Frog Juicer Issues

[DKS]

OK, I lied, I have one of  those stashed somewhere.

But it is DC-only. 

Good one. I like DC (Direct Control).

[mu26aeh]

The AR is on it's way back.  I got home just in time to give it back to the mail carrier 

[davefoxx]

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!  The gift that keeps on giving.  I hope you were joking.  If it comes back, it will be blended. 

DFF

[mu26aeh]

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!  The gift that keeps on giving.  I hope you were joking.  If it comes back, it will be blended. 

DFF

Don't worry, it's sitting on my layout.  Keep your blender for smoothies  

[davefoxx]

Whew.   

[Jbub]

Can the frog juicers be daisy chained? If you use the dual juicer as the auto reverser and use the hex juicer to control the frogs on those two turnouts on the right, will the dual juicer change the polarity of everything in the section including the frog's and when and when the locos reach the frog the hex juicer will change the polarity to what it needs to be with out interference from the dual juicer. For this to possibly work I think you would have to use the delay function on the dual juicer.
Never used these before so take my ramblings with a grain of salt

[RBrodzinsky]

Can the frog juicers be daisy chained? If you use the dual juicer as the auto reverser and use the hex juicer to control the frogs on those two turnouts on the right, will the dual juicer change the polarity of everything in the section including the frog's and when and when the locos reach the frog the hex juicer will change the polarity to what it needs to be with out interference from the dual juicer. For this to possibly work I think you would have to use the delay function on the dual juicer.
Never used these before so take my ramblings with a grain of salt

Yes, that was what I was advocating, above.  Problem is he has only two frogs in the reversing section, so I assume the other four outputs of the hex juicer are powering frogs outside it.  Not sure if you can set one pair of juicers on the hex to be an auto-reverser, and then use the dual for the two frogs.

[John]

why not just get a regular digital reverser?

[Maletrain]

I don't think it will work to "daisy chain" the juicers.  In a circuit that has a short, all of the components will see the same high current at the same time.  So, each will independently react, setting-up a race between the "first" and "second" juicer in the circuit.  That is the same effect as having two juices in adjacent circuits seeing the shorts at the same time.  If you can arrange for one juicer to be enough slower than the other so it always loses that race, then you will have a predictable result, whether the juicers are in series in one circuit or parallel in two circuit.

To make the frog's logically dependent on the reverser's phase, you need to wire the frogs to mechanical contacts that use the turnout position to chose the frog phase from one of the 2 rails that are powered through the reverser. 

[peteski]

I still say that a track and wiring diagram would be helpful in troubleshooting this problem (to us, and even to Tam Valley, if we get there).

[davefoxx]

why not just get a regular digital reverser?

@John,

I've considered this.  Right now, I'm waiting for a response to my email that I sent to Tam Valley last week.  I would prefer to fix this, since I already spent cash on the Dual Frog Juicer, especially if it turns out that it's defective.  But, if I get no response, or the problem cannot be addressed to my satisfaction, I'll probably look into a PSX-AR.

DFF

[Maletrain]

Dave, what mechanism are you using to throw those 4 turnouts?  Are there any provisions for them making electrical contacts that could be used to mechanically switch the frogs' phases?