Thanks Randy and Rich
Gary
rrinker 470 ohm is too small for a constant 12 volts, that's over 22ma to the LED. 1K is what you want. --Randy
470 ohm is too small for a constant 12 volts, that's over 22ma to the LED. 1K is what you want.
--Randy
Rich
Alton Junction
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
gdelmoro richhotrain On a 3-leg bi-polar LED, the resistor goes on the center leg. Wire the outside legs of the LED to the 6 and 7 (or 2 and 3) leads on the Tortoise. Wire the 5 (or 4) lead on the Tortoise to one side of the DC power pack and wire the center leg of the LED to the other side of the DC power pack. That will complete the circuit. Rich Last question (for now ), these LED's are 1.3VDC and my bus is 12VDC what capacity resistor is correct? They came with 450 470.
richhotrain On a 3-leg bi-polar LED, the resistor goes on the center leg. Wire the outside legs of the LED to the 6 and 7 (or 2 and 3) leads on the Tortoise. Wire the 5 (or 4) lead on the Tortoise to one side of the DC power pack and wire the center leg of the LED to the other side of the DC power pack. That will complete the circuit. Rich
On a 3-leg bi-polar LED, the resistor goes on the center leg.
Wire the outside legs of the LED to the 6 and 7 (or 2 and 3) leads on the Tortoise. Wire the 5 (or 4) lead on the Tortoise to one side of the DC power pack and wire the center leg of the LED to the other side of the DC power pack. That will complete the circuit.
Last question (for now ), these LED's are 1.3VDC and my bus is 12VDC what capacity resistor is correct? They came with 450 470.
Last question (for now ), these LED's are 1.3VDC and my bus is 12VDC what capacity resistor is orrect? They came with 450 470.
Thanks for the replies!
Mel, that's too much for me. i'll just wire like Rich said.
I apprciate the info and maybe some day I'll take some time to learn more.
gdelmoro When i power the Tortoise from the DC Power bus to positions 1 & 8 does the tortoise power the internal switches or do I need to also power the internal switches? As if they were stand Alone?
When i power the Tortoise from the DC Power bus to positions 1 & 8 does the tortoise power the internal switches or do I need to also power the internal switches? As if they were stand Alone?
The switches internal to the Tortoise are standalong, they are in no wat electrically connected to pins 1 and 8. The moving contact (equivalent to one of the center pins of you DPDT) is either pin 4 or pin 5, depending on which of the two internal switches you use. You need to feed power in per Mel's diagram above.
I was momentarily confused by the bridge rectifier thing, but now I get what Mel is sayng. The way a Tortoise works, when it's turned one way, pin 1 is + and pin 8 is -. When you change to the other position, now pin 1 is - and pin 8 is +. If you connect one ~ terminal to 8, and the other ~ to pin 1, then the terminal of the rectifier labeled + will always be + no matter which way the TOrtoise is, and the termina llabeled - will always be -. Combining the diagrams, with the LEDs you have, the - would go to the resistor and then the commin center pin of the LED. The + would go to pin 4 on the Tortoise. Pin 2 would go to the red LED lead, pin 3 to the green LED terminal. If the red and green are backwards, reverse the connections on pins 2 and 3.
That's one option, to not have to run an extra power supply out to the Tortoises. For panel LEDs though, I still say the 2 wire type are the easiest to install with minimal wiring.
Thanks. You guys always help.
3 lead ones have to be driven as shown above. Benefit, they will always glow full brightness. Downside - more wiring, at least if you are putting these in as panel indicators. If you are making signals right at the turnout, then it's not so bad, the wires just have to run up from the Tortoise to the layout surface.
2 wire bi-color LEDs, you just put them in series with the wire goign to pin 1 or pin 8 of the Tortoise. Less wiring, no resistors, but they do glow dim while the Tortoise is moving, and then go bright when it stops in position. And they reduce the voltage to the Tortoise, whichs lows it down (not always a bad thing).
You can always do both - stick the 2 wire kind on your control panel, use the 3 wire ones out on the layout as signals.
Think of the 3 wire kind as two individual LEDs, which is exactly what they are, two LEDs with either the cathodes or anodes tied together. The two wire type are two individual LEDs wires antiparallel to one another.
Use one of the Tortoise SPDT switches .
hi all, I have some bi-color led's that have 3 prongs.
I'm using DPDT Toggles to control Tortose Switch Machines with a 12v DC Power Supply.
Not sure if I wire the LED to the switch or the Tortoise or HOW to do it. I find schematics for 2 Pin but not 3pin.
Anyone have a wiring diagram they can share?