Got my first tortoise the other day and I was futzzing around with it. I’ve got it hooked up to a N scale turnout and it seems like it starts moving a bunch of time goes by and then thump the switch changes pretty quickly and then it still going. So yes I could turn the power down on the power pack, but then there would be even more travel time before and after the switch has moved.
Anyone else have this problem?
What kind of turnout are you using with the tortoise. if it is a peco it will snap over because of the over-center spring that holds the points over. if not you may want to see if your wire from the tortoise to the switch is hanging up in the hole.
since the tortoise is a stall motor switch machine it will go until it stalls out. this is why it seems to keep going after the switch has thrown. this allows the turnout to put pressure on the point to hold them over (if your switch doesn’t have a over-center spring like the peco).
hope this helps.
Check your turnout for springs and clips. Remove them but keep them.
That should help. [:)]
You can adjust the travel some by moving the pivot bracket – the plastic thing that slides – up or down. This changes the fulcrum point of the wire.
As was mentioned, some overtravel before the Tortoise motor stalls out is perfectly normal. This keeps pressure on the points and thus helps electrical contact through them.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
If he’s not using ‘over-center-sprung’ turnouts, then his turnout wire might be a little soft - the switch motor is half-way across before there’s enough tension to move the points.