Automatically controls the polarity of DCC power for up to 6 frogs on turnouts or crossings. If a train drives onto a frog and it is the wrong polarity, the circuit will switch to the opposite polarity. Essentially the circuit is 6 independent SPDT electronic switches under microprocessor control. The circuit is set to switch at 2 amps which is below that of most DCC circuit breakers and booster unit cutoffs, so that the the Frog Juicer will switch before these other units sense a fault. Two amps is plenty of power for the single locomotive that can be on a frog at any given time. The frogs need to be electrically isolated and have no other connections to the track or DCC system.
Craig Bisgeier says "The Hex Frog Juicer is the ultimate expression of running your trains and not the track."
Video of the Hex Frog Juicer in action.
I designed this board originally with the prompting of Ted Pamperin and Craig Bisgeier. Ted was so thrilled with the product that he and Dave Ramos made this video testimonial.
Wiring Diagram for the HFJ (Click to Enlarge)
Wiring Diagram
Here is how the Hex Frog Juicer is wired to your frogs.
A single wire goes to each frog. Track power goes in at the other end of the board.
PowerCab Note - The NCE PowerCab is a great unit but it NCE says it will not work with reversing units. I have found a workaround so that the Frog Juicers can work with the PowerCab reliably. If you use the reversing section jumpers with the Hex Frog Juicer, you now have an auto-reverser that will work with PowerCabs! The workaround is to put a 0.22-0.47 Ohm, 0.5W resistor in series with the frog wire. You can make a 0.22 Ohm, 0.5W resistor by putting two 0.47 Ohm, 0.25W resistors in parallel.Since small resistors like this can be hard to find, you can also use a 24" length of 30 ga. wire (Radio Shack sells this as wire wrap wire), length is not critical, it can be +/-10%.
If you have already purchased a Frog Juicer and you live in the US, I will send you the needed resistors. Send an email to me at dmcree@tamvalleyrr.com with your Juicer model, your address, and the number of resistors needed. Sorry I can't afford this offer for international customers - the postage is for more than the cost of the resistors!
Crossing Wiring Here's how to wire a crossing for automatic polarity control. It requires 2 circuits on the Hex Fog Juicer. Two of the frogs diagonally across from each other can be ungapped. The other two need to gapped and polarity controlled with each frog connected to its own auto-reverser circuit.
