Once again gang I am confused. I have read everything I can find on insulated frogs vs. powered frogs on turnouts for DCC. The gist I get is that the insulated frog is better except that some locos will lose contact when over the frog. With some DCC systems (or all maybe) this can cause the loco to lose contact with the DCC system. Powered frogs (or electrofrog) solve the loco electrical pickup problem but must then be insulated in some way (2 inside rails I believe) because of polarity issues. Which is better or easier (in your humble opinion) for DCC, insulated or powered frogs?
PS I am going to be using the new PECO code 83 track and would appreciate any input from anyone who has experience with this track.
With the code 100 and 75, I only use the electrofrog due to the shorting at the frog points on the insulfrogs. Insulating the electrofrog relly doesn’t require too much more effort and the all metal frog on the elctrofrog is superior.
Examining the new Peco code 83 t/o’s it appears that the problem with the shorting may be resolved but I have not tried them so can’t make recommendations. They appear to have a larger gap between the opposing frog point rails than the older ones and may be ok…
gs, I feel the same way about metal frogs being superior. I was trying to avoid any extra work (I’m not lazy, I just don’t want to spend 2 years building my layout) but if insulating the rails is no big deal, perhaps it is worth it.