Hello, I’d like to put my switches on a seperate transformer. I’m using tortoise slow mo. machines and digitrax ds44 decoder. I’m having trouble figuring this out because the decoder has two leads (black and red) which has to be connected to the track wire. To me the black and red serves 2 purposes. power the switch and also send a command. Any help would be appreciated.Thanks again…Mario
The DS44 has to draw power from the same wires as the DCC signal. Some staionary decoders have a seperate power input, but not the DS44. You will have to either power them from the track power or get a booster to power them from. The tortoises draw so little current that, unless you have a lot of them or you are already close to the amperage limits of your system, you should not have a problem powering them from your track.
Just an academic question, since I don’t use Tortoises and I don’t run my turnouts on DCC:
How much does a Tortoise draw? Is there a different amount when it’s moving and when it’s stationary? To say that Tortoises draw “so little current” is a bit misleading, because you have to multiply the power demands of a single Tortoise by the number you’ve got on your layout. As stall motors, they’re all drawing some amount of current even when not moving the points.
Thanks alot Robert for the info. I kind of wondered about that . They do draw about 15-16ma when they stall. with my 20 or so switches I should be fine. Thanks again.