Mono Frog Juicer - TamValleyDepot.com

[mick]

The weather's not very favourable today so while I wait for an improvement I thought I'd post a few photos and brief details of the TamValleyDepot.com Mono Frog Juicer which provides Automatic Frog Control for DCC layouts. The accompanying sheet of instructions that came with my example states that this is a Mono Frog Juicer v1.0

Measuring just 30mm x 30mm, here's what the board looks like alongside a 50p piece for size comparison.

The Mono Frog Juicer, as the name suggests, is for connection to a single point only. Versions of the Frog Juicer for multiple frog switching are also available. Connection is simply a matter of connecting the wires from your DCC bus/power supply to the terminals marked B & A with the centre terminal F being wired directly to the frog of the point. It should be noted that the frog juicer is for DCC connection only and will not work with standard DC.

The instructions provide two suggested wiring layouts but this is the one I will be following.

The point frog (depicted as the short green section in the above diagram) needs to be completely isolated from the rest of the track and the frog juicer works by detecting any short circuit as a loco's wheels pass over the isolated gaps on either side of the frog. If a short is detected then the frog juicer immediately reverses the polarity of the frog before the DCC controller is even aware there was a short in the first place. It is claimed this reversing of the frog polarity is so quick that there should be no interruption of sound or movement when a train crosses a frog that needs to be switched. I cannot vouch for that at the moment as I haven't yet had chance to install my own and try it out but as soon as I have one in operation I will let you know my findings.

[mick]

Just had a few spare minutes so went outside and wired up the Frog Juicer to test it out on the set of points I've been messing around with. I used my old Hornby class 101 DMU which I know stalls on the point when the frog is completely isolated (some of my locos can pass over without any power feed to the frog!) The class 101 is also fitted with an ESU soundchip so I was interested to see how it performed.

The point frog is completely isolated from the running rails and I changed the points over manually as I have yet to reinstate the motor since the old Y point was replaced. With the frog power feed now controlled solely by the Frog Juicer the class 101 ran over back and forth without problem. There was no noticeable interruption to its movement or to the sound. I changed the point and tried running back and forth down the opposite route and again, no noticeable interruptions whatsoever. It works perfectly. This certainly solves the frog power feed dilemma for me and I assume, providing I can keep the board weatherproof, that it will prove to be more reliable than a mechanical type switch. I'll have to try it over an extended period of use to be absolutely sure. Oh, and as the instructions state, your track does need to be clean but I think outdoors we are aware of that already!