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Juicers on the Frogs

For those who are new to the term ‘juicer” here is a brief explaination. A frog juicer will automatically switch the power on a frog. A wire from a frog juicer is used to power the frog – if the frog is of the wrong polarity and shorts, a frog juicer will detect a current surge and will almost immediately switch the power before the engine dcc decoder or the dcc command station can notice.

George who models in HO scale asks:

“My dcc oval two-track layout has 4 zones, each protected by aPSX beaker. Using NCE sb5 for power. Recently a car derailment caused a short on one of the 2 crossover turnouts (Bachmann ez track dcc, left and right #6). Result: damage to SB5. Thinking of installing juicers on the frogs to avoid this again. Any thoughts?”

Add your thoughts below.

3 Responses to Juicers on the Frogs

  • Tom Osterdock says:

    I use the Tam Valley frog juicers for all my switches. I would not have a switch without one.

  • Geoff says:

    Frog juicers ensure the frog is the correct polarity. But what you need is a circuit breaker.

  • The N-Scale Nerd says:

    I wonder why the breakers didn’t go?

    I also use a simple inline “overload circuit” in each of the 2 zones that I run.
    It’s a 12V, 50W globe in series with each bus “line”.
    If there is a short, the lamp will glow brightly and give you a moment longer to kill the power or remove the short.
    I also use a separate Tam Valley DAB005 booster for rail and accessories.
    Another layer of built-in protection.

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