I’ve been reading about tortoise switches for months and do not know how they work and what they do compared to remote switches. I read the recent topic about switch machine comparisons. Is a tortoise another way to make a turnout switchs remote and just look more protptypical because it is under board and moves slowly?
Tortoise machines are referred as stall motors. In other words, they keep pressure on your point rail as long as they are energized. Besides the ease of installation, many MRR’s like using these for their prototypical “slow” motion movement whenever the turnout is thrown. The motor unit comes with 2 sets of (built in) single pole double throw (SPDT) aux contacts which can be used to route power to frog/point rails. While the second SPDT can be used to power signals or other track side accessories. I have 27 of these motors installed on my layout. Once adjusted, they are nearly maintenance free. Because these motors can be powered using “DC” voltage, you can install LED directional indicators on your control panel. These come in handy to see which way each turnout is set to. The instruction sheet offered with the tortoise explains how these are wired in more detail.
Bob…
Does the SPDT contact provide comands to the tortoise or is it used to control other devices? My only means of comparison is an ATLAS remote switch which has a center off switch so as not to burn up the motor. Is the SPDT contact anything like that or does it have another purpose?
The SPDT are powerless contacts. You provide the power. The idea is to allow the machine to move the contacts for you so you can synchronize the turnout throw to a Signal and/or power route your point rails. You can find additional info on this subject by purchasing one of the many “how to wire” books at your LHS.
Here is a picture showing how my Tortoise machines were wired:
The SPDT switch is for controlling other devices. It can be used for switching power to the frog (if you have all-rail frogs) or signalling or running a relay or other fancy wiring.
The switch machine itself should not have a momentary switch. It takes a DPDT reversing switch (in the simplest wiring form) and requires continuous power or it relaxes and the points start to open up. This is how it’s designed to operate and the current draw is very low.
The Atlas machine (and any twin coil machine) snaps over and does not need any more current and will heat up and damage something (usually itself) if the power is left on.
The Tortoise requires DC power. The Atlas will operate on AC or DC.
(sorry, Bob. I stepped on your reply.)
Thanks. That helps a lot.
Another advantage is, they’re practically bulletproof. I think they used to be guaranteed forever, but are now warranted for “only” 9 years. Yeah, 9 YEARS!
I’ve got about a hundred, including a couple of dozen bought used on eBay. Some of the very used ones looked just awful, but work fine.
There’s also a company that makes a stationary decoder called The Hare, that plugs onto a Tortoise. It allows all sorts of things, including automatically throwing the switch if a train approaches from the closed points.
Here’s more scoop on both Tortoise and Hare: http://tonystrains.com/technews/tortoise/index.htm