Now I have a MRC pack, can I hook the switches up to that… I am DCC but not with my switches… have some toggles for the switches…
You need DC to run a Tortoise. Anywhere from about 6 to 12 volts will work. A lot of folks use 12v, but I prefer 9 as the Tortoise will run slower.
I use wall-warts. A 9v, 800ma one will run about 50 Torti. But if you have DC outputs, or an old power pack with DC terminals, that will work just fine as well.
You need DPDT toggles (not center-off, and not momentary contact).
Power into the DPDT goes to one end of the switch, then jumpers to the opposite ends (lower left to upper right, etc). The two center contacts go to the outer contacts on the Tortoise. The other 6 contacts on the Tortoise are two sets of SPDT relays that can be used for signalling, powering the frog, etc.
For how to do any of that, and more, here’s a link to Tony’s “all things Tortoise”:
I use a bi-polar supply for my Tortoise motors, and the Tortoise instructions show how to set that up by adding diodes to an AC transformer. This requires a three-wire bus around the layout for the switch motors, but you can use simpler SPDT switches for turnout controls, and the wiring for each turnout is much simpler.
The Tortoise instructions also show how to use separate red and green LEDs as turnout position indicators. I think that’s a good idea, but you can do the same thing with one red/green bi-color LED cut into the wire from the center terminal of the SPDT switch to the motor. Circuitron even sells an LED you can use for this, its no. 9316, although any two-lead bi-color LED rated for 12 volts will work. Test the operation of the LED before soldering the connections to make sure you get the red and green indications when you want them.
So long,
Andy
GFR,
I also use “wall worts.” If you;re a packrat at all, you may have one laying around from some old electronic device or power tool charger. AS mentioned 6-12 volts DC output is needed with DPDT toggles. You can run numerous Torti off of one power supply. Adding the LEDs is a breeze… just follow instructions that came witht the tortoise. I love 'em.
I used the two power supply diagram that came with the torti and spdt centeroff switches. The center off was irrelavant, but the SPDT was useful because I had a bunch that I thought were pretty.