Hi Folks I was down in Toronto over the week end and one of the hobby shop guys had said something to me I thought kinda strange .He had commented that it is better to use the peco electra frogs compared to the peco insulfrogs because over time the points would get dirty and what would happen is the sound in the dcc decoder equiped locomotive would cut out as it went over the insul frogs because of the bad point contact,Where as the electra frog peco would never give this problem. 1 So have any of use that have had insul frog pecos ever came across this problem. 2 If this is a problem that happens down the road is there a way to over come this perhaps by running power wires to the frog? 3 What is the purpose for making an insul frog compared to a electra frog why not just make one or the other?
I have both on my home layout and on a couple of NTRAK modules. My preference is Electrofrogs. Neither is more reliable than the other out of the box. Insulfrogs can be used as is with no extra gaps. Simple when getting started. Electrofrogs require some extra attention when gapping. The extra attention is what makes them more reliable. Adding a power wire to the frog combined with an external switch to apply power helps. Both types rely on point rail contact with the stock rails and through the small rail joiners at the pivot points. When these areas get corroded (and they will) neither type will transmit power to the frog. The main weak point is those two rail joiners as they are almost impossible to clean. I add small jumper wires across these two joiners before installing. Using spare decoder wire to jump from the frog to the point rails in a recess filed in the ties under the switch. Then I add the power wire to the frog connected to an external switch. Some I use a spdt switch, others are connected to the extra contacts on tortoise switch machines. I do this to my insulfrogs as well creating an electrofrog in the process. Gapping both frog rails is required. Martin Myers
