55F Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 More advice [and forbearance required]. I have installed a good number of electrofrogs on my new layout and so far everything works as it should, following a little help a couple of weeks ago with a three way point problem. So I'm feeling fairly confident! Then I start on the fiddle yard which is a 'through' yard and, for the first time on the layout, requires successive points [ie. one after the other without any plain track in between]. So the question....... 'do I still need to insulate the frogs?' The Peco leaflet appears to suggest 'not' but I can't quite convince myself that this will not lead to problems! [FYI each track in the fiddle yard will have a separate track section between the facing points at each end]. Help [and possibly an explanation] please!! 55f Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted January 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 22, 2012 I would always insulate at the frog to prevent any risk of back feed - power at the toe, insulate at the frog. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 The answer as always is do it right first time then you will have no problems in the future. Do it the shortcut Peco way and it might work then again it might not. Always work to the rules. You say the FY is a 'through' yard (a point ladder at each end and therefore consisting of loops. So even the "Peco" way will require facing points to be isolated. Failing to isolate the frogs will mean that as a route is set into a loop with the points at the other end not set (even momentarily) you will get a short. As always there is no difference between good DC and DCC wiring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
55F Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Thank you Beast and Kenton. I have read and followed your 'three' rules Kenton and I appreciate the advice you provide. The direct conflict with the Peco advice just made me question for a moment and require some confirmation that I had understood correctly.I shall continue to folow your excellent principles! 55f Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 They don't belong to me and I claim no credit for them. It is just what I was taught many many years ago. Peco, track has developed since and they approach the subject of electrification from the principle of the train set and power fed by clips (ditto Hornby). As I keep saying it is not that their approach does not work, just that it is not correct based on simple to follow rules and is not consistent. You can wire up a layout using their shortcut and it will work. But down the road when you change the track layout (the classic is adding a point at the end of a siding, or changing to DCC) then you have forgotten what you have done and come back to ask why it doesn't work. Follow the rules and it will work every time for all diagrams. You may seem to have more wires that you expected but it should be abundantly clear what each wire does. It is always better to have more track feeds than too few. Also best practice is to colour code and label wires. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
55F Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Yes, I am soldering, colour coding, labelling, recording circuit diagrams, continuity testing etc and am slowly coming to grips with the sound electrical disciplines which I trust will stand me in good stead. Also, still aware of my limitations and that more assistance may yet be summoned! [Oh and having lots of enjoyment and satisfaction!]. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunmar Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Hi, Like you 55F I too had problems getting my head round the principle of 'electrofrog' point work. Although my layout operates ok - I still have a number of points where the power is carried through the 'frog' and yet have 2 points where there is no power passing through and they are all wired the same way using Seep motors with the built in switch! All points have been correctly insulated! Bill. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
55F Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Hello Dunmar, a couple of weeks ago I posted a problem with 3 way electrofrog points. The cause of the problem [identified by forum member] turned out to be that the two Seep motors have, necesarily, to be fixed opposing ways......leading to a requirement to reverse the feed & common return [to the frog] on one of the motors. Hey presto and it all worked! Could that be the problem with your points which are not feeding the power correctly? Just a thought......never thought I could be making suggestions on this topic!! 55f Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissRailPassion Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 I have seep motors and they need a little fine tuning I find. The problem seems to be the washer that makes the connection on the switch. It needs to be centred when installing and the process of screwing in the motor can lead to small movements causing loss of contact. As it is a moving part, metal on metal, I lubricate them with a drop of loco oil and this seems to work wonders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.