I am starting to wire up some areas and currently running on DC, will be switching to DCC sometime after Christmas…I have some Atlas but mostly Peco now and I think most are live Frogs?? If I am wiring all directions the same way, that’s working fine, but when I back into my staging or siding areas, this is where it shorts out on me…I am using a couple terminal strips to hook up to with only one cab since I will be getting DCC…do I have to Isolate all these sidings that reverse direction and when I do hook up to the power pack, would this not cause more shorts…Was going to show a pic of problem but not sure how to do that yet…
It sounds like you have live frog turnouts. This type of turnout requires that you use insulated rail jouiners on both frog sides. Remember the term like this, feed the point ( where the rails move to align the turnout) not the frog( where they cross).
Hot frog turnouts require a gap in the rail approaching the frog if the power is fed from frog side. This includes if power is put to the point end of the turnout but the track makes a loop back to the other side.
Any section of track that allows the train to reverse direction will require not only isolation but special wiring as well (both DC and DCC). This issue is different from the hot frog turnout issue.
Track configurations that can reverse a train direcation are a reversing loop, crossover on a dog bone, wye, and turntable.
Thanks for the info, I’ll be trying the input over the weekend …no reverse directions, or (reverse loops) just when i back into my staging or sidings…and the live frogs are connected to each other …thanks…Cary