Simon Moore Posted May 27, 2010 Share Posted May 27, 2010 Just after a little advice really regarding powering a tourtoise point motor. I've been looking into possibly buying a gaugemaster controller just the basic model combi cased controller & the output is 18v for the accessory this is where my problam starts. Looking on the point motor instructions the easiest & simplist way for me to run the motor is by a 12v supply & some DPDT switchs which i understand. The other way using AC is to convert it via some LED's or something which i dont understand at all & think i would struggle to do. Can anyone help me please i am totally baffled electrics isnt my strong point i want something simple & something that will hopefully work with that basic controller i plan to use. If the controller i plan on using is unsuitable because of outputs what other options do i have that will give me slow running & also small enough to be mounted on the layout rather than have a great big chunky controller which would need a mount of its own building? Cheers Simon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted May 27, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 27, 2010 I presume that the 18v output is AC. If this is the case then the answer is fairly simple. Buy a bridge rectifier from Maplins, RS or any other supplier. These transform the output to DC. They are very simple and cheap. They are usually square with 4 wires underneath. On diagonally opposite corners two will be marked with a '~' symbol. connect the AC output from the controller to these. The other two corners will be marked + and - . Connect two wires from these and that will give you a DC output of aproximately 14volts. Tortoises can be connected to this via a DPDT switch with no problem. I power up to 10 tortoises from one rectifier. Rectifiers are rated in VA's which I believe is volts times amps. a 50VA rectifier will do fine for what you need but if you happen to pick up a larger one cheaper there is no problem. If this answers your questions fine. I would be happy to find you a Maplins or RS product code if you need one. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Natalie Graham Posted May 27, 2010 Share Posted May 27, 2010 Powering a tortoise from a controller? The mind boggles. Just remember to paint his name on his shell so that if the controller goes wrong and he gets out of control you can recognise him again when you find him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Moore Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 I presume that the 18v output is AC. If this is the case then the answer is fairly simple. Buy a bridge rectifier from Maplins, RS or any other supplier. These transform the output to DC. They are very simple and cheap. They are usually square with 4 wires underneath. On diagonally opposite corners two will be marked with a '~' symbol. connect the AC output from the controller to these. The other two corners will be marked + and - . Connect two wires from these and that will give you a DC output of aproximately 14volts. Tortoises can be connected to this via a DPDT switch with no problem. I power up to 10 tortoises from one rectifier. Rectifiers are rated in VA's which I believe is volts times amps. a 50VA rectifier will do fine for what you need but if you happen to pick up a larger one cheaper there is no problem. If this answers your questions fine. I would be happy to find you a Maplins or RS product code if you need one. Jamie If you wouldnt mind giving me the code for the maplins i feel this is my best option & sounds straight forward enough 4 wires i cant go wrong Simon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 This might be a red herring, but I started to power my Tortoise motors from the uncontrolled 12vDC supply of my Gaugemaster controller and the Tortoise motors made a noticeable hum, which was off putting. In the end, I bought two 12v supplies from RS and wired them together as +12/0/-12 and the motors are now absolutely silent at the end of their travel. May be worth checking first... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted May 28, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 28, 2010 Hi The one I would buy is a KBPC601 rectifier it's available from Maplins ref AQ99H or from RS ref 504-319. These have a screw hole through the centre for mounting purposes and can be screwed down to a block of wood. Depending on how many tortoises you are going to power I would consider having a separate mains transformer to power them. They take 100ma at all times and the draw of several can reduce the voltage a bit. I'm not sure what rating the output is on you controller but I have separate trasnformers in my control panels to power the accessories (Eg relays and point motors) and then another one for the traction power. (This is in O gauge where locos can draw up to 3 amps.) If you decide to go down this route RS do a suitable transformer with 2 15vAC outputs for £12.75 plus VAT ref 227-8479. Once you have the 12v DC supply you can then take that round as many DPDT switches as you want to. In my experience it's better to run my layout using transformers that ahve excess capacity and only taking a small load from them, than runnig everything at maximum output. Any problems get back to me by PM. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Elaner Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 Maplin? RS? Save yourself some cash & look here 9v should be enough for a tortoise. You can always have more than transformer if you need. I have both 9v & 12v on my layout. 1 is a spare, but I can't remember which one! Make sure you order the extra connectors though. They won't exactly break the bank though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted June 4, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 4, 2010 If you take Dutch masters diagram and move the switch to the other side of the diodes so that you have a +ve half cycle supply and a -ve half cycle supply and the switch connects to either. You can then have other switches for other motors sharing the same diodes. You can then add a bipolar LED btween each switch and its tortoise motor this will then light up red or green according to the way the switch is thrown. I did this with sparrows wharf using the 15vac auxiliary winding it worked well and was easy to understand much simpler than separate supplies and DPDT switches. Alternatively if you have a couple of old Mobile phone chargers of around 9- 12 v they would probably do the job ( rechargable battery chargers might for similar voltages are also feasible) Donw Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caseyjones82 Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 This might be a red herring, but I started to power my Tortoise motors from the uncontrolled 12vDC supply of my Gaugemaster controller and the Tortoise motors made a noticeable hum, which was off putting. In the end, I bought two 12v supplies from RS and wired them together as +12/0/-12 and the motors are now absolutely silent at the end of their travel. May be worth checking first... The humming can also be stopped by wiring a resistor into the circuit between the 12v supply and the motor. My motors run on roughly 9v completely silently. Just a much cheaper and easier solution for future reference. Alex Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CUTLER2579 Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 "Caseyjones82" said:- The humming can also be stopped by wiring a resistor into the circuit between the 12v supply and the motor. My motors run on roughly 9v completely silently. Just a much cheaper and easier solution for future reference. Alex Alex can you suggest a suitable size resistor for use in this application? Many Thanks, Regards,Derek. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Solly Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 "Caseyjones82" said:- Alex can you suggest a suitable size resistor for use in this application? Many Thanks, Regards,Derek. Derek with a 12v supply, feeding Tortoise with 9v means resistor to drop 3v at a nominal 20mA = 150 ohms; if using a figure of 30mA then a 100 ohms so go for around 120-130 ohms 1/4 watt. But as 1/2w or 1w do not cost that much more, then for safety, I would use at least 1/2watt resistors. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.