I’m going to wire electrofrog switches for DCC so will this work?
Throws are going to be by hand … so if power is fed from the point side and all four rails are gapped immediately after the frog this should be OK right???
Or have I missed something???
Guy
Peco Electrofrog turnouts have the “power routing” feature which means that the moving rail feeds the frog with the proper polarity.All you need are 2 insulated joiners (or air gaps) at the frog rails only.As long as the contact points are clean,they’ll work flawlessly in either DC or DCC.However,do not remove the spring from the turnout as they keep the moving rails against the frog and outer rail.You should have an info sheet with your turnouts which pretty well explain the do’s and dont’s of installation.
Thought you could remove spring if you wanted to throw switch with Tortoise. No? [%-)]
OK, I’ll run downstairs and read the Peco sheet as suggested.
Jon
If you add the Tortoise, you will need to do something with the spring.
I’ve seen cases where wheels short out between the point and the stock rail. The best solution here is to break the wires under the switch so that the frog is completely isolated and then feed it through the switch machine.
You don’t need an insulated joiner after every frog. You can combine them if there’s a series going the same way. And the end of a spur or siding counts as an insulated joint.
Guy;
See: http://www.loystoys.com/peco/about-electrofrog.html
Where in Minneapolis are you? I live in Belle Plaine and work in Eagan.
Thanks for help all!!! After the amount of reading a person does when getting into something unfamiliar you think you’ve got a handle on it and then you read something else and you’re back at that confused state again!!! And we definately don’t want it NOT to work when the wife is standing there telling you how much it cost and that it should work!!!
Thanks again, I’m on the right track.
Nigel, I live in Coon Rapids and work in Fridley, about 100’ from the BNSF main going into Northtown yard! Going to the show Saturday at the college?
Guy: I suggest you not lay any turnouts permanently until you test with a variety of locomotives. (That is, don’t glue anything down!) Tack down the rails at each side and maybe tack down the middle turnout if there’s 3 in a row. Then you can see if there are any problems. Run everything through in both directions. (Turn the locos around.) That will tell you if you need further wiring.
I am using DCC (and DC with some older locos) with rolling stock
having both plastic and metal wheels, on an all-Peco 75 layout with
many electrofrog turnouts. I did some research before deciding what
to use and how to wire:
use Tortoise machines. Most of the machines are directly below
the throwbars. Where I had a thick board, standard spring wires
had to be replaced with stiffer wire to get adequate tension.
remove springs from turnouts, necessary with Tortoises.
cut the two underside links between frogs and points, required
for step 4.
add jumpers from stock rails to non-moving segment of points.
Note that there are gaps in the tie connectors for this purpose,
but the instruction sheet makes no mention of them. This gives
a parallel path for the points power, for better reliability.
Some might prefer to use superflexible wire jumpers directly
from stock rails to the moving points.
power frogs through the Tortoise auxiliary contacts.
In two years of operation, I have had no occasions of shorting or
engine stalls, as long as a derailment wasn’t the cause. My (rare)
derailments always seem to be due to wheel or truck problems. I
didn’t need to modify any guard rails, etc. Some people recommend
grinding the top of the Pecos flat for smoothest operation, but they
are smooth enough for me as is.
Hal