Put an end to Overload troubles!, Dont try this without adult supervision Options

[dragon0987]

great info , what type of "aftermarket power supply" are you using could you list the specs on it and how and where you hooked it up at, how many amps can you put to the system? i am new to the hobby and have limited knowledge of electronic power sources, i assume you are using a regulated dc power souece what amp rating and what do you think the amp draw is with 6 cars on it , i have ssd track with about 35' of track and 2 standard ssd ps ,i have only run three cars on it and only experienced 1 overload, but i have noticed it seems a little sluggish thanks
also now that you powered the sensors and lane changers with seperate power you wouldn't have to change those pieces to run analog cars on it you would only have to change the power base is this correct?

[tvwino]

Well, the supply is a OEM'ed by a local australian electronics retailers, Dick Smith. It is essentially a variable, regulated DC power supply - providing up to 15Volts, and 20A continuous current capability. The link is here, for the specs:
D3800 PSU
It has 2 sets of speaker terminal style outputs, rated at 3A. I connected each of these to P1 and P2 of my SSD powerbase. It also has a banana plug style output, rated at the full 20A+, and it is this that I have connected to my LC pieces.
It seems to most that the LC pieces draw the most current, certainly more than the cars. I know of at least 2 people setup like this, with the same result, no surging, no overloads and great digital racing with full quota of cars and hard racing. I haven't checked the full current draw on the LC pieces though, sorry.

As for keeping the LC's in place - sorry, but that's a no as far as I'm aware. I haven't bothered switching back and forth, but my understanding is that the power across the LC pieces is shared, and even though it gets its' power from an external source now, that doesn't change things.

Hope this helps.

cheers

Mike

[martinkay]

I've noticed some more occasional overloads creeping in over this weekend now we are running 6 cars on our track. Taking out one of the LCs and replacing with a racing curve seems to have helped. Anyone got any thoughts on what the maximum number of LCs per 10m of track might be, for running 6 cars, without wiring the LCs separately? If we could work out some kind of formula it might help people to understand where the limits are, beyond which you would need to have the changers wired separately, before shelling out 20 quid a time on extra LC sections.

[SWoRd]

Hi Martin

If we could work out some kind of formula it might help people to understand where the limits are, beyond which you would need to have the changers wired separately, before shelling out 20 quid a time on extra LC sections.

FYI I'm running 4 cars and 4 LC's on a 25m track without problems.

I don't think I'll run 6 cars in the future, as the track is crowded enough with 4 cars ... but who knows? ... it might be possible for us to run 6 cars, when we all get more experience in dealing with the traffic?.

[martinkay]

FYI I'm running 4 cars and 4 LC's on a 25m track without problems.

OK so just to test a theory, maybe cars X LCs / track length will give us a number, the higher it goes the greater the likelihood of an overload.

With 4 cars, our track was 4 * 6 / 14.14 = 1.69 (no overloads)
With 6 cars it became 6 * 6 / 14.14 = 2.54 (giving occasional overloads)
With one LC removed ours is now 6 * 5 / 14.14 = 2.12 (better)
Standard Lane Change Challenge set is 2 * 2 / 6.76 = 0.59 (miles away from overload)
SWoRd's track comes in at 4 * 4 / 25 = 0.64 (again pretty safe)

Additional data welcome...!

[tvwino]

well, purely in the cause of giving you 'additional data', here's mine:

with 3 cars, 5 LC's on my 17.5M track... 3*5/17.5 = 0.86 (no overloads)
with 4 cars... 4*5/17.5 = 1.14 (overloads only on heavy racing sessions)
with 6 cars... 6*5/17.5 = 1.71 (frequent overloads during racing)

All this changed to "NO OVERLOADS", once I performed the 'Drummer' fix.

[martinkay]

Useful stuff... interesting that 6*5 on our shorter track is not giving the problems you had with 6*5 on your longer track - maybe there are other factors such as whether the track has lots of fast straights or more of the slow twisty bits which could affect how much power is required at any given moment. If going for the "Drummer Fix" conceivably you might only need to separately-wire one LC rather than do them all (which I would personally find less daunting to do) - just so as to reduce one of the factors in the equation.

[mcekl1]

hi there. been watching this thread and im still a bit confused in all this as im newbie. with the digital set up, what power and current can you run safely and what is recommended stable?

both for the power supplies and the lane changes?
thanks

[Afterburned]

- maybe there are other factors such as whether the track has lots of fast straights or more of the slow twisty bits which could affect how much power is required at any given moment.

Do the motors on the cars draw more power when accelerating than when at top speed? If this is the case a short twisty track would mean more people accelerating at the same time, drawing more power and causing the overload?

[drummer]

Martin, dont be daunted; its actually less difficult than installing power taps.

[martinkay]

Martin, dont be daunted; its actually less difficult than installing power taps.

I'm in the middle of doing my first LC wiring. Planning to use a spare SSD transformer for the power supply, all was going well till I discovered I can't tell which wire is which coming from the transformer, am working from the circuit diagram posted here. One wire of the pair has small white writing on it, the other does not - need to know which one goes to the red and which to the black side of the terminal blocks. Any ideas?

Edit: Answering my own question; hacked the plug apart and found the wire with writing on it soldered to the outer negative shroud, with the plain wire heading up the inside, and hence the positive one.

[Rosey]

OMG!

Carried out the above mods and use a IBM 16v 2.2A Laptop PS for the Power base.

Now she flies

[Stevef1964]

Gents just to add my two pence worth.

I decided to do what has been suggested and power my four lane changes via a separate power supply. I did it not because I had problems, but because I didn't fancy ripping my new layout apart once I'd finished it if I did!

Anyway, it works a treat.

Plus I ran it off an old scalextric black 13.5V DC supply which I fixed to the underside of the layout board.

Thanks

Preston

[martinkay]

Something we have noticed in the past week or so now we have our new track up and running, with the LCs separately wired, is that very occasionally, for some unknown reason, the whole daisy chain of LCs just stops working, mid-race. You can tell when this has happened because all the cars end up nose-to-tail and are unable to overtake each other. At first I thought it was the fuse in the wall plug for the LC transformer, but it turns out that simply switching off the LC power for a moment and switching it back on again, brings the LC network back up. I am guessing that under heavy load, some component in one of the LCs is tripping out and cutting the power and needs re-setting. Would be interested to know if anyone else with separately wired LCs has seen this happening.

[Stevef1964]

Martin, If that is the case then I think it could be easily fixed by fitting a small "reset" switch in the wiring circuit. Just locate the button in an accessible area of the layout, which can be hit if it happens during a race. Hopefully it won't cause too much disturbance to your racing. Just term is as, say, "the safety car"

One thought!!! You said your LC's are "Daisy Chained". If so, then if one goes out it takes them all out. Mine are wired in parallel. At least then it should only affect one LC, which could be faulty, unless the problem lies with your power base!

Have I completely missed the point or has anyone got any other ideas?

Preston