Electrofrog points and crossings

[Richard]

Mod Note: All posts moved to the Wiring & Electrics forum section.

I am having difficulty understanding how to wire together an electro frog turnout with a diamond crossing so that both the turnout frog polarity and that of the crossing act together. Peco say I need the PL15 twin microswitch but their wiring instructions are not clear to me.
For clarification here are the two items.

[Brian]

Hi
It would really be helpful if you could indicate what is happening on the remaining three tracks of the Diamond? Also whether the layout is DCC or DC and if DC are all tracks over the diamond controlled by one controller?

Whatever the above answers, you will need eight Insulated Rail Joiners (IRJs) fitted to all rails of the diamond and as stated at least one (and possibly more) DPDT switch to control the frogs.

[Richard]

Hi Brian, it’s DCC and here’s a diagram showing the intended connections. Of course if I substituted a single or double slip for the crossing there would be no problem!

[Brian]

Hi
Using DCC means all tracks are fed from the same source it makes things a little simpler.
You will need a Double Pole Double Throw switch to feed the diamonds frogs. The can be a separate toggle switch or a point motor operated switch such as the Peco PL15.

This wiring should work..

[Richard]

PS. I’m using peco solenoid point motors but controlled by Cobalt S levers. Does that help?

[RFS]

I have this arrangement on my layout. You need a DPDT switch on the point motor controlling the turnout. This can either be the PL-15 attached to the Peco motor, or a slow-motion turnout such as Tortoise or Cobalt which has two built-in switches (I use Tortoise motors). The point frog and the diamond frog furthest away are wired together and controlled by one switch and the "middle" frog by the other.

The only operating constraint is that if a train is traversing the upper mainline track the turnout must not be set to cross over to the siding, otherwise you will get a short. But setting the points that way is prototypical anyway.

An alternative to the PL-15 would be a Gaugemaster GM500D DPDT relay switch - http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=GM500D

[Brian]

PS. I’m using peco solenoid point motors but controlled by Cobalt S levers. Does that help?

You can use the two sets of change-over contacts on the S lever (4,5 & 6 then 7,8 & 9) but it would mean the frog wires plus the two DCC feed wires going to the S switch.

Another switching alternative would be to use a quad (or 2 x dual) Frog Juice.

Basic wiring using DPDT switch is now added to my Post #4 above.

[Richard]

Many thanks. I can now see how to do it.