I am new to the wiring of DCC and beleive i have all down packed with the exception of the turnouts. i have older switches
1) Number 4 switch which has an insulated frog. Believe the wiring concept is to follow the track and wire according to polarity, Yes/No??
2) Number 6 switch appears to have a live frog as the continuity is continual. Believe the way to properly wire the unit is to cut the tracks right before and immediately after the frog and of course wire the ends accordingly while also placing a feeder that will not receive power due to the mentioned cuts... Yes/No???
Any assistance the forum can provide will be very helpful and appreciated.
Thank You
Rayrod
Atlas turnouts require no special wiring, unless you are talking ones from the 50's and early 60's. They haven't been power routing for a LONG time, nor are any of the frogs powered. The newer Custom Line (and even that is 10-15 years at least now) ones have metal frogs, but are unpowered out of the box. All routes are powered all the time, so no gaps are needed at the frog end. Snap switches aren't an actual frog number, they are curved, have plastic frogs, adn are always powered, no power routing, no special gaps needed.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
On the longer Custom Line turnouts with metal frogs, I would recommend making the effort to power those frogs. If you're using a Tortoise to drive the points, the contacts are available on the Tortoise itself. If you're using twin-coils, Atlas makes a "deluxe" switch machine with contacts, or you can piggy-back a latching relay to do the job. A third option is a Frog Juicer from Tam Valley Depot.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Making sure your wheels are in gage width per the NMRA gage is important with DCC use and turnouts. This avoids issues with momentary shorts at certain frogs particularly when the eqpt has large wheels.
I have about 100 turnouts of different types and have no problems with DCC after moving from DC--no changes.
Richard
Hi Randy: Thank you very much, this helps a great deal, seems all i really have to do is watch the polarity and drop a feeder every 3 feet/
Thank you very much, this certainly helps a great deal
Hi Richard;
I will look into purchasing a gauge to make sure whey are sure the wheels are in gauge.
thank you very much