If i get "dead" frog turnouts" Will I not be able to control the them via dcc?
In order to control the direction of the turnout from the DCC command station you need to have a couple things going on. You'll need a stationary decoder for each turnout or set of turnouts if you have them wired to be thrown in sets. Then you'll need a switch motor for each turnout that will actually throw the points. You can still throw the points remotely with your command station whether you have live frogs or not if you have the proper stuff to do it. Whether the frog is live or not doesn't effect that. It' will change the wiring slightly, but it hs nothing to do with the ability to throw the points from your command station. It can be a bit expensive to do large numbers of turnouts though, as you can see.
I Might be confused on the differance between dead and powered frog turnouts.
Sorry total newb here. but i'm learning.
You're cool, don't worry! We were all new at one time too!
The thing about dead frogs vs. live frogs is this........frogs are a small section of the tracks of a turnout where electrically opposing rails cross one another and if not treated specially they create an electrical short. The way this is remedied is that gaps are cut in all of the rails around the frog to isolate them electrically from all of the surrounding rails. If thats all that is done, you have a "dead frog". It has no power going to it but all of the rails around it do. The smaller the # of the frog, the shorter the dead section usually. Sometimes the frog is made of plastic. That's a frog that is always dead. If it's made of metal and electrically isolated (gaps cut in all of the rails leading to it) and unpowered, it's a dead frog. When you add power to it, it's live. Thing is, it's kinda like a reverse loop eletrically. When you add power to it and then throw the points the polarity needs to change. If it doesn't, you have a short. There are lots of ways to control the polarity change.....everything from many forms of automation to manual throwing of the polarity. Many switch machines will do it for you if you wire them up properly.
The big advantage of a live frog is the lack of dead spots. Our trains run on eletricity, and when they don't get power, they don't move. Shorter wheelbase (electrically speaking) loco's (like small steam switchers) tend to have more problems with dead frogs. They stall on the turnout and need a nudge to get them going again. Live frogs, while a little more difficult to do initially, tend to lessen this problem to the point that it basically becomes a non-issue.
And DCC is definetly the way i'm going. So when I hook up the reverse loop controller will it automatically switch the polarity when it senses the train hitting the loop?
Bingo! Nothing could be simpler! Wire it up one time correctly and then forget about it!
