question to all of the electronic guru's in here. This is not a dcc question ,but just a question of controlling 3 tortoise machines with one toggle switch. I know how to wire up tortoise machine for 1 and 2 turnouts to work simultaneously, what i want to know is there a diagram out there that shows how to wire up 3 tortoise machines used in a wye, to activate the machines to switch the routes through. Lets call the two two opposite turnouts on the main TM1 & TM2. Lets call the turnout on the branch (TB1) which either goes into TM1 or TM2. so what I am picturing is that if I flip the toggle one direction, I will activate TM1 & TB1 to be the through route and if I flip the toggle the other direction, i will activate TM2 & TB1 to be the through route? is this possible?
hmmm let me think........I see your point. So maybe I use one toggle to throw both turnouts on the main and a second toggle to switch the branch turnout to north or south. any other ideas?
would a doide matrix work with a rotary switch for the three possible routes? if yes, do you know where I can get a diagram for a diode matrix with rotary switch? I have seen one before , but dot remember where. thank you.
Do you plan on turning any equipment on this wye? If so, is everything you might ever want to turn short enough to fit between TM1 and TB1? If not, this would be a mistake. Yes, you could control all three from one toggle, but either you wire it so when TM1 and TM2 are sending trains toward each other, TB is aiming trains toward TM1, and when TM2 and TB are sending trains toward each other, TM1 is aiming trains at TB, or you might as well not have a wye at all. If TM1 and TB never move, why not just install TM2 and skip the wye? So, if you wire them all together, to turn equipment you must move the engine being turned through TM1 toward TB and flip the switch before it gets there. If you want, for example, to turn a whole passenger train on the wye, that simply won't work.
I've never done a diode matrix myself. But I'm pretty sure with a wye, you'd need to put a diode (properly aligned) in every wire coming off your triple throw switch.
I would be inclined to use a 4-pole on-on-on toggle switch to make life easy, but you could use a 3-way 4-pole break before make rotary switch. Treat the toggle switch as a pair of toggle switches (one half for each turnout) and wire up the two turnouts on the main so that when the switch is in the middle both turnouts are set to the main line. All that you need to do then is to wire the third turnout motor in parallel with either of the other turnout motors (does not matter which) and job done. When the switch is in the middle the main through route is selected, left and right will select each of the divergences. Suzie x
Just do an internet seach on Diode Matrix Turnout Control and you'll get dozens of how-to pages and diagrams. I use a matrix with a six-position rotary switch to control a staging yard with Tortoise machines, and it works perfectly. And yes, it seems to me that this is a perfect case for a diode matrix. John C.
