oliver tansey wrote an atricle in mr may of 09 re ladder controls with resitors and slow motion machines i have used this and it works great . does anyone know if you can wire an led between the rotary switch and the motors for track indication w/o affecting the resistor ohm ratings?
I used Variation B (page56) and attached a bi-color LED to post #8 on the tortoise. Reverse the leads if the color os wrong.
Forgot to mention that you must run the leads to and from the LED will be quite long. My LED's are on a control panel about 10 feet from the tortoise machines. DO NOT use short cuts wilt he LEDS leads. I tried that and it took me all last summer to straighten it out.
thx i was worried that the addition of the led might alter the load requirements on the resistors and their rating would have to be changed from the 560 that was suggested
Likely the motors will just run a bit more slowly. No harm.
You could adjust the resistor down ward by the ratio of (supply voltage - LED voltage) / supply voltage or just guess at about 470 ohms.
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
thx for the input thought id ask and short cut the trail and error appoach
wired up 7 machines w/ 470 and the only motor to move past the center was the one first in line for the "juice" im gussing that the r needs to be move up to steer more voltage though the next machine think ill try the std 560 w/ the led and see it that works no yes?
Since they are pull-ups in that circuit, a larger resistor might work. I didn't see this one earlier, but witht he way the Tortoises are cascaded in that deasign, the voltage to each one is already being cut, particualrly near the end of the chain. AN extra 2 votls or so for a series LED is probably going to be the breaking point where the Tortoise won't get enough voltage to move and/or actually hold the points in place.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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after alot of work found out that the 7-6-5 internal switch on the motor wasnt making complete contact only letting 3.5 volts though on all seven machines!! used the other contacts everything is fine now
a friend suggested running a low current led with a 1000 ohm off of the rotary directly to ground no voltage drop and indicator works
if using tortise machines ck the contacts before installing