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10 Responses to Peco Insulfrog Turnouts
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I saw a vid where the modeller attached leads on each of the three track ends on each turnout section of track in a yard ladder. Might sound like overkill but the modeller swears by his decision to do the extra wiring!
I had to do exactly this as train would die going into siding / diverting track. Soldered 3 power feeds on bottom of rails and connected to bus under benchwork and have had no issues. Using peco code 100 insulated frog turnouts controlled off tortoise switch machines.
Why not make a drawing of what you are proposing to do, photograph it and email it to Peco’s Technical Department. They offer to help modelers achieve the best results using their products. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to make a professional circuit diagram, I am sure they will ask if they cannot understand something about it. They may be able to offer a better solution than you are proposing.
As long as your locos don’t have a really short wheel base, the turnouts themselves shouldn’t be a problem. Keep in mind that if your power connection is at the facing points track, the power will be routed to the exiting track corresponding to the setting of the points. If you’re using DC, running jumpers to the exiting tracks means that you can’t use them as loco storage unless you otherwise isolate them. This is less of a problem if you’re running DCC.
A better solution is to use insulating rail joiners (or cut narrow gaps) to isolate the yard tracks and power them separately.
Never, ever, run jumpers that way on turnouts that serve reversing sections (loops or ‘Y’s) as that can cause shorts when the train passes over it.
I would recommend adding jumpers, as I had one of the peco turnouts factory installed jumper wire come loose and not giving power to the rail on the diverging side of the frog, this same wire later caused a short circuit, so it was promptly removed and the jumpers were added to all the rails.
I only use electrofrog……. or they now have the NEW UNIFROG,its marvelous. Dont need insulators or extra wiring anywhere I love it. N scale that is I presume they are the same in HO.
I model the transition era using Steam and Diesel so my experience with the insulfrogs has not been great and do not use them now.Going foward I use Electrofrogs now. Unfortunately Peco code 100 is not within NMRA specs and need modified to get them to work well. I have 60 or so insulfrogs out of 116 turnouts on my layout and will be changed out as they give me more problems. Do to constant shorting at the frog I have added shim stock to the guard rails to keep the wheel contact to one side of the frog. Even then some have had to have clear finger nail polish painted over the frog point to keep from shorting. The electrofrog does not have the shorting issue as the frog is powered from the Tortoise to follow the polarity of the route selected. I do add power feeders to the stock rails that also bridge the point rails as the power routing function will eventually fail and I prefer all track powered with DCC. Hind site is 20/20 and if starting over I would be use code 83 as it is built using NMRA standards.
Look at Allan Gartner’s website: wirieingfordcc.com for detailed turnout information. Allan is the DCC editor for Model Railroader Magazine.
Here’s what I did: And I’m not saying you should. I did not fasten the Insulfrog down in any way. No wires. I did not add a machine, etc. I did finger flick until I installed slide switches to throw, avoiding finger oil on rails. But what I’m saying is “I did nothing to the turnout”. I rely on point feed. When I had a slight problem, I cleaned the point and adjoining rail very very carefully/with Mineral Spirits. Then dabbed a bit of graphite/#4 pencil. That way, I ensured electrical conductivity. Other than that, I have had no problems whatsoever. If you do decide to motor them, then you will need to wire. In that case, follow the other’s rules. The known problem is with short wheelbase steam. An 0-4-0. Those might have some trouble.
I had to use jumpers with my electrofrog Pecos. They took alot of troubleshooting and tweaking til I got them right.