HI,
I want to use a frog juicer on a couple troublesome turnouts and really don't get the wiring part. One wire goes from the juicer to the frog on the turnout, but I am not sure where to connect it. I took a picture below and added some numbers to it. My guess is I would solder a wire to 3 or 4 on the portion where the flanges are not riding. I placed a red dot where I am referencing Does that one location power the entire frog then?? These are Walthers code 83 turnouts. Thanks
3 or 4 is where you want to put the frog feeder. 3 & 4 and the angle of rail between them is part of the same metal casting.
Oddly I was dealing with a frog issue on a Walthers turnout last night. I was cleaning up my track after balasting and my GP 9 would stop dead, right at the frog of a #4 turnout. I have a short piece of track connected to the point side of the turnout that depends on rail joiner conduction of electricity. The front trucks were on the frog while the rear wheels were on the dead track. That piece of rail will be getting feeders this week. All my frogs are wired but so far I have not needed a juicer.
A useful tool for you to have is a voltmeter. For the price of a 6 pack, you can get a Harbor Freight meter. Not only could you have determined that 3 and 4 are in elecrtical continuity, you could check for electrical issues with the closure rails (the part between the moveable point and the frog.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I agree with Henry.
I recently revamped some trackage near my roundhouse. Here is a Walthers curved turnout ready to be set in place:
RH_new_TO4 by Edmund, on Flickr
It is a good idea to solder the wire to the frog first, on the side away from the normal view. I normally use a smaller wire than I show here but this one already had a wire I soldered on some time ago.
Frog-wire by Edmund, on Flickr
Once the switch is in place then you can carefully drill the hole between the ties and thread it through the roadbed.
I use one of those brass scratch brushes like a pen to rough up and clean the rail surface at the frog. Tin the wire and use enough heat to get in-and-out quickly. There's a lot of mass there and you don't want to melt the plastic.
Once the turnout is in place, painted and ballasted the wire practically disappears.
Good Luck, Ed