I am installing tortoise switch machines and I am confused on the wiring for the power of the tortoise. I thought I was to use a DC power pack to operate my six machines, but I am confused on how the tortise will receive the DCC commands if they aren't tied in to the main power bus. I am new to the tortise machines so I may be missing something very elementary so bear with my newbie question.
I will be using NCE Power Cab for my DCC control and would like to have the option to throw the switches both from the handheld as well as from a panel
Thanks in advance,
Bart
First you need to make a choice if you want to operate them as DC or DCC control. If DCC, you'll need a decoder on each switch machine, and they'll be powered from your DCC station. If you go with this method, I'm not clear why you'd want to control the switch from a panel, although I believe it would be possible. If you go with the DCC method, your power station will need to be able to supply the current to power the machines as well as your locomotives. The switch machines will be a constant load on the power supply.
The tortoise is a stall motor type machine that is thrown by the polarity of the DC power applied to it. You DC supply, or the DCC decoder, will provide the polarity required to throw the switch.
So with the addition of decoders for the tortise, would I just splice into my power bus to provide the power just as I am doing for track feeders. Or would it make sense to run a seperate power bus ( power district ) to the switch machines?
I use NCE Switch Its. I ran a separate power bus around the layout. The way I have it wired the power leads come out of the command station booster to a terminal block where the power buses basically tee. The bus for the Switch Its comes off this terminal block. In case of any shorts related to the Switch Its (which I consider unlikely), the breaker in the command station will protect the command station booster.
The track power bus comes off the other end of the terminal block tee, goes through one of those Tony's Train Exchange breakers, then goes around the layout to be tapped into for track power. In the case of a track short, the breaker will trip interrupting the track power. If the short is caused by an engine running the wrong way through a turnout, I will still have turnout power available to throw the turnout and get myself out of a jam.
Note that (in my opinion) the extra bus around my system is not technically a power district since everything comes from one booster.
With the NCE Switch Its you can operate the turnouts with your handset. You can also wire momentary pushbuttons to the Switch Its to throw the turnouts from a panel. I believe that the Switch It offers the option of using two pushbuttons (one for each throw direction), or just one pushbutton (each time you push the button the turnout will throw the opposite way).
NCE also sells something called a Switch 8 which will control 8 turnouts. However, the last time I looked this board did not have the pushbutton options.
DCC Specialties Hare and Wabbit have provision for adding a manual push-button control (see http://www.dccspecialties.com/products/pdf/hare_v_wabbit.pdf), as does the Digitrax DS64. The Digitrax DS52 has no provision for a manual switch.
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
The SwitchIt from NCE can control two tortoise switch motors, getting its power from the DCC signal on the track or the track bus. It can be activated from the DCC cab or through push buttons on the fascia or a control panel. And it costs about 1/10th the price of the Hare and Wabbit.
http://www.ncedcc.com/images/stories/manuals/switch_it_c.pdf
I plan on the same kind of setup as you are planning, using NCE. Ability to change switches via either push buttons or the DCC Cab.
IMO- the best bang for the buck is to use NCE Mini panels and NCE Switch 8's. This combination will allow both types of "switch change" inputs, PB's and Cab control, plus the added benefit of your actual switch position always coinciding with your Cab "switch state", plus the ability to use Macros "route control" through the Mini panel using push buttons.
The only drawback to this setup is the NCE Mini panel uses a system Cab #, so you will be limited to the number of Cabs your system can handle, but remember, one mini panel will control 30 switches in combination with 4 switch 8's.
RF&PRR
TravelinJohnnieSo with the addition of decoders for the tortise, would I just splice into my power bus to provide the power just as I am doing for track feeders. Or would it make sense to run a seperate power bus ( power district ) to the switch machines?
Best practice is to try to use Accessory decoders that take their power from an accessory power supply (cheaper than DCC) and their commands from the DCC signal either the command bus or the track bus.
Second best choice (and the one most used) is to use DCC power to run the decoders and switch motors and to receive commands. A separate power district set up for just the accessory decoders is a good practice. If they are on the same district as the track it's awfully hard to "correct" a turnout when track power has been killed because an engine just ran that switch.
Martin Myers