RMweb Gold istrago Posted May 27, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 27, 2014 Can anyone help. I have connected ANE DCC smartswitches and everything works fine, but when I attach the smartfrog modules (solid state not relays) I get a short and railmaster turns of the power. When I disconnect the track feeds to the smartfrog its OK, but obviously no frog switching. Connecting the smartfrog modules directly to the e-link outputs exhibits the same short. Can anyone give me some hope of curing this or will I have to send the lot back. Thanks in advance, Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Reichert Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 The value of the ANE smart frog is that you can avoid having/cutting gaps between the frog and the two point rails. Without checking the circuit details, as to what is wired to where, this sounds as though you have the smart frog connections reversed. I.e. it is connecting the frog to the opposite stock rails to the ones it should be connected to. If that clue helps, and you can swap the stock rail connections successfully, then please let us know. Otherwise I'll dig into the wiring diagram details further later today. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold istrago Posted May 27, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 27, 2014 Hi Andy, Only the track connectors from the e-link are connected directly to the smartfrog module. There are no connections at all to the layout and railmaster detects a short and shuts of power. The fault appears to be with the smart frog module. Today I tried a Traintronics T300 and it works perfectly and switches the frog polarity, so this tells me its not Railmaster or e-link at fault. I can only assume the design of the new smart frog module is not compatible with my DCC. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Reichert Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 This appears to be the way the Smartfrog should be wired. From what I can see from the ANE manual diagram, the wires I would try swapping over would be the red and blue wires at the Smart frog connector T+ and T- terminals. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold istrago Posted May 27, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 27, 2014 Thanks Andy but as I said there is no other wiring to the samrtfrog than the track feeds, yet is is still showing a short. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Reichert Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Thanks Andy but as I said there is no other wiring to the samrtfrog than the track feeds, yet is is still showing a short. Steve The smart frog is an electronic device, which apparently needs to be driven by two LED outputs from the SmartSwitch board. If both of those are left disconnected (which would normally be interpreted as both inputs logic high) it might be trying to connect the frog to both stock rails, rather than just one. I would at least connect the SmartSwitch Board to the Smart frog as shown (and power it), before giving up on it. Andy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted May 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 29, 2014 Steve Just a thought - is the power output from Railmaster sufficient to drive the smart frog? Have encountered issues of this nature in similar circumstances - if we connect up Abbotswood with small wires rather than mains cable between the boards then our frog juicers don't...and Jim encountered the same issue trying to run a reversing loop module with Dynamis Worth a check....our frogs are well juiced with ECoS shoving out 4 amps through mains cable connections Cheers Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold istrago Posted May 29, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 29, 2014 Thanks again for your help. I have tried the smartfrog with both the smartswitch board and the dcc decoder wired as illustrated. This was the position that made me question the smartfrog. There are definitely no shorts in the system. Finally in frustration I tried a couple of Traintronics TT300 motors with frog switching and these work perfectly. In view of this I have returned the smartswitch and purchased more TT300s. This has finally solved the problem as far as I am concerned. Thanks again for your suggestions and advice. The upshot of this is that I will now try to buy UK equipment like Traintronics where product support is a bit closer than China! Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Steve Another product that you might like to look at is the Signalist SC2. As well as all the frog switching and everything built in It is a bit more compact than the ANE product since it is all fully integrated on a single PCB rather than half a dozen interconnected boards. Here is a picture of one with a servo attached to a bracket that I made which is quicker to make and mount than the ANE bracket, and about £10 cheaper (I used a Towerpro SG92R servo, like the ANE one but with carbon fibre gears and the bracket is cut from a strip with tin snips). With 'Y' cables it will drive up to four crossovers, and It can be track powered (if you have at least 2A track power) or powered from an external AC or DC supply. The PCB is approximately 75mm x 55mm so is smaller than it looks in the picture. Frog connections are on the left and power inputs on the right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold istrago Posted May 31, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted May 31, 2014 Thanks for the suggestion Suzie, but I have gone down the Traintronics route at the moment. If my layout expands in the future I will certainly take a look at your method. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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