Tortoise switch machine toggle

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have never installed a tortoise switch machine before. I have 2 questions for those who have used these before.

1: What type of electrical toggle switch do you use. I have momentary “on” switches for my Atlas switch machine but those are dual coil. What type of toggle should I use for the tortoise?

2: Can you use a CDU with the tortoise machine or should it be wired direct to a power supply?

Thank you,

NY Central 54

2

  1. You would use a DPDT (Double Pole, Double Throw) non-momentary toggle for the Tortoise. Use the ON-ON type - no need for a center OFF position.

  2. A CDU would not be used with a Tortoise. These are used only with dual coils.

I can’t put my hands on a wiring diagram right now, hopefully someone else can help out there. It’s very simple, but different from the momentary twin-coil wiring.

3

Pretty crude, but accurate:

-Kevin

4

Perfect. I’ll just add that the 2 wires to the Tortoise go to pins 1 and 8.

5

Also, you need to feed it DC (AC doesn’t work.) The reversing of power polarity with the switch is how it changes directions.

6

Our club used a two position rocker switch. About 12 VDC. Power has to be maintained at all times. Current is about twenty MA. Instructions come with the device.

Rich

7

Although a Tortoise is fine with 12 volts, I run mine at about 8 volts because I like the slower speed that produces.

You don’t have to, but if you put a two-prong bicolor LED in series with one of the leads to the Tortoise, you will have an indicator light that changes color with turnout position. This can be used as a control panel indicator or as an on-layout signal to show position.

Again, not necessary, but consider using one set of the contacts on the Tortoise to power the frog on the turnout. It’s a lot easier to wire this during installation than later

8

DC voltage can vary with the Tortoise and it will still preform well. I run mine around 9 VDC. This helps slow them down, plus will let them run a little cooler, possibly extending their life, too, but they run a long time without any trouble at 12 VDC, too.

9

They make too much noise and move too fast at 12 volts for me.

I like 8-9 volts DC for mine,

-Kevin

10

Nearly all of mine have a pair of bi-color diodes in series on one leg of the Tortoise supply. Some have four and a few have six (only one LED of each pair is illuminated at a time, of course). These will drop the supplied DC by a volt or two.

Many of my Tortoises are going on 25 years old and I’ve never had a single failure.

Regards, Ed

11

I don’t remember ever having a tortoise failure either.

There were some instances where my less-than-proper mountings resulted in improper operation, but that was not the Tortoise’s fault.

-Kevin

12

I have had up to 70 Tortoises on my layout at the same time. Never a failure.

Rich

13

An attractive alternative to the dpdt toggle is to use Barrett Hill’s Touch Toggles. There’s a financial investment in using these over using dpdt toggles, but the effect of throwing the Tortoise by touching a glass shield over a layout schematic, with lights indicating the position of the turnout is dramatic. Barrett Hill’s toggles are simpler to install (no soldering) and the instructions on their website for setting up the system and making the layout schematic are excellent. It’s worth checking out, and they work great for my situation.

If I can do it, anyone can.

Robert

14

Sounds tempting, but $8.60 per toggle? Ouch!

Rich

15

Thanks Ed. This is very useful.

Larry

16

Thanks Kevin, This drawing will work fine.

Larry

17

There is another option mentioned in the tortoise documentation which involves using two power supplies and spdp switches. I used it because I had lots of SPDT switches in my spare parts and a spare old 12volt supply. You just wire a +12V to one tag and a -12V to the other tag on the SPDT and the middle wire to the tortoise. The two 12volt supplies have their other wires joined together and connected to the other tortoise tag.

18

There is another option mentioned in the tortoise documentation which involves using two power supplies and spdp switches. I used it because I had lots of SPDT switches in my spare parts and a spare old 12volt supply. You just wire a +12V to one tag and a -12V to the other tag on the SPDT and the middle wire to the tortoise. The two 12volt supplies have their other wores joined together and connected to the other tortoise tag.

19

I local guy used something similar to do a “diode matrix” style control of his double ended staging yard using Tortoises and a rotary switch.

There is also a way to create a “diode matrix” set-up for Kato Unitrack turnouts using a center tapped transformer that I will need to figure out for my double ended staging yard.

-Kevin