Hi, all ...
I've been trying to get a Tortoise switch to work and I'm fresh out of ideas. I have installed one other Tortoise with no problems, and set this new one up the same way. I use a DPDT toggle, two leads connected to the switch bus and one each to slot 1 and 8 on the Tortoise. The power supply is wired into the switch bus. The specs on the power supply are: Class 2, 120v AC 60Hz 7.3v; 9.0v DC / 265mA.
The Tortoise is not getting power at all. I have tried:
- swapping the power supply with the one from the functioning Tortoise.
- tried plugging power supply into a different outlet.
- swapping the DPDT toggle.
- swapping the Tortoise (I bought two new ones).
- using an edge card to connect the wires, and tried it without edge card.
Nothing has worked. I'm going bonkers!
I scrounged up two other power supplies that I could try, but they're 500mA and I don't know if that's a problem. Wiring just isn't my gig, which makes troubleshooting tough.
if anyone has any ideas, I'd be really appreciative. Thanks, Terry
Have you tried slowly moving the black plastic actuator by hand? Maybe a piece of grit got stuck in the gearing.
Is it an older one no longer under warranty? If so, open it up and look for trouble. 500 mA is half an amp. That should be enough juice to run about 30 Tortoise machines. As long as the supplies are DC you're OK.
I have over a hundred Tortoises on my layout, never had one fail in 25 years.
If it is newer, check with Circuitron for a replacement.
Good Luck, Ed
I would try connecting the two output wires from the 9 volt power supply directly to pins 1 and 8 of the tortoise, this should confirm the tortoise and power supply are working correctly.
if there is no action, changing the tortoise for the good one will enable you to confirm a faulty tortoise, changing the power supply will also confirm if the power supply is at fault.
if you find that the power supply and tortoise are good, then wire the tortoise directly to the switch bus bypassing the DPDT switch, this will eliminate the switch as the source of you problem.
You can test the Tortoise with a 9 volt battery, connected to pins 1 and 8. Flip the wires and it should move the Tortoise back the other way.
I put the input power wires on the two center poles of the DPDT toggle, and the wires to the Tortoise on the two connectors at one end of the toggle. There should be two wires forming an X between the outermost end connectors on the toggle.
Is your DPDT toggle what we think of as a "standard" one? The two center connectors are the common leads, and the outer ones are selected by the position of the toggle. I have run across oddball DPDTs where the connectors are different
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
tburton1004 I've been trying to get a Tortoise switch to work and I'm fresh out of ideas. I have installed one other Tortoise with no problems, and set this new one up the same way. I use a DPDT toggle, two leads connected to the switch bus and one each to slot 1 and 8 on the Tortoise. The power supply is wired into the switch bus. The specs on the power supply are: Class 2, 120v AC 60Hz 7.3v; 9.0v DC / 265mA.
Power feeds through two wires of the DC power supply into one end of the DPDT. Two wires crisscross from the powered end of the DPDT to the other end of the DPDT. Then, two wires from the center terminals on the DPDT feed into slots 1 and 8 on the Tortoise.
You should use a DPDT On-On Switch, not a DPDT Center Off Switch.
tburton1004 The Tortoise is not getting power at all. I have tried: - swapping the power supply with the one from the functioning Tortoise. - tried plugging power supply into a different outlet. - swapping the DPDT toggle. - swapping the Tortoise (I bought two new ones). - using an edge card to connect the wires, and tried it without edge card. Nothing has worked. I'm going bonkers!
When you say "swapping the power supply with the one from the functioning Tortoise", do you mean that you have one power supply for each Tortoise? One power supply should be enough to power two Tortoises by running a pair of bus wires off the single power supply.
It seems like one of the DPDT switches may be the problem. Have you tried each Tortoise on each DPDT switch? In other words, that would be four different setup connections to troubleshoot the two DPDT switches.
Rich
Alton Junction