Wiring electro frog n gauge

[twommnewbie]

No doubt this has been covered many times before but I can not get any simple straight forward information on how to correctly wire a code 55 electro frog point for n gauge. The you tube videos are useless as they don't show enough detail, the information on Dcc websites rarely mentions code 55 electrfrog ponts and there is conflicting info, some say cut this rail others say don't cut just wire up normally.

I have tried to add jumpers as described and to be frank this seems impossible in such a small scale. I have already fried the sleepers around the switch blades. As this is my first attempt at Dcc wiring I am ready to throw in the towel and go back to analogue. Why can't the manufacturers make a Dcc ready point and save all this hassle!

[Paul-H]

The best bet to start with is just wire them as Peso recommend, which quite simply add power to the two rails and add insulated rail joiners to the two v rails (frog) for most use that's all it needs, keep your rails clean and it Will trouble free use, if building an exhibition layout that needs super reliability then doing the recommended mods and providing independent frog switch might be a good thing, but most home layout users will find the standard peco recommended way is fine,don't over complicate things until you need to.

 

Paul

[WIMorrison]

I model HOe therefore same size of points and I find 2 things help, actually one that helps in 2 ways

 

Rather than putting the insulated joiners directly onto the frog I put in about 1” of track which I solder to the points then I use insulated joiners to the rest of the track.

 

This means that if I overrun into a point the wrong way I don’t hit the frog and derail everything as the loco :assuming it it at the front ) will stop and the layout short 1” away from the frog. The second advantage that will help you is that as I solder the fishplate to the frog I solder a dropper wire which I then connect to the point motor (dcc cobalt) therefore changing the polarity. I also solder droppers to the outside fishplates which I then connect to the track bus as well as the droppers from the point blades.

 

Hope this helps, certainly works for me

 

BTW, I assume you have a nice pointed tip on a small soldering iron

[twommnewbie]

I model HOe therefore same size of points and I find 2 things help, actually one that helps in 2 ways

Rather than putting the insulated joiners directly onto the frog I put in about 1” of track which I solder to the points then I use insulated joiners to the rest of the track.

This means that if I overrun into a point the wrong way I don’t hit the frog and derail everything as the loco :assuming it it at the front ) will stop and the layout short 1” away from the frog. The second advantage that will help you is that as I solder the fishplate to the frog I solder a dropper wire which I then connect to the point motor (dcc cobalt) therefore changing the polarity. I also solder droppers to the outside fishplates which I then connect to the track bus as well as the droppers from the point blades.

Hope this helps, certainly works for me

BTW, I assume you have a nice pointed tip on a small soldering iron

Hi , thank you for the replies, I,ll try the peco way and see how I get on,btw the layout is only 4 ft by 1 so not complicated. I suppose the thing that worries me most is that in dc if you get it wrong it doesn't,t work, but in Dcc if I get it wrong it could blow a not inexpensive decoder.

Oh and yes I do have a fine tip s.iron Cheers all.