DCC and PECO Insulfrog switches

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R

Ryan Kieser

New Member
Hi

Sorry, stupid question, but new at this. I just finished laying my yard, using PECO Insulfrog switches and have connected my two dcc wires just to test the connections. I only get power on the "aligned track", shop I bought them at said both tracks would be live at all times. A bit clueless as to how to fix this, should I run jumper wires to all my track rather?

Thanks
 
Ryan Kieser said:
Hi

Sorry, stupid question, but new at this. I just finished laying my yard, using PECO Insulfrog switches and have connected my two dcc wires just to test the connections. I only get power on the "aligned track", shop I bought them at said both tracks would be live at all times. A bit clueless as to how to fix this, should I run jumper wires to all my track rather?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Insulfrog turnouts, as the name implies, have insulated frogs. A quick check with an ohm meter shows the aligned track is powered, while the other route is dead. This can be an advantage if there is a danger of an oncoming train against which the turnout is thrown running against the points and derailing. If you want to have both diverging lines powered at the same time, you would need either to go to Electrofrogs or wire jumpers. But you may run into short circuits if the jumpers aren't wire correctly. The main rule, regardless, is to always feed wires to the stock rails on the point end of the turnout.
 
Thanks, that makes sense. I had my test wires on one of my yard tracks, so should probably wire my mainline?

Thanks for the help, now that I am laying track, is no longer as easy as it seems, but determined to get this right.
 


There may be two versions of the Peco Insulfrog turnouts, but my Streamline Code 83 #6 turnouts are power routing. When the points are lined for divergent, only the divergent route gets power. I found this out just three months ago when building my new layout.
 
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