joiners but even on a normal flex length of 36", droppers at each end is sufficient.

Maybe so, but I'd rather overkill and guarentee a decent connection lol. It does vary, it depends on track circuits.

 

QUOTE (DaveR @ 4 Dec 2010, 09:00) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Maybe so, but I'd rather overkill and guarentee a decent connection lol. It does vary, it depends on track circuits.

Don't forget ! Test every connection for continuity as you make it. Its no good having a hundred droppers if only half of them work.