Flipped over my #3.5 wye & saw that it seems set up for bridging the gaps: there's holes & metal connections. But then saw a little ring coming off the frog, & it seems to allow only one wire to connect to it. I was going to wire connecting sections, but it seems like it's already set up. Anyone have any tips wiring for DCC? (the holes in the plastic ties seem a bit small). Thanks for yr feedback! Cheers! --Mark
Mark, the Atlas C55 switches have an isolated frog. The ring on the side is for creating a live frog, either from a separate switch or through an internal contact arrangement like on the Tortoise. Otherwise, the turnout is live throughout - left rail to left rail and vice versa.
If I'm not using a switch or tortoise, can I hook up the positive feeder wire to the ring? If only one loco is passing over the frog at a time, do I have to worry about shorts? Thanks!
No and yes. The ring is connected to the frog. If you have the track wired with, lets say, positive on the straight stock rail and negative on the straight closure rail, with a negative wire going to the ring which will power the frog for the negative side, then all is fine. But when you try to run the loco through the diverging route, then the frog will need to become positive, and it can't with the negative wire going to that ring, which in turns powers the frog. Hope this makes sense. Diagrams are so much easier to explain with and I don't have one handy Mike
I think I'm beginning to get it. If I want to power the frog, I need to figure out some way to change the feeder (by switch or automated mechanism). Otherwise I keep it dead. With a dead frog (he croaked), I'm relying on the fact that the loco can travel the short distance with only the rear truck acting as pickup, then only the front truck as the rear passes over the frog. So, as long as all my locos have good pickup that can span the frog (picking up from the point rails before & the post-frog rails after), then I really don't have to worry about powering the frog. For example, with my 0-8-0, the four wheels can touch the rails beyond the frog on both ends, so no problem. & with my 44 tonner, one truck is always in contact with a powered rail, so no problem. Is that the gist? Thanks for helping a electronically-challenged dude. Cheers! --Mark
What if you simply wired both closure rails to the frog? Say the straight stock rail is positive and the diverging stock rail is negative. If the switch is thrown straight, the straight closure rail will contact the diverging stock rail and carry the negative current to the frog. When the switch is thrown the other direction, the straight closure rail will break contact with the diverging stock rail and then the diverging closure rail will make contact with the straight stock rail and carry the positive current to the frog. That is pretty much how the Unitrack #6 turnout gets power to the frog, though there is a separate route the power can take using the switch internals as backup.
That's the old fashion way to do it but if the switch already has the points wired to the adjacent running rails you'd have to remove the jumpers to do it the old way. Better to leave the points as is and add a polarity reverser of some kind to the frog, that way there's no chance of the points shorting out to the back of wheels running thru the close space between them and the running rails. The polarity reversing switch can be part of the switch throw mechanism or something as simple as a toggle switch. If the locos are all wheel pickup and multiple units they might run thru most of the time just fine with the frogs unpowered but there's less chance of dirty track or wheels affecting performance if the frogs are powered....dave
Mark, for your information; This is how the C55 turnouts are built and, through the internal connections, electrically connected. The frog is isolated from the other rails. When a switch is used - could be a 2-position switch connected to a ground throw, a slide switch used as the actuator, a micro-switch operated by the turnout or internal contacts in a Tortoise or Blue Point machine - the frog is powered as follows; Note a second pole (in blue) is shown in the above example for position detection and is not necessary. Hope this helps.
If the method of throwing swictches that you are using does not lend itself to mechanically switching the frog polarity, here is an automated solution: The Hex Frog Juicer.
