Hi everyone,
I am going to risk asking a stupid question: if one is using old Shinohara turnouts, and wants to wire for DCC, is all the turnout surgery really necessary (such as on the Wiring for DCC website)? I've searched and found posts that show people doing varying degrees of rail cutting/wiring, etc., and I'm not sure what is necessary.
If isolating the frog is what is essential to avoid shorts, can't that be done by simply putting insulated joiners at both diverging ends of the turnout, and powering the turnout from the point end? (that's my stupid question)
I'm new to all this, so please forgive my ignorance! Is there a benefit to cutting the rails closer to the frog, as opposed to isolating the turnout by using the insulated joiners? If I were to cut the rail close to the frog, would I need to make 4 cuts (2 on each side of the frog, as they are on the newer shinohara's)? Would I then need to wire the frog with a DPDT (or connect it to the appropriate terminals on a Tortoise?) What else do I need to think about?
I want to do this right, but I REALLY don't want to rebuild all of these things...I'd rather go buy Atlas turnouts and forget about it! One thing that has come to light--it appears I probably should be wiring and testing with DCC now, as opposed to DC (I've got an old DC powerpack, and was going to hold off on giving my kids the DCC unit and decoders until their birthday in October).
Thanks!
Steve
I am going to risk asking a stupid question: if one is using old Shinohara turnouts, and wants to wire for DCC, is all the turnout surgery really necessary (such as on the Wiring for DCC website)? I've searched and found posts that show people doing varying degrees of rail cutting/wiring, etc., and I'm not sure what is necessary.
If isolating the frog is what is essential to avoid shorts, can't that be done by simply putting insulated joiners at both diverging ends of the turnout, and powering the turnout from the point end? (that's my stupid question)
I'm new to all this, so please forgive my ignorance! Is there a benefit to cutting the rails closer to the frog, as opposed to isolating the turnout by using the insulated joiners? If I were to cut the rail close to the frog, would I need to make 4 cuts (2 on each side of the frog, as they are on the newer shinohara's)? Would I then need to wire the frog with a DPDT (or connect it to the appropriate terminals on a Tortoise?) What else do I need to think about?
I want to do this right, but I REALLY don't want to rebuild all of these things...I'd rather go buy Atlas turnouts and forget about it! One thing that has come to light--it appears I probably should be wiring and testing with DCC now, as opposed to DC (I've got an old DC powerpack, and was going to hold off on giving my kids the DCC unit and decoders until their birthday in October).
Thanks!
Steve