You asked for it and now it's here! This is our Tortoise DC Control panel. Designed from the ground up with layouts and panels in mind. Our control panel will control a single Tortoise switch machine using simple +12VDC. When wired correctly, you get simple toggle switch control of the turnout, as well as red/green LED feedback of the position. The LED is controlled by the internal DPDT switch inside of the Tortoise. So it's won't change state until the Tortoise has physically moved position. Rear panel terminal blocks for daisy-chaining the control panels together. All solderless connections make wiring a snap! Designed to fit in a 1/2" panel using only a single 1" hole. Fascia plate for those who want a complete look right out of the box. Available without fascia plate for those who want to install into a custom panel. The Tortoise DC Control Panel is small. Easily place them side by side for controlling multiple switch motors in a single area. The backside has parallel DC power terminal blocks (Blue) for feeding power to the switch motor as well as providing pass-through power to the next unit. The 8 position terminal block (green) is a pin-for-pin match with our Tortoise Interface module. Spacing between the control board and the fascia plate is optimized for 1/2" plywood bench work. Here we're showing a sample installation into a 1/2" plywood bench work. When mounted to a plywood structure like this, the switch ring nuts are not required. Accepting orders starting today, in stock and ready to ship! Place orders are http://www.rpc-electronics.com/tortdccontrol.php Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions!
A useful and well engineered product Jason. I'd have chosen the prototype's "Normal" and "Reverse" for the position indicators or perhaps "Normal" and "Diverging" as an alternate, but I've since learned that "Closed" and "Thrown" are DCC nomenclature?
Thank you for the feedback! Over the 20+ years I have been modeling I have heard many terms for the status of a turnout. "Closed" and "Thrown" were the most common I heard used by others, so that is essentially why I settled on them for the fascia panel.
The NMRA uses the "normal" and "reverse" nomenclature. https://www.nmra.org/sites/default/files/standards/sandrp/pdf/tn-12_2015.03.05.pdf To me, the term "throw" has always meant to change the position/state of a turnout, either from normal to reverse or from reverse to normal. "Thrown" would indicate that the movement of the points has been completed - into either the "normal" or "reverse" position/state. Maybe two different versions of the fascia plate should be offered - one lettered with "thrown and "closed" and the other with "normal" and "reverse". Or, print one version of the lettering on one side of the fascia plate and the other version on the opposite side, leaving the choice of which side to have facing out up to the installer/modeler. Also, maybe include a pair of through-hole solder pads - one on each side of the surface-mount resistor - so a that a different value of resistor can be installed, if needed.
Jason, Another great targeted product. I don't use tortises, but looks great for those that do. I don't believe that the panel is a problem, because anyone that cares that much would probably be the ones not using the panel - putting the assembly on a custom panel. The static you're getting on another board makes me wonder why anyone could even consider putting out a new product. Don
Thank you, Don! I'm heading over there in a minute to address the angry mom In the meantime, there is something that I did not mention in my original post. We do offer an even simpler way to wire everything up. We have been selling RJ45 to breadboard adapters for about ten years now. They were traditionally for the electronics hobbiest market, but they found their way into this market by accident. By adding one to each the DC Control Panel and the Tortoise Interface we make, you can use a standard CAT5 cable to connect the two together. Since we're dealing with low voltage, low current and simple DC (no data), the CAT5 or CAT6 work just fine. The RJ45 adapter: Here is a picture of the two together: Also, I did not link to it, but I do have a demo video that I uploaded last month of the prototypes showing this in action and showing how the RJ45 adapters work. That is still can he viewed here: Thanks for the feedback so far!
In the video I mentioned the option to use our RJ-45 adapters. Here are some pictures of those in use:
