I've had power trouble with several turnouts on my On2 Albion and Upper Wiscasset yard modules for quite a while. It was the first time I had not constructed my own turnouts on the workbench but used FastTracks turnout jigs. Also the first time using PC ties. My main locomotive, WW&F No 7 has poor electrical pickups and I've talked about adding additional wipers but haven't yet received the "round to it". I used Tam Valley Depot DCC Hex Frog Juicer's for both modules and thought the problem was due to them being overloaded or overworked when the Stay Alive capacitor was charging. The problem seemed to come and go and so I was never certain what the problem was. However, I was never going to use Frog Juicers again!
This weekend, the problem reared its ugly head while I was switching. To me, it really seemed as if there was no power at the frog. Being no 8 frogs, they are a bit long but why wouldn't they have power? Was it the Hex Juicer as I suspected? I finally pulled out the multi meter and ran some tests. Well, looks like on three turnouts, the point or through and diverging rails were NOT soldered to the PC tie with the wing rails! Who would have guessed. I know that they SHOULD have been soldered. Having always soldered my frogs and then painfully cleaned the flange gap out with files and other tools, I never suspected this to be an issue. While the jigs allowed me to not have to clean out the solder, it is a bit more difficult to make sure all these rails are soldered on the same PC tie. Yes, the instructions show to turn over the turnout and make sure to solder this area but it is really hard to see.
Bottom line: The Tam Valley Depot DCC Hex Frog Juicer's are working great and now my locomotive works excellent. No loss of power! Happy running trains again.
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