# frog juicer



## hugh (Nov 6, 2014)

I just switched from EZ track to Peco code 83. Part of the reason was I had the steel EZ track and mainly when I made the switch to DCC the Bachman turnouts were not working out very well, lots of derailments.. Plus before the layout was much only round and round and that sure gets old fast. The info I found seemed to say the Peco turnouts were very good quality. So the local shop sold me 5 electrofrog units and the guy behind the counter who turned out to have been a former C.N.R. worker like myself explained how to make them DCC friendly. In my research I came on the frog juicer so has anyone here used them? They sound pretty good, by switching the polarity of the the frog so fast that the DCC system is seamless through the frog with no shorting out. Oh, I should mention I,m using the Digitrax Zephyr system


----------



## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Did the dealer tell you also the need for using
insulated joiners in the frog rails? Since the
frog 'phase' changes with the way points are
set it will always be wrong for one rail or the other.

I use INSULFROG Pecos that do away with
the need to power the frog and insulate
on my DCC layout.

Don


----------



## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

From the Tam Valley Depot website: "Peco Electrofrog Update- All Frog Juicers have both been modified to work with Peco electrofrog turnouts (and other power-routing turnouts) as they come. You still need to insulate the Peco electrofrog turnouts as in the instructions that come with the turnout. Peco Insulfrogs do not need a frog juicer as the frog is plastic and cannot be powered."

Yeah, that sounds pretty good... but at $16 a pop ($12 in quantity), vs. a negligible price differential or a little extra time on your part to convert them (which it sounds like you've done anyway), I'm not sure that this is an optimal solution for you, unless you're having a lot of trouble getting your locos stuck on insulated frogs.

Mind you, I am a huge fan of Tam Valley Depot's stuff. I have all my turnouts powered with their servos and Octo III controllers with bi-color LED switches. And the owner is a really terrific guy. So if I'm telling you not to buy one of their gadgets, you can bet I'm I'm not doing it to dis the company.


----------

