Just wanted to give a brief look at how my tortoise turnouts are being hooked up. I’m using 4-conductor RJ-11 cable, aka telephone cable, and some RJ-11 Surface Mount boxes. I picked up a 1,000 foot roll of RJ-11 cable at Cyberguys.com. I probably won’t need 1,000 feet, but it was cheap

So first I solder up my 4 leads to the tortoise boards. Yellow to Pin 1 and Black to Pin 8. These wires control the motor itself. The red wire goes to pin 4, which is a constant voltage input for the internal switch. The Green wire is then connected to either Pin 2 or 3 depending on orientation. Pin 2 and 3 complete a circuit with pin 4, so it’s hooked up to ensure that when the turnout is closed, the internal switch is closed accordingly. This will provide real feedback of the turnout position back to the DCC system for future use.

Once installed, an RJ-11 cable is run from the surface mount box to the wiring cabinet where it’ll be connected to the punchdown block (and to the DAC10).