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Last week I recieved two anti collision chips "AKS" for Carrera D132 / D124 from Henning Hottop in Germany.
Here is the chip for the right LC
The AKS system use the inner rail of the opposite lane as a sensor to detect if there is a car in the other lane. When there are one or more cars present on the sensor rail the AKS disables the LC until the sensor rail is free from cars. The sensor rail is powered by the AKS chip, so you can choose how long you want the sensor without making any dead spots on the track.
The installation manuals are in German but have lots of pictures, so by studying them and using Google Translate I started to grasp the basics of the system, and after a couple hours I was ready to install the first chip.
The installation was pretty straight forward, but has a few options depending on if you use your track for digital only or as a digital/analog hybrid (dual mode), and you can choose the "easy" or "hard" way to isolate the sensor rail. The easy method only require to remove one rail connector and a piece of clear tape, while the "hard way" involves rail cutting. I chose the easy way and also wired the track for digital/analog use.
Here is the chip installed, and the tools needed was:
- Phillips screw driver (usual body screw size)
- 2 mm flat screw driver (or torx #7)
- Needle nose pliers
- Clear tape
- 2.5 mm drill bit
The yellow cable that goes between the LC LED and LC chip must be cut and connected to the cables from the AKS chip (red and yellow cables without connectors). The 3 cables with connectors from the AKS chip simply slides into the rails (red = positive, blue = negative, green = sensor rail). The instructions show where to place the connectors, and you also need to drill a 2.5 mm hole for the AKS LED in the track.
Here is the AKS system in work, when the green light is on, the sensor rail is free of cars and the LC is active:
Then when a car enters the sensor rail in the opposite lane, the green LED goes out and the LC is disabled:
I'm currently testing the system out using 4 ghost cars on a small track (about 36 feet) and so far it's working just as I was hoping it would, no crashing at the LC's
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Henning makes two versions of the chips, one for left and one for right LC's, so in the XLC's you must use two chips. The chips can also be used to prevent collision when exiting a pitlane. You can also add a toggle switch to turn the AKS function on/off. At roughly 8 £ per chip (one per flipper) and less than 4 £ in postage I think these chips are fantastic value, especially if you race against ghost cars or with kids.
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Tore
Here is the chip for the right LC
The AKS system use the inner rail of the opposite lane as a sensor to detect if there is a car in the other lane. When there are one or more cars present on the sensor rail the AKS disables the LC until the sensor rail is free from cars. The sensor rail is powered by the AKS chip, so you can choose how long you want the sensor without making any dead spots on the track.
The installation manuals are in German but have lots of pictures, so by studying them and using Google Translate I started to grasp the basics of the system, and after a couple hours I was ready to install the first chip.
The installation was pretty straight forward, but has a few options depending on if you use your track for digital only or as a digital/analog hybrid (dual mode), and you can choose the "easy" or "hard" way to isolate the sensor rail. The easy method only require to remove one rail connector and a piece of clear tape, while the "hard way" involves rail cutting. I chose the easy way and also wired the track for digital/analog use.
Here is the chip installed, and the tools needed was:
- Phillips screw driver (usual body screw size)
- 2 mm flat screw driver (or torx #7)
- Needle nose pliers
- Clear tape
- 2.5 mm drill bit
The yellow cable that goes between the LC LED and LC chip must be cut and connected to the cables from the AKS chip (red and yellow cables without connectors). The 3 cables with connectors from the AKS chip simply slides into the rails (red = positive, blue = negative, green = sensor rail). The instructions show where to place the connectors, and you also need to drill a 2.5 mm hole for the AKS LED in the track.
Here is the AKS system in work, when the green light is on, the sensor rail is free of cars and the LC is active:
Then when a car enters the sensor rail in the opposite lane, the green LED goes out and the LC is disabled:
I'm currently testing the system out using 4 ghost cars on a small track (about 36 feet) and so far it's working just as I was hoping it would, no crashing at the LC's
Henning makes two versions of the chips, one for left and one for right LC's, so in the XLC's you must use two chips. The chips can also be used to prevent collision when exiting a pitlane. You can also add a toggle switch to turn the AKS function on/off. At roughly 8 £ per chip (one per flipper) and less than 4 £ in postage I think these chips are fantastic value, especially if you race against ghost cars or with kids.
Tore
