MP Series Switch Motors For Model Railroad Turnouts Tortoise Product Spotlight 

I'll be happy to come back and talk about the rest of the product line if John will have me!

They explained in the video how to install it. But if you are only going to have a push button, then you need one for each track position and that you hold the button until the switch engine has stopped making noise, if you release the button before the switch engine is ready, it stops in the wrong position. You have to get a little creative in the way it is connected so that there is power throughout the time the switch engine needs to move, this can be solved in many ways.

rando: the MP only moves for about 2.5 seconds at 12V, so you can use push buttons if you remember to hold the momentary button for 2.5 seconds. This makes for very simple multi-point control: just put a pair of buttons at every location you'd need throw the motor from (saw both sides of a peninsula).

JS: that is why I recommend music wire. I think I've got the guys at MTB convinced, too but I think they've got a warehouse full of rigid pins

Piano (Music) wire is certainly much better and would help if you install the Motor on the side of the switch like with a Märklin Motor. Since the actuating rod in such an installation would only be about 1.5-3 cm long it would only work if a V shaped Bent is in the rod giving it flexibility. @@UPNilesCyn

@@JSVideoUTube: good point and that is what I was demonstrating in the video, there's no magic to centering the motor other than it's the standard method with a Tortoise. For example it is hard to center most twin coil solenoid machines. I haven't found a V or Z bend necessary in most under-table cases (but handy on top side mounting).

Really quick: the MP1 has a single contact, usually used for frog power, so it's handy when you've got a switch you can't reach but don't care about lighting LEDs or indicating position to a layout control system. MP4, 5 and 10 are functionally similar (with 2 contacts that is it's DPDT) but have different form factors. MP5 is an older design which is being phased out as soon as some production issues with MP4 are resolved. MP4 is the direct replacement for MP5, the main difference being a more useful connector (4,5 and 10 come with removable connectors). MP10 is the same as MP4 electrically but has the footprint of a tortoise, making it handy as a drop in replacement or if you have jigs or mounts for tortii and want to continue to use them. We cover that about 5 minutes before the end of the video.

Walthers' are basically servos. We also make servo controllers, stall motor controllers and twin coil controllers and there are pros and cons to all of them.

@@UPNilesCyn yes they are , they work great I only stated there are other switch machines , Walthers makes everything for their switch machines

Usually, yes. On the Peco I've seen, moving the plastic part that holds the spring can be enough to soften the spring. Don't know what it looks like today on Peco's switches.

The MPs are pretty torquey so they can push thru the over-center springs. You may have to play a little with size if using music wire. I'd recommend removing the over-center springs on the turnouts as the movement is smoother and looks better to me. YMMV.

I didn't mention on the show, but MP motors are easy to install on top of the layout. They are very small so they lend themselves to being hidden in lineside structures.