DCC Address for tortoise switch machine

[Gbeeman]

Can two tortoise switch machines have the same address so they work together? I plan on using four on a double crossover and it would be great if I could get the two pairs to work together, or is there a better way?

Thanks,

Gbeeman

 

[gjohnston]

Some decoders will run two switch machines on the same output ports. I have some crossovers on my layout and I am going to connect two switch machines to the same decoder output ports. I may have to adjust the voltage upward. The NCE Switch 8 manual suggests that this has been done successfully on that decoder.

 

[CSX Robert]

Can two tortoise switch machines have the same address so they work together? I plan on using four on a double crossover and it would be great if I could get the two pairs to work together, or is there a better way?

Thanks,

Gbeeman

Yes, you can have as multiple decoders on the same address.

 

[Gbeeman]

Yes, you can have as multiple decoders on the same address.

Great!

thanks

Gbeeman

 

[fcwilt]

You are probably aware of this but I will mention it just to cover all the bases - not all Tortoise machines come with a DCC decoder.

Frederick

 

[Gbeeman]

Thanks Frederick I plan on controlling them with a Switchit. That should do the trick.

Gbeeeman

 

[fcwilt]

Thanks Frederick I plan on controlling them with a Switchit. That should do the trick.

Gbeeeman

Hi,

What DCC system are you using?

Frederick

 

[Gbeeman]

I plan on buying an NCE Power cab.

Gbeeman

 

[MikeOwnby]

You could also use a Digitrax DS52. It's a "dual" stationary decoder for tortoise machines, but each output has enough oomph to power two tortoise motors. And that's per manufacturer, not just me pushing things. I have that one decoder running a dual crossover on my layout and it throws all four tortoises beautifully. You do end up doing basically the same thing, though, which is programming both of its decoder channels to the same address so that they'll both work with one command instead of separately. I also use several of them on other single crossovers where they do function on two separate addresses. I found it to be the most economical option when you have three or four turnouts that can be put into one or two addresses and are close enough together to reach the same control unit.

 

[fcwilt]

I plan on buying an NCE Power cab.

Gbeeman

Something to think about when it comes to NCE.

Unless something has changed NCE does not provide a general purpose control bus as do other brands of command stations.

For example Digitrax (and others) provide the LocoNet control bus which can be very important when it comes to controlling turnouts, signals and the like.

It is also import if you need to sense things happening on your layout - such as a train arriving at a station.

Without a control bus things like the SwitchIt device have to get the commands from the track in much the same way as the engines do.

This is not the best approach as the signals on the track can sometimes be less than reliable due to the electrical noise generated by the trains running on the track.

The signals on a control bus are cleaner because there is no such noise.

Something to think about.

Frederick

 

[btk]

I've never used them, but you can control two sets of points with the Tortoise remote mount and an extra cable/actuator. Might make things a bit more cost-effective for you.