In addition to assembling the throw wire components, it is often helpful to make one additional preparation to the motor before installation.
The Tortoise™ has eight tabs for soldering wire leads on the bottom. The outer two connect the motor itself, the inner six are for a pair of electric relays built into the motor. These act as electrical switches that throw with the turnout itself. You do not need to use all or any of these depending on your installation. Once installed, soldering onto the wire terminals can be difficult. Clip-on attachments are available, but a simple wiring harness can also be made in just a few minutes.
You can build the harness with just the two wires for the motor, or with wires for all contacts in case you want to use them later. Color coding the wires will also ease work under the layout later. It does not matter what colors you choose. Pick colors that are easy to remember and be consistent. For example, DCC decoders use orange and grey wires as a standard for motor leads, so I use orange and grey for the motor leads on the switch motor. Frog wires are always green on my railroad. Why? Frogs (ribbit ribbit) are green!
Attach two to eight wires in whatever length you desire to the tabs on the motor. Four to twelve inches works well, depending on your mounting location. Attach the other ends to a terminal strip. This can be mounted on the benchwork nearby.
You will find it much easier to solder onto the larger connections of the terminal strip when working under the layout. Also, should you have to remove the motor for any reason, you can do so without harming most of the permanent layout wires.
