John Max

I sold my Smart Frogs on eBay a while ago, Peco tried to help but after a few exchanges they gave up. The current ones seem different from when I bought the original produced ones. I changed to juicers as we use at the Calder Northern Group at Crewe. Never had a problem since, except for the odd loose wire as I use plug in’s

Happy hunting and good luck

Have you checked the back to back wheel measurements

I agree with that comment, it as been reported many times that some Peco point work is not flat across the Frog area.

I only have experience in DCC on this subject, suggest send a eMail to stockiest for advice most are very good at giving Good advise and replies.

What you need is TAM VALLEY - FROG JUICERS absolutely brilliant. I got mine from Coastal DCC, There are other U.K. stockists.

I got one like that, contacted Peco, they sent a replacement for free in the post. No return of the faulty item required. I did give details of the purchase from Hatton’s though.

I tried some cheaper Servos bought on eBay. They seemed the exact make and code number as the Peco ones but they just did not work very well and I had to replace the four with Peco or ANE. Worth logging in to the manufacturers site for latest updated products in this range. "ANE" https://www.anemodel.com/Home-E.html Some very intresting stuff. About half of my system is ANE before Peco took it on, it was about 60% of the Peco prices at the time. One of the problems is there is still a lot of the older versions about but usually at a cheaper price. If I bought some now I would make sure it is the latest versions even if it cost more.

Yes I use frog juicers, I find them essential as I have a few very small locos. I use the make Tam Valley which are available in single, double or quad versions. They are available from a number of stockists in the U.K. like Coastal. DCC. I model HO American all DCC, most with sound.

I’m still using the Peco system very successfully, some items have been updated since. I control the turnouts with the Peco decoder unit. What I don’t use is the frog juicer, I had them many problems with them I got rid of the lot for (32) points. I use the Tam Valley frog juicers. Owing, they are absolutely superb, the only problem I had in about 3 years is when I accidentally pulled a wire out and with so many connections took a bit of finding.

Using the NCE DCC system you can control up to 100 servos in one go (or other makes and types of switch machines). In my case I have programed up to six which work without the slightest problem. The system though is to fast, the secret is after programing the first servo from then on you have to add each servo twice to create a minute time delay or the program goes straight past to the next one without activating. For instance say 1+3+3+6+6+18+18 and so on any amount in any order. You do have to include normal or reverse direction when programing. This is ideal for a 3 way point which I have 2. you set a program for each of the directions. Also to activate a set of points you just put in say number 9 press enter and the whole series activates.

Suggest look at the ANE site, anemodel.com.tw I have 28 of these working, unless they have now modified them don't touch the frog boards, they are a nighmare of wiring and problems. If you want live frogs use the Tam Valley frog juicers (brilliant). This is if you are using DCC not DC. The servos are quite big and I have still got to work out how to disguise them, other than having 28 sheds!

Hi, sorry but I can't answer this as I bought some off eBay myself but got them mixed up so I don't know which were the ANC/Peco ones or the on line bought. I have 4 in unused and when I had a problem installing one I just grabbed another so it is possible that the 4 I bought off eBay are the ones left unused. I bought most of mine from the track-shack, Isle of Man I highly recommend them. Also often get good prices from Hatton's or look for good offers from listed on eBay. Always comparing total including postage.

Hi, I have 7 of the Peco Smart boards with 28 servos and the 7 DCC boards added, except for the occational minor adjustments they work fine on my NCE 5 amp DCC system. The power draw as no effect I can detect on the running of the trains including power hungry large sound locos. I often run 2 at a time and occationally 3. The do not touch part of the Peco (ANE) smart system are the frog boards which are a disater zone. I use the Tam Valley frog juicers to power frogs, they are amazing. I also have a lot of building lights attatched to the system, these also don't seem to cause much of a power drain although this is not recormended and shoud have a seperate power supply. John

Firstly a correction I should have said ANE not ANC. The ANE versions of the instructions are available on the ANE site and are much clearer than the Peco instructions and probably more uptodate. I don't understand the DC idea as I thought the system is meant for DCC only.

When I first tested the smart system out I was surprised to see the reference too DC connections and no reference to DCC, they worked ok on DCC. I decided to contact Peco, asking if they worked better with DC, I never got a reply until I made a second request. The reply just stated that they can be used for either. Sent same request to ANC who replied that DCC is ok but seemed to no nothing about using DC, They seemed surprised that someone would want to use DC if they had a DCC system. My 28 servo system is still working ok, although occasionally the plugs drop apart son the ones without the locking hook that was on the original versions. I repeat that by far the worse part of the system is the frog boards all disposed of at a big loss having installed Tam Valley frog juicers. John

I still have 28 Peco Smart Boards/Servos working ok with the DCC programer board. The latest servos have a very poor quality bracket towards the originals. I use Tam Valley Juicers for polarity, The use of just point blades for contact is a problem with Peco points in the long run, I do find it is a very poor design that needs to modify the electro frog points for DCC. When I switch on the power the servos return to their original set positions which I find is often the opposite to what is required, I have bought some Servo reversers but have not fitted any yet. Only occasionally does a servo require readjustment, my most common fault is the wire rod connector to the points some times flirt out of the holes in the servo arms. Although I think most of this is poor fixing. I agree that some parts of the Peco/ANE are very over priced, some times the extra parts add up cheaper than the sets, I contacted Peco about this but never had a reply. The big fault with the Peco system is the Frog Boards which are an absolute disaster, I got rid of mine at a big loss. I feel that this system was a good idea gone wrong, lack of adequate testing and design, the biggest one being the amount of wire connections required for the full system and the Frog Boards should have been built into the main board. Almost all my purchases for this system were bought at discounted prices. I control the points from a NCE DCC system which works very well and the Macro works as long as you enter some of the point numbers in twice to cause a slight time delay. I'm now experimenting with JMRI but find it is a very long learning curve.

Movement length or possibly wire length

You need to adjust the movement using the buttons for the servo that is juddering, you may at times require more than one go at this. John

I read on the manufacturers web sit last year that applying AC current to these units will damage them. I have no problem with the smart switch or the smart stationary decoder but the smart frogs are hopeless. I have 14 up and running with 16 more to go. One problem I have found with the extension cables is that they are in several different colours, some have built in clips some don't, the ends are often different plug types although they are compatible. Some are quite loose and are a total menace. What I have found is that you often have to miss match the connection for colour coding. If they don't Work turn the cable around I have had to do this on anumber of servo connections. Peco have a warning about this in the instructions I think, or it may be on thèir site. Have a look at the ANC site although this as been completely altered recently. John Max

Hi, just read the latest posts on this subject. Since my previous comments I have now ditched and sold my smart!!! frog boards and started to use the Tam Valley Hex Juicer. This is a far better option as I could never get the peco frog boards to work properly most of the time and oh those endless wiring conections. The hex juicer boards require just 8 wires to control 6 frogs! They also never fail to work properly. They are also available in 1 & 2 frog units. I now have 16 smart switch units with DCC boards working ok, but it can be a bit fiddly to set up the servos if they are towards the back of over 2' wide boards with one side access. My latest complaint about the Peco/ANC smart system is the cost of the extention cables and the different colours there seems to be no set standard, also some have clips to hold them into each other but most have not got this improvement. I have bought some unbranded servo cables at a fraction of the cost of the Peco units. For a look see I also bought 2 servos on eBay that arrived from Hong Kong and were the exact match of the ANE/Peco ones at about £2 each including postage. On arrival they were exactly the same make and code number, on test they worked just the same. JohnMax

Have you installed the user switch?I have find the decoder instillation is extremely easy to program on my NCE system, have installed 2 boards so far. The user switch must be switched on also when you install the set of 4 you must press the 1 or 2 button to move the servo right or left on your NCE for it to finish the instillation. JM

I bought my first set with the idea of testing it out with my NCE system, I set up a pair of electro frog points with the smart system and found it a bit fiddly but it all worked fine with the Frog Board and DCC board. I also added two aspect colour light signals which also worked ok. I'm trying to set up a new layout with minimum amount of access under the layout owing to disability. This original set up was a ANE set which as a different frog board v3. Since I have obtained several more sets. The latest set was by Peco I'm setting these up on separate plywood panels in sets of 4 to be accessed from the front of the layout on shelf units for easy maintenance my first try was a frustrating disaster following the instructions and was dissembled, second try was worse on both occasions it worked fine until installing the frog boards. Third go I decided to make the board bigger, again I had problems wiring the frog boards, at that point I spotted when checking the original set up that worked that I had wired the original wrong but it had worked perfect! I put the Peco set on one side and got out another set of the ANE and tried again copying my original wiring, all now worked perfect (I checked each part worked properly as I went along). Although I'm using NCE DCC I did not install the decoder board till last I installed the switches and LED's as required for easy later fault finding. I have now started on a second board. One wrong assumption I did make is I thought the T & T+ connection on the frog boards were outputs but the are inputs. My biggest gripe on this system which is very good when set up correctly is that the enormous amount of wiring per set of 4, about 84 connections I think. In my opinion the Frog switching should have been mounted on the main board or at least have a plug in connections like the servos, ideally the stationary decoder board would also have been a plug in connection this would have then be a super system which would have cut the time set up enormously. It also seems if you find the right supplier it is cheaper to buy the Peco individual parts than the sets which I think is very poor marketing. I bought 4 of my 5 sets at bargain prices but the other 2 sets I need will be at the full prices I think. I will also need to decided wether to buy ANE sets or Peco in parts, that will be decided when I finally have another go with the Peco set. I will post some attachments on a later posting.