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guitartoys		#1 Posted : 02 November 2017 00:32:09(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 05/09/2017(UTC) Posts: 27 Location: Virginia, McLean		So I'm going to need a pile of wire, both for connection between a device like a track section or turnout to the controller, and then some heavier gauge wire for busses. In looking at the books I have found, it looks like Marklin's standard color wires are Wire: Gray Blue Brown Yellow Red Yet their plugs colors are Plugs: Gray Brown Yellow Green Orange Red (no blue?) Why would I not just get wire the same colors of the plugs, and have the entire wire that color? Just wondering Thanks. M
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Pmare4		#2 Posted : 02 November 2017 01:26:19(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2015(UTC) Posts: 237 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia		Hi, Blue wires are for solenoid connections and have either red, green or orange plugs on the ends. Red plugs are for setting points to the bend or for setting signals to go (1 diagonal arm). Green plugs set points to the straight and signals to stop (1 horizontal arm). Orange plugs are used to set signals to "proceed with caution" (2 diagonal arms). Brown wires are for ground connections, yellow wires for lighting, and grey wires for items such as house/street lamps which can be wired with either wire as a ground connection. Red wires are for track power. All of these wire colours have matching plugs. In terms of what wire to use I would recommend 24AWG gauge wire (same as the official Marklin product) in the correct colours so that way you don't connect your track power to ground or make any other easily preventable mistakes. regards Peter
		Peter Collecting vintage Märklin from 1935-1970, also Hornby O Gauge
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Bigdaddynz		#3 Posted : 02 November 2017 04:41:02(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,771 Location: New Zealand		Originally Posted by: Pmare4 Blue wires are for solenoid connections and have either red, green or orange plugs on the ends. Red plugs are for setting points to the bend or for setting signals to go (1 diagonal arm). Green plugs set points to the straight and signals to stop (1 horizontal arm). Orange plugs are used to set signals to "proceed with caution" (2 diagonal arms). You are correct for points wiring, but for signals red is stop and green is go!
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Pmare4		#4 Posted : 02 November 2017 05:16:22(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2015(UTC) Posts: 237 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia		Actually... It's not. See this excerpt from the Marklin Miniature Railway handbook: MÄRKLIN signaling installations on a large scale can be made up by placing several signaling control panels together, one after the other (fig. 156). Such a signaling system is like a power-operated signal box on a full-sized railway. Each control panel has red and green buttons to show the positions of signals or points, as the case may be. If a red button is higher than the green one working with it, the signal will be at "Danger" and the points open for the branch line. If the green button is higher than the red one, the signal will show "Line clear" and the points will be open for the main line. The settings of the points and Signals can therefore be seen from the control panels alone, even though they may be out of sight from the signal control point, owing to being hidden by a hill or a building.
		Peter Collecting vintage Märklin from 1935-1970, also Hornby O Gauge
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Bigdaddynz		#5 Posted : 02 November 2017 05:32:49(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,771 Location: New Zealand		That seems to be a somewhat extreme setup, and since there doesn't seem to be an accompanying wiring diagram, I'd have to take that advice with a grain of salt. The Marklin signal manuals definitely show green for go and red for stop. I'll dig them out when I get home, but I'm not one to argue with them.
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Pmare4		#6 Posted : 02 November 2017 05:47:43(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2015(UTC) Posts: 237 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia		You might be right there... Either way I just reread the excerpt I posted above and it turns out green pressed in means points are set to the branch... The button sticking up is meant to represent the "current state" of the signal or points.
		Peter Collecting vintage Märklin from 1935-1970, also Hornby O Gauge
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applor		#7 Posted : 02 November 2017 06:11:37(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 21/05/2004(UTC) Posts: 1,768 Location: Brisbane, Queensland		Annoyingly they use brown for earth instead of just black. In domestic electric brown is active
		modelling era IIIa (1951-1955) Germany
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Pmare4		#8 Posted : 02 November 2017 07:23:42(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2015(UTC) Posts: 237 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia		Black was ground for Marklin until the 50s! But then again black was the only colour of plug available.
		Peter Collecting vintage Märklin from 1935-1970, also Hornby O Gauge
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Br502362		#9 Posted : 02 November 2017 08:57:39(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 05/03/2014(UTC) Posts: 704 Location: Finland		Hi, Blue, black and white plugs are also used. This is quite good but in German language. http://www.maerklin-sammler-inf.../kabel_steckerfarben.htm Cheers Åke
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Bigdaddynz		#10 Posted : 02 November 2017 09:09:34(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,771 Location: New Zealand		Originally Posted by: Bigdaddynz I'll dig them out when I get home.... Excerpt from the 0340 Signal manual Likewise from the 0361 Signal manual
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Pmare4		#11 Posted : 02 November 2017 09:31:27(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2015(UTC) Posts: 237 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia		Originally Posted by: Br502362 Blue, black and white plugs are also used. This is quite good but in German language. Hi Åke, I think the white, black, and blue plugs have been made up by the author for use on their home layout. Bigdaddynz wrote: Likewise from the 0361 Signal manual That's strange - a few pages later it says the opposite:
		Peter Collecting vintage Märklin from 1935-1970, also Hornby O Gauge
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Bigdaddynz		#12 Posted : 02 November 2017 10:46:43(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,771 Location: New Zealand		Originally Posted by: Pmare4 I think the white, black, and blue plugs have been made up by the author for use on their home layout. I don't think so, they are available from Brawa as specific items (I've just purchased some Black and Blue's). Brawa 3051 - 10 Yellow Plugs Brawa 3052 - 10 Red Plugs Brawa 3053 - 10 Green Plugs Brawa 3054 - 10 Brown Plugs Brawa 3055 - 10 Blue Plugs Brawa 3056 - 10 Orange Plugs Brawa 3057 - 10 Grey Plugs Brawa 3058 - 10 Black Plugs Brawa 3059 - 10 White Plugs
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Pmare4		#13 Posted : 02 November 2017 11:00:27(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2015(UTC) Posts: 237 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia		I don't think I was quite clear there. I meant the author invented their own wiring code for the plugs.
		Peter Collecting vintage Märklin from 1935-1970, also Hornby O Gauge
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RayF		#14 Posted : 02 November 2017 19:43:28(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 15,870 Location: Gibraltar, Europe		One deviation I make to the standard Marklin colour codes is to change the colour of one of the blue wires to purple. I use the blue wire for the green plug and the purple wire for the red plug. This way when extending wires to the control box I don't have to guess which wire is which.
		Ray Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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Rwill		#15 Posted : 02 November 2017 20:29:39(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 04/05/2015(UTC) Posts: 777 Location: England, London		All very sensible and then they introduced the "new style plugs" which don't integrate with the old style at all and now many things like decoders have gone back to screw terminal which I actually prefer and a lot of use the various cable joiners like "wago" and then the Start up range uses moulded plugs and sockets and a completely new and contradictory colour scheme for wires
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DaleSchultz		#16 Posted : 02 November 2017 21:14:52(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 10/02/2006(UTC) Posts: 3,997		Running the correct color wire is much more important that the color of the plug. For running power to tracks (ground and digital) as well as 16V AC and 12V DC you want to use a good heavy (thick) wire. Since wire can be expensive you may like the option of buying one big roll of (say) white and then color the wire brown/red/yellow etc as needed. See https://cabin-layout.blo...changing-wire-color.html For running s88 feedback wires you need multistrand cables (cat 5 is good and readily available) see https://cabin-layout.blo...m/2014/08/s88-cable.html for examples and discussion on color there.
		Dale Intellibox + own software, K-Track My current layout: https://cabin-layout.mixmox.com Arrival and Departure signs: https://remotesign.mixmox.com
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Purellum		#17 Posted : 02 November 2017 21:35:01(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 08/11/2005(UTC) Posts: 3,528 Location: Mullerup, 4200 Slagelse		Originally Posted by: Pmare4 That's strange - a few pages later it says the opposite: Without knowing, I think this writer is confused or the translation wrong. To me it is very strange to push the green button for STOP and the red for GO. It should be the other way round, IMHO. Per. P.S: Orange wire is known to be the best !!!
		If you can dream it, you can do it! I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
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Bigdaddynz		#18 Posted : 02 November 2017 22:25:12(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,771 Location: New Zealand		Originally Posted by: Purellum Without knowing, I think this writer is confused or the translation wrong. To me it is very strange to push the green button for STOP and the red for GO. It should be the other way round, IMHO. Exactly! Originally Posted by: Purellum P.S: Orange wire is known to be the best !!! Exactly! (I'm trying to find the orange wire thread, but I'm sure Per will know where it is)
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Pmare4		#19 Posted : 02 November 2017 22:50:56(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2015(UTC) Posts: 237 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia		Originally Posted by: Purellum To me it is very strange to push the green button for STOP and the red for GO. Hi Per, That's German logic for you... As long as you use the same convention for all your wires and plugs I think you'll be alright.
		Peter Collecting vintage Märklin from 1935-1970, also Hornby O Gauge
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Purellum		#20 Posted : 02 November 2017 23:19:04(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 08/11/2005(UTC) Posts: 3,528 Location: Mullerup, 4200 Slagelse		Originally Posted by: Bigdaddynz Originally Posted by: Purellum P.S: Orange wire is known to be the best !!! Exactly! (I'm trying to find the orange wire thread, but I'm sure Per will know where it is) I think it started with a quiz, which ended in a lot of strange things. https://www.marklin-user...---Quiz--Weird-Wire-Vote It also reminded me that I promised to supply wooden hand uncouplers, which I never have done. Wooden hand uncouplers is another good story, which I don't have time to find right now. Per.
		If you can dream it, you can do it! I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.
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Jabez		#21 Posted : 02 November 2017 23:28:24(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 30/08/2016(UTC) Posts: 636 Location: Brussels		If you are unhappy with the Marklin convention of which switchbox button should be pushed in (and thus which one rises up as a status indicator) just swap the incoming red and green plugs onto the opposite colour sockets on the switchbox and you will get the opposite effect.
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Bigdaddynz		#22 Posted : 03 November 2017 00:07:06(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,771 Location: New Zealand		Originally Posted by: Purellum It also reminded me that I promised to supply wooden hand uncouplers, which I never have done. You will have to send them to Donnie now, George has moved out of that house....
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river6109		#23 Posted : 03 November 2017 03:19:21(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 14,875 Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square		I use wooden plugs and paint them in various colours
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DB Fan		#24 Posted : 03 November 2017 03:46:07(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 01/03/2016(UTC) Posts: 275 Location: Colorado		Originally Posted by: river6109 I use wooden plugs and paint them in various colours
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sjbartels		#25 Posted : 03 November 2017 04:54:03(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 11/08/2015(UTC) Posts: 1,091		I'm good with the black plugs and wire.... but I'm with BDNZ..... what in the heck do I use these orange plugs for????? They seem to be multiplying and yet I've no use for them!
		American by Geography, Australian by Birth. I am an original Ameristraylian
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MrB32		#26 Posted : 03 November 2017 05:12:39(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 06/01/2010(UTC) Posts: 263		Officially (https://www.maerklin.de/fileadmin/media/service/faq/Technik-Tipp-102.pdf) Orange is for the position slow available on some signals (for example 7041).

sjbartels		#27 Posted : 03 November 2017 05:45:38(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 11/08/2015(UTC) Posts: 1,091		Originally Posted by: MrB32 Officially (https://www.maerklin.de/fileadmin/media/service/faq/Technik-Tipp-102.pdf) Orange is for the position slow available on some signals (for example 7041). Interesting......
		American by Geography, Australian by Birth. I am an original Ameristraylian
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MrB32		#28 Posted : 03 November 2017 05:46:27(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 06/01/2010(UTC) Posts: 263		not really... :) :) :)

Pmare4		#29 Posted : 03 November 2017 06:04:59(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2015(UTC) Posts: 237 Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia		Originally Posted by: sjbartels what in the heck do I use these orange plugs for????? They seem to be multiplying and yet I've no use for them! Orange plugs multiply by the Purellum factor (1000) and are only suitable for use on official Marklin-Users.net Orange Wire®. Use on non-Marklin-Users.net products is not sanctioned under Federal Regulations and is punishable by paying a fine of $500 to the Webmaster or sending him (or me!) 5 locos - whichever is more expensive.
		Peter Collecting vintage Märklin from 1935-1970, also Hornby O Gauge
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sjbartels		#30 Posted : 03 November 2017 06:12:12(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 11/08/2015(UTC) Posts: 1,091		Originally Posted by: Pmare4 Originally Posted by: sjbartels what in the heck do I use these orange plugs for????? They seem to be multiplying and yet I've no use for them! Orange plugs multiply by the Purellum factor (1000) and are only suitable for use on official Marklin-Users.net Orange Wire®. Use on non-Marklin-Users.net products is not sanctioned under Federal Regulations and is punishable by paying a fine of $500 to the Webmaster or sending him (or me!) 5 locos - whichever is more expensive. That's it, I am breaking out the Piko lok's!!!!
		American by Geography, Australian by Birth. I am an original Ameristraylian
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RayF		#31 Posted : 03 November 2017 10:29:01(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 15,870 Location: Gibraltar, Europe		I treasure my coil of orange wire and my wooden hand uncoupler which form the load for my Marklin-user.net wagon. Whenever I run it on my layout it reminds me what crazy fun this forum can be sometimes!
		Ray Mostly Marklin.Selection of different eras and European railways Small C track layout, control by MS2, 100+ trains but run 4-5 at a time.
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Minok		#32 Posted : 03 November 2017 22:02:06(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/10/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,319 Location: Washington, Pacific Northwest		Originally Posted by: applor Annoyingly they use brown for earth instead of just black. In domestic electric brown is active Depends on where you live: Wire Color Codes Site Brown or Black are hot phases in AC power, while Blue or White are neutral phases in AC power. Where as for German automotive (maybe Bosch originated, not sure) the colors are Brown - Ground/battery neg, Red - battery positive
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Bigdaddynz		#33 Posted : 03 November 2017 22:22:39(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 18,771 Location: New Zealand		Originally Posted by: RayF One deviation I make to the standard Marklin colour codes is to change the colour of one of the blue wires to purple. I use the blue wire for the green plug and the purple wire for the red plug. This way when extending wires to the control box I don't have to guess which wire is which. I have a feeling that one of the blue wires may have been cut slightly shorter than the other, but can't remember which one (possibly the one with the red plug)? Can anyone confirm? At any rate Ray's method is visually easier to follow.
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PJMärklin		#34 Posted : 05 November 2017 08:25:08(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 04/12/2013(UTC) Posts: 2,261 Location: Hobart, Australia		Originally Posted by: Bigdaddynz .... they are available from Brawa as specific items (I've just purchased some Black and Blue's). Brawa 3051 - 10 Yellow Plugs Brawa 3052 - 10 Red Plugs Brawa 3053 - 10 Green Plugs Brawa 3054 - 10 Brown Plugs Brawa 3055 - 10 Blue Plugs Brawa 3056 - 10 Orange Plugs Brawa 3057 - 10 Grey Plugs Brawa 3058 - 10 Black Plugs Brawa 3059 - 10 White Plugs Originally Posted by: Rwill All very sensible and then they introduced the "new style plugs" which don't integrate with the old style at all ... Yes indeed, the Brawa are a great substitute for the old style Marklin plugs which I prefer to continue for consistency, I use a lot of them : Regards, PJ
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cookee_nz		#35 Posted : 05 November 2017 08:51:55(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 31/12/2010(UTC) Posts: 3,998 Location: Paremata, Wellington		Originally Posted by: river6109 I use wooden plugs and paint them in various colours Great idea, and economical, but you have to remember to use conductive paint, and for some colours this is very expensive
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