right-hand #6 Single Crossover short circuit in one frog

Started by tcthndr, October 21, 2019, 07:50:56 PM

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tcthndr

Thanks for accepting my membership.

I have a Christmas board, two ovals with a right- & left-hand #6 single crossover between the ovals.

One of the crossovers frogs behaves 50% correctly. When thrown in the diverging route, trains run through without issue. But when set for the straight through route, my locomotives short out on the frog. It appears that When thrown, the polarity is not being changed.

Can any one help me with determining which wire on the turnout might be mis-connected, or any other thoughts...

Thank you for your time...

Todd

Len

The #6 Crossovers don't change polarity, and they are not gapped properly for use on DC layouts using serperate power supplies on two loops.

For reasons known only to Bachmann, the #6 Crossovers were developed for use on DCC controlled layouts only, where isolation of power to seperate loops is not required. No removable jumpers were included to easily provide the electrical gaps required for use on DC powered layouts. Bachmann does not include instructions for making the modifications needed in the box with the crossover. And the one web site that showed the correct way to do it s long gone. There are a couple of sites claiming to show how still out there, but they contain conflicting information.

Len
If at first you don't succeed, throw it in the spare parts box.

tcthndr

I have a simple layout (see track plan at link below) and am having an issue with one frog in on #6 rh crossover. When I set the frogs to be unpowered and set the route for straight through, the bad frog will short the locomotive out. Once through the frog completely, all works good. When set to powered frogs, and set the route straight through, the entire system shorts. Return to diverging route and all works correctly.

This is being run with your EZ Command DCC with the power for the switches coming from a separate controller that does not feed track power.

I bought these crossovers brand new but cannot find the online receipt. Hoping you can help.

https://s1174.photobucket.com/user/ToddWCarter/media/Track%20Plan_zpscyptx9tt.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0


Todd Carter


bapguy

It could be 1 rail is touching the frog and causing the problem. Look at the frog on the turnout you're having problems with. There should be a gap between the frog and both rials on each side of the frog. Some turnouts have a piece of plastic instead of a gap. Is there a wire to the frog on the bottom? If not done right this maybe the problem.   Joe