I have a Tortise driven turnout which I want to automate the throw. I have 2 isolated blocks on each side of the turnout with BD1's on each. I want the Tortise to position the turnout based on the approach as detected by the BD1's. I also want to have a local push button to alter the direction of the turnout in case a local operator needs to back a train through. I can't seem to get the wiring of the DS54 correct. I can make the push button work partially. Sometimes it throws the turnout and then throws it right back other times it throws it opposite just fine. The BD1's don't seem to alter the route at all.

My initial approach (guess) to wiring this was to use the orange aux wire as the trigger. I wired the red outputs of the BD1's through a set of contacts on the Tortise so that there would only be a BD1 output trigger back if the turnout was misaligned. BD1 blacks were tied back to the black accessory power(which was connected to 12v power). Tortise tied to black & yellow of Output A. The push button was tied between the accessory power red and the Aux A orange. CV 03 set to 20. Can someone help me? Thanks in advance.

-- Gif Sander (gif.sander@bmsus.com), April 12, 1999

Answers

After much experimentation, I have solved my own problem. The initial approach was way off. The solution is as follows. I have listed all CV or connections for all 4 DS54 outputs (A, B, C, D) Set Output CV (3, 4, 5, 6) to 20  Continuous output Set Aux CV (33, 35, 37, 39) to 02  Off to On, Forced thrown Set Switch CV (34, 36, 38, 40) to 03  Off to On, Forced closed

Wire BD1s to track block. Be sure you install them correctly. The word block on the plastic wrapper corresponds to the heavy lead that goes to the track. The other heavy lead goes to the booster.

The black leads from the BD1s are connected to the black accessory 12-16v lead. A power supply must also be connected.

The red lead from the first BD1 is connected to the appropriate AUX lead on the DS54 (orange, black, yellow, green) external connector

The red lead from the second BD1 is connected to the appropriate SWITCH lead on the DS54. Either the red wire on the telco cord or (blue, violet, gray, red) external connector.

To wire the push button to be able to manually throw the switch do the following: You will use one set of the Tortoises SPDT contacts. Either 2,3,4 or 5,6,7

Connect one lead of the push button to the red DS54 accessory 12-16v lead. Connect the other lead of the push button to the Tortoise contact 4 or 5. Connect Tortoise contact 3 or 6 to the red lead of the first BD1 Connect Tortoise contact 2 or 7 to the red lead of the second BD1 The object of the connections is to route power when the button is pressed to the appropriate AUX or SWITCH lead of the DS54 the same as if the opposite detector would. If the button does not work, swap the wires coming from the Tortoise 2 & 3 or 6 & 7 to the opposite BD1 red lead.

If you have the situation where the switch throws opposite the way you want when a train enters one of the detected blocks, swap the red leads from the BD1s.

-- Gif Sander (gif.sander@bmsus.com), May 01, 1999.

Let me reformat the CV settings, they got realigned when the answer was posted.

Set Output CV (3, 4, 5, 6) to 20  Continuous output

Set Aux CV (33, 35, 37, 39) to 02  Off to On, Forced thrown

Set Switch CV (34, 36, 38, 40) to 03  Off to On, Forced closed

-- Gif Sander (gif.sander@bmsus.com), May 01, 1999.

New e-mail address

-- Gif Sander (gif_sander@conseco.com), September 10, 1999.