Silly question on electrofrog points

[rogerzilla]

Is it possible to use them without point motors?  Most of the guides to installing them say that the polarity of the frog will be set by a switch on the motor.

[Ian Smeeton]

It certainly is.

 

You can use wire in  tube, using either a DPDT switch as the point lever, or a micro-switch operated by the wire in tube to change the polarity.

 

Not sure about just hand throwing them, though. Have a look at the Peco website for more details.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[ejstubbs]

No, you don't have to use point motors - and yes, you can even use the "hand of god".  As they come out of the box the polarity of the frog is switched by the contact between the switch and stock rails.  Only if you modify them to have the switch rails bonded to the stock rails (to avoid the risk of the switch rail not being energised from the stock rail due to a poor electrical contact) do you have to isolate the frog and switch it externally.

[RFS]

1 hour ago, ejstubbs said:

No, you don't have to use point motors - and yes, you can even use the "hand of god".  As they come out of the box the polarity of the frog is switched by the contact between the switch and stock rails.  Only if you modify them to have the switch rails bonded to the stock rails (to avoid the risk of the switch rail not being energised from the stock rail due to a poor electrical contact) do you have to isolate the frog and switch it externally.

 

This is true but only applies to simple points. 3-way points and slips, both single and double, require frog polarity switching since the frogs are dead otherwise. 

[Clagsniffer]

I’ve attached pictures of the ‘blurb’ on the back of a peco point and a 3 way point. As stated, for a standard point, you don’t NEED to do anything to the point for it to work. The extra frog switching is for greater reliability. The 3 way point however does require extra switches for it to work in electrofrog configuration. Hope this helps.

[ejstubbs]

16 hours ago, RFS said:

3-way points and slips, both single and double, require frog polarity switching since the frogs are dead otherwise.

 

Fair point.

 

Oops, sorry... 

[gwrrob]

17 hours ago, Ian Smeeton said:

It certainly is.

 

Not sure about just hand throwing them, though. Have a look at the Peco website for more details.

 

 

I do just that and they work just fine.

[DCB]

I use hand of god operated live frog points in some easy to  access places. They are bog standard but I also add polarity switches when used outdoors.  Generally the little tags on the point blades are adequate for polarity switching on DC but not for DCC.

[Sol]

18 hours ago, DavidCBroad said:

I use hand of god operated live frog points in some easy to  access places. They are bog standard but I also add polarity switches when used outdoors.  Generally the little tags on the point blades are adequate for polarity switching on DC but not for DCC.

 

The tags on the blades on Peco Code 100 turnouts have been removed on later version of turnouts.

[DCB]

1 hour ago, Sol said:

 

The tags on the blades on Peco Code 100 turnouts have been removed on later version of turnouts.

I know they were deleted on some points, We bought some new points which had no tags and a plastic spring which were dire. We complained to Peco and were told the tags were not necessary, we informed them that the points were crap and we would source some second hand ones.  We found some old ones on eBay and fitted new springs and they have been fine.

I'm not sure what the latest ones are like, there is plenty of old stock still on dealers shelves or hooks.   The ones with plastic springs need  point motors as the springs don't keep the blades tight enough against the stock rails to prevent derailments