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| Joe Fugate |
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   Registered Member #3 Joined: Fri Sep 08 2006, 01:59PM: posts: 145 | DCC Friendly turnouts made simple There is a lot of confusion among modelers over just what a "DCC Friendly turnout" is, and whether or not to use "live frog" or "dead frog" turnouts on a DCC layout. DCC friendly means the turnout has less chance of a short if something doesn't track right through it. If you ever operate on a DCC layout with turnouts that keep getting shorts, you'll quickly understand the term "DCC friendly turnout". Dead frog turnouts (also called 'insulfrog') are more DCC friendly than live frog turnouts (also called 'electrofrog') because if you enter a live frog turnout from the frog end with the points thrown against you, you'll get a short. And shorts are bad on a DCC layout unless you have taken steps to create robust short management so everyone else's trains keep running and only your train on the shorted turnout stops running. On a DCC layout without robust short management, a short will shut down big sections of the layout, causing more than one train to be affected when a short occurs (most often from running a live frog turnout that's thrown against you). The cry of "who shorted the layout?" is common on a DCC layout with live frog turnouts and no robust DCC short management. Also, dead frog turnouts are less work to install and maintain since there's no frog power routing contacts or wiring to bother with. The other component of a DCC friendly turnout is points that are the same polarity as the stock rails. This way if something doesn't track right around the points, you are much less likely to get a short. On a DCC layout, going on the ground (derailing) is preferred to getting a short because going on the ground only affects you -- a short can affect other trains too. I started out using live frog turnouts on my 1980s SP Siskiyou Line layout (HO), but moved to dead frog since they were easier to install and my all-wheel-pickup modern diesels ran fine over dead frogs. I ran into Gary Segal (who has the huge L&N layout featured in MR back in 1996) at the 2004 National Convention so out of curiosity I asked him which he used -- live frog or dead frog. Gary said he started out using live frog but moved to dead frog because things run fine on them, they're simpler, and they cause less short headaches with DCC. So I'm not the only one who has discovered this "secret" !  If you have older steam locos or extra short wheelbase locos, you may have to stick with live frog turnouts. But if you can use dead frog turnouts, they remove one more source of troublesome shorts on a DCC layout. [ Edited Wed May 23 2007, 01:41AM ] Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 250,000 hits and counting!  | ||
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| Scruff |
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 Registered Member #9 Joined: Mon Oct 02 2006, 12:06AM: posts: 6 | Thats an interesting read there Joe  Im about to embark on a new layout after making all the planning mistakes etc and stuff ive learned from my 1st layout. Im planning on using code 55 N scale, and none of the switches come in insulfrog style, so was going to wire them for reliable power routing. But, with a peco 55 switch, anyone know where to cut to kill the frog? cheers | ||
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| Joe Fugate |
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Fri Sep 08 2006, 01:59PM: posts: 145 | Scruff: I've never looked under a code 55 Peco turnout, but I'm assuming they sell both insulfrog and electrofrog in N? In the HO variety, if you have insulfrog, you're all set, but with electrofrog, you can kill power to the frog if you look under the turnout and follow the jumper wiring around until you find the one feeding the frog from the points. Once you find that wire (on the HO turnouts) you just cut it and you have a dead frog turnout. I hope that gives you some idea where to start. You shouldn't have to cut gaps in the frog ... they should already have them. [ Edited Sat Jun 02 2007, 10:38AM ] Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 250,000 hits and counting! | ||
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| Scruff |
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| Registered Member #9 Joined: Mon Oct 02 2006, 12:06AM: posts: 6 | Thanks for that Joe, always good to get someones else's opinion N scale code 80 track comes in insulfrog and electrofrog varieties, which is what im currently using on my learning layout, but im planning on using the lower profile code 55 on my upcoming layout and it only comes in electrofrog varieties. cheers | ||
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