Wiring Dwarf signals to a Tortoise switch machine?

[rrinker]

To slightly modify it for the NJ LED signals with complete lack of color coding for the wires:

(also not to have equal brightness you'll probably need a larger resistor for the RED LED as they tend to be brighter than green. Assumign 12V DC power, try 560-470 ohms)

 Hook power supply + to Pin 4 of the Tortoise (to use 2-3-4, or 5 to use 5-6-7 - doesn't matter).

Hook one red wire fromt eh signal to pin 2. Hook a resistor to the other red wire, and hook the resistor to power supply -. Does the red LED light? If not, operate the tortoise. Does the red LED light? If not, flip the red wires and repeat. If the red LED does not light for the correct turnout position, move the red wire from pin 2 to pin 3.

Now for the green, hook oen green wire to the unused Tortoise pin, either 2 or 3. Hook a resistor to the other green wire. Hook the resistor to the power supply -. If the green LED doesn;t light when the Tortoise is moved to that position, flip the green wires. Fin.

                                               --Randy

 

[mainetrains]

Here's what I did to power my (Tomar) signals from the tortoise. I don't know if it will hold true for NJI signals. Found this on another forum. Here's a link to the entire discussion -

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,483375,nodelay=1

Re: Wiring Signals from a Tortoise
Author: EasternSP

---

 

OK John. As I have installed quite a few of these turnout controls on the D&J Railroad, I could almost do it in my sleep, but this is an opportunity to slow down and review my practices.

The first thing you might do is check to be sure the lamps work on the signal tower. Just connect the leads to you dc power supply and they should glow. Theres nothing more frustrating than to have soldered wires and troubleshoot for a while only to find out the bulbs where burned out.

The instruction page that is provided with the switch machine has a very good illustration on how to setup the actuating circuit to run the Tortoise. The Tortoise is a very low current draw, so you can leave it connected to the power supply with no problem. Sorta like running the power window down in your car and not releasing the button when the window stops. This might damage the car window motor after a while, but it won\'t hurt the Tortoise.

The next step is to connect your signal lights to the Tortoise. We will use terminals 2, 3, & 4 of the Tortoise for this application.
- Connect the common wire from the signal tower directly to your dc negative (common) power source. If you connect your wire to the dc power supply, you will see the positive and negative symbol on the power pack. If your power pack has the dc power wires connected internally and the wire is molded together like a lamp cord, usually the common wire will be marked with a color (usually white) along the edge or the wire itself will have a ridge you can feel.
- Connect the positive lead from your dc power source to terminal 4 of the Tortoise.
- Connect the wire from your signal tower\'s green light to terminal 2 of your Tortoise.
- Operate the Tortoise to see if the green light is glowing according to the track routing. If it is not correct, move the green lamp wire to terminal 3 of the Tortoise.
- Connect the signal tower\'s red light to the remaining terminal and once again check the operation of the Tortoise to see that the proper light is glowing according to the track routing.

The attached a schematic will help you with this.

Ken, D&J Railroad, Stafford, VA

---

 

Hope this helps.

 

Dave

[richhotrain]

Here is how I wire dwarf signals to Tortoises.  Incidentally, I have Atlas turnouts as well.

I use a transformer to power the Tortoises and the dwarf signals (Tomar).

The # 1 and 8 leads from the Tortoise are wired to a DPDT switch.

The other two wires from the DPDT switch are wired to the AC side of the transformer.

The # 7 lead from the Tortoise is wired to the AC side of the transformer.

The # 5 and 6 leads from the Tortoise are wired to LEDs with an in line resistor soldered on one leg of each LED.  Swap these two leads if you get red lit when you want green or if you get green when you want red.

The other leg of each LED is wired to the AC side of the transformer.

As long as there is a resistor on one leg of each LED, there won't be a problem.

So, just solder in a resistor on one of the green wires and one of the red wires on the dwarf signal.  The other green wire and red wire go to the AC side of the transformer.

If the LED's don't light, you may need to swap the wires at the AC connections on the transformer.

For the green LED, I use a 470 ohm 1/2 watt resistor.

For the red LED, I use a 1.5K ohm 1/2 watt resistor.

Rich

 

 

 

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

 Randy

I get that but the problem I am having is NJI in their infinite wisdom uses two red wires for the red LED and two green wires for the green LED so which wire do I put the resistor on and what value should the resistor be?  Funny thing is Tortoise sent me that exact picture from Tony's very interesting.

 

I was contemplating using a totally separate power source for signals only. More then likely even run a separate one for the rest of the block signals as well. Probably a couple of  wall-warts  I found laying around my work bench  One being 12V dc 450ma and the other 12dc 100ma outputs. I figure how much current could LED's draw. This way the signal stays lit when the Tortoise is in either position.

 

 

FYI: Just got an email back from NJI the #1100 dwarf signal uses bulbs not LEDs so no resistor is required if running a power supply between 12-14volt

[rrinker]

What you describe is correct, assuming they are common cathode signals. If the LEDs don;t light up (as long as you don;t forget the resistor, no harm will come to the LEDs), they are probbaly wired backwards, swap the power and ground connections.

 If the wrong LED lights up based on turnout position, swap the wires on 6 & 7.

Here's a diagram: http://www.tonystrains.com/technews/tortoise/signal-wiring.htm

                                            --Randy

 

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

 I have a fist full of NJI  green over red dwarf signals does anyone know what terminals on the Tortoise I would need to hook them up to? I emailed Circuitron and they sent me back PDF to hook up a signal to the Tortoise and the points on the turnout such as you would do with a Peco I assume but I am using Atlas Custom line turnouts which have power to both sides of the turnout no matter which way the points are.

If I'm reading this schematic correctly I believe power to #5 #6&7 to the one side of the LED's and the other two sides of the LED's to ground side of the signal power with a resistor in the circuit?

Any help is greatly appreciated.