Ok, here it is: I’ve started to lay track and I am unsure if I should
Continue making my Peco c55 electrofrog TO’s DCC friendly.
Is it really worth the extra time & money? I know that there’re
Advantages to this modification, but since I’m planning on having
32 turnouts on my layout, this would add substantial cost and time.
The reason why I’m asking is that I had some poor electrical connection
With some of the turnouts after mounting the PL10 machines and
Hand throwing the turnouts. The PL10’s somewhat hinder the free movement
Of the throw bar and can prevent good electrical contact of the points, but
Then it’s fine when they’re thrown electrically (good thing having that CDU).
But since I don’t have a control panel yet…
I know that there are 2 schools of thought out there, so I’m looking for a
Yes or No here, so that I can continue with my layout. If the majority
Says “Yes – you better!” or “Na – they’ll work fine out of the box”,
Then I can go on. I’d rather make that determination now, while I’m
Still just pinning the track to the foam.
I’ve heard both sides already, I just like to get a sense of the most common
Opinion. Knowing you guys, it’ll be 50/50, no? [:D]
For my small switching layout with electrofrogs, I didn’t bother making them DCC friendly, just lots of gaps and feeders. My thinking was that if it ever becomes too unreliable, I’ll rebuild the section … how bad can it be with a half dozen or so turnouts?
For my larger layout, there are many places where replacing or signfiicantly reworking a turnout will have a major effect on a lot of adjoining trackwork. For that reason, I’ll do the work to make nearly all of the PECO turnouts on the larger layout DCC-friendly as they are installed.
You’ll want to consider the environment (how dusty/corrosive), the access for rework/replacement, etc. to decide if it’s more trouble to do them all “rght” at installation or do a few “over” in the future.
If you’re planning to use switch machines anyway in the long term, maybe some temporary electrical wiring to control those would be a better bet than trying to hand-throw the turnouts with the switch machines installed.
OK…I’ll tell you what I’d do.First,never solder any ends of any TO.The reason for this is that they can be removed easily for replacement and/or service by simply sliding the joiner off them to the adjoining track.
Now,two different ways to do it…first,if you are using “Insulfrog” type TO’s,use metal joiners throughout and do not worry about the DCC friendly question at all.On the other hand,if you are using “Electrofrog” type TO’s,you will need insulating joiners at both ends of the frogs,and then again,everything will be DCC friendly.However,the insulating joiners won’t slide for TO removal,so I take an Exacto blade and carefully cut them out of the way after installation,which leaves a small air gap between nicely aligned tracks.
Doing this will give you easily removeable TO’s thus meaning that you don’t have to motorize them right away,making them easy to “hand throw” until you’re ready for the next step.Since the Peco motors (PL10’s) attach directly to the TO’s,it’s then only a matter of digging small pits in your foam to bury them and a small paths for your wiring through your workbench to install them.
I don’t really care about the “DCC friendly” turnout question,as Peco’s TO’s are appropriate right out of the box when installed properly.However,do not rely on any TO to power any length of track beyond,even very short ones (like in yard ladders).I’ve had a case where a section of track linked two TO’s diverging routes and proved unreliable.Track joiners aren’t bullet proof and since I don’t solder TO’s,I had to install feeders to this section.
Now your questions…converting for DCC?..Unnecessary…hand throwing motorized TO’s?..Not reliable and you can avoid it.And now a question you didn’t ask…for some probably good reason,some modelers remove the spring from Peco TO’s for motorized operation…I never did and they all work fine with the Peco motors.My opinion…for what it’s worthed…
If this is your magnum opus layout that you want to have for a long time and if smooth operation is important to you, I would go ahead and modify the switches for DCC before installing them. If you want to save some time and some $$$, double gap the frog and leave it dead per Joe Fugates’ DCC thread. Solder a jumper to it and thread it through the subroadbed when you install the switch. This gives you the option of powering it later. If you have problems with stalls you can wire it up then. If you are running Diesels or large steam you may never have to wire it…
I have been buying DCC friendly switches to avoid this type of activity…