Wiring Shinohara switches DC

I'm getting a little confused. Could someone please tell me how to wire older (from the 1990s) Shinohara switches in a DC layout? Thanks for any help. Jim

 

Here's what they look like:

 

You'll need to selectively feed power to the frog with the polarity depending on turnout positon. Your turnout motor will need contacts for this and you'll need to gap any frog rail that could receive current from both ends. Here's a graphic from BarstowRick's excellent website.

The top graphic shows the current flow for a train on the straight route and the bottom for a train on the diverging route. Looking at the graphics, if this was a simple diverging industrial spur without power being fed at the stub end, you wouldn't need the topmost gap on the spur. These are great turnouts. The live frog eliminates stalling and they look great. These are no longer made. I used them exclusively on my N road for 30 Years.

 

Thanks. I also intend to use a Shinohara double crossover of the same vintage. It appears to be insulted on all rails right across the middle. In other words it is just like two switches from the left connect to two switches from the right with insulation between them. How exactly do I wire this for DC?

 

My memory has grown hazy on the Shinohara double slip switch, but I'm thinking that both frogs could be served from the same contact to preserve proper polarity through the entire track component. Because it's likely located at a spot where current will flow in at all four ends, you'd want to gap each of the four frog rails.

It was nice that Shinohara offered an extensive selection of N turnouts, including curved, a space-saving 3-Way, a one-piece ladder track of three No. 4 turnouts and a wye too I think. It's a shame that they left the market, as I don't think anyone has since filled it as well.

 

Here is what it looks like. Seems to me that by being insulated across all rails in the middle and insulation between the side by side switches that it only needs the frogs wired as though it were four individual switches.

 

Man, that's a piece of art!

 

Oh, now I understand your question better. I never owned that track component, but I agree with your wiring assessment.

 

I'll second that. I have a Shinohara HO three way switch my older brother got in the early sixties from AHC and it is equally impressive. Not quite as complex.

Doug

 

Hi, I would like to see the image in your message, but can't open it. Thanks - John

 

Unfortunately my post was from three years ago and my documents have since been thrown away and my spare turnouts sold. Mine were on a DC railroad and all were remotely operated. I used contacts on the switch machine to selectively power the frog.

I found a link that may help illustrate.:

https://dccwiki.com/Shinohara

 

I have both standard and a double slip in HO. I simply soldered the double slip in, as I recall, and wired all the tracks leading to it from all directions. Works fine. But that's not what you have. You have the double crossover, just like you said. I've never dealt with one, and the pic makes it look tricky. But sometimes they sneak insulation between rails that's hard to see, and make connections with ties molded around them which are impossible to see. So it might be that easy.

Worth a try. You noticed all the breaks down the middle. Wire from all four directions.

 

What I often do with puzzling wiring is to lay things out on a bench and use test leads like these to play out options. Everything is visible, connecting a meter at any point is easy and revisions are a cinch.

 

As you can see I have a Shinohara double-slip and I don't recall it being that hard to wire for DC operation.
I'll try and get a close-up of how I incorporated it into this balagan but recently I haven't been able to download pictures from my camera to the computer and hence to Photobucket.