Is this a DCC Friendly Turnout?

Myowngod

New Member
I got old Shinohara #8 curved turnouts with electric frogs. Big short in the DCC world, AARRGGHHHhhh! This is how I'm remedying the problem. Does anyone have any feedback?

This is one of the turnouts. There is a metal bar at the points and the closure rails at the frog touch, causing a short completely through the other side of the frog.
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here's the metal bar at the points
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Here's where I cut the frog
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And here's how it will work with the polarity. Assume the top rail (red) is being power routed.
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I've been to http://www.wiringfordcc.com/ by Allan Gartner, and there he has a lot more complicated way of doing it. He uses power routing switches, but I think it will work fine with the metal connected points.
Does anyone have yehs or nehs to this?

Thanks alot
 

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MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
The only comment I have is to make sure that the frog goes "yellow" when the points are thrown the other way...!

A number of guys at the local clubs I know have remedied electro-frogs by doing this. I have no direct experience, as I bought all insul-frogs from the get-go. But what I have heard from others who I know well is that the wiringfordcc site often takes the more complicated route to getting things done.

Andrew
 

60103

Pooh Bah
The problem we had on these switches was at the points. A fat wheel or one slightly under gauge can bridge between the stockrail and the point and short out the system. On DC this makes a little spark; on DCC the whole district shuts down because of the fast acting circuit breakers.
My friend Bill ended up rebuilding all his Shinoharas (and similar) to a) cut the point rails separate from the frog and b) replace the metal tie bar with something insulated - fiber/plastic strip or PCB with a cut in the middle.
We had problems with units from fairly reputable manufacturers whose names begin with A. The wheels seemed to match the NMRA gauge, but...
 

Myowngod

New Member
Well, I cut them and installed one so far. NO Problems! (crossing my fingers) yippy. It will be awhile before I can install the other 2. If anything bad happens I post the results and hopefully the remedy.

Thanks guys
 

60103

Pooh Bah
I wouldn't cut the rails beyond the frog -- much easier to insulate at the end of the rails. The only rule I worry about for this is that the insulated gaps should be within the "fouling point" of the turnout so that you don't accidently leave metal wheels over the gap.
 

steamhead

Active Member
I've used "electrofrogs" all my life (hobby life, that is...30+ years), both with DC and now DCC. Only problem I ever had was on #4 turnouts where the tender metal wheels did bridge the gap at the points (this was in my DC days). Same tender on Pecos mediums today (DCC) ...no problem. I do insulate thr frog rails with plastic joiners, which you have to do with whatever control system you're using.
 
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