Just found two new electro frog switches and was wondering if they are ok for DCC use if the siding is wired to the main bus. Also had a question if a tortise switch had enough throw to turn them.
Yes, the Peco Electrofrog turnouts work okay with DCC, but you must isolate both rails that diverge from the frog with insulated rail joiners and then provide separate feeder wires to the track beyond the frog in order to prevent an electrical short, because these turnouts are 'power routing'.
You don't need any type of motor with these turnouts if you can reach them to throw by hand. If they are going to be out of reach, you need to remove the centering spring because a Tortoise probably won't have enough strength to overcome it.
The Tortoise WILL move them if you replace the throw wire that comes with them to a slightly thicker one, like say a piece of .032 size. You can get this piano wire from a hobby shop that carries model airplane stuff.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
The issue with any hot frog turnout is the same regardeless if they are DCC, DC, AC, DCS, Railcommand, or any other thing. If there is power feed to the frog side of the turnout there have to be gaps or insulated rail joiners.
I have used tortise switch motors on pecos successfully for many years. One might want to use a stronger throw wire (upgrade to more stout piano wire from the hardware store), or one can remove the springs out of the turnout throwbars. But that is totally dependent on how far away (depth) the motor is from the points, they could very well work great right out of the box.