[simes205]

Hi,

Racing myself a lto at the moment and getting into using pacer mode quite a lot.
My PB C7042 goes into safe mode shortly after the 4th car goes on track.
3 are in pacer mode and the other is me!
I thought that this pb, with one psu could run 4 cars. If I wanted to run more I would need to add a 2nd psu.

Am I mistaken or correct?

 

[Ade]

hi
it is supposed to run 4 cars but if they are one's with a lot of mag strength like the lmp cars and you are using a few lane change sections and maybe pitlane game then an overload is likely.

Adding the 2nd psu should make all the difference.

 

[simes205]

As I suspected.........I needed another one really to run the cars that have yet to be chipped.

Many thanks

 

[Mr Modifier]

In theory with 4 standard Scalextric cars you should be able to use one PSU with the APB.

However it depends on the load you are putting on the PSU.

If any of your cars are running more powerful motors (more powerful than Scalextric standard 18k Mabuchi) you may be drawing as much power as 5 or 6 cars.

A motor in need of lubrication or driving stiff gears could draw more power.

Other things also draw power like lane changers and the pit lane game.

Some people power their lane changes on a separate circuit (only practical for permanent layouts) but that still means buying another PSU so you may as well go for a twin PSU setup.

This is why Scalextric say their hotter 25k and 30k motors can't be digitised - it's nothing to do with how fast they go - it's about the power they draw.

With a single PSU you will get bigger power surges when a car deslots than if you run twin PSU's.

That's my take anyway. It will be interesting to see other peoples' experiences.

I run twin PSUs by the way - this allows me to run both lanes in analogue when my racing buddy comes round and we run analogue cars against each other - saves on buying bucket loads of chips.

 

[Boy Racer]

I have had [what I believe to be] overloads when running only 2 cars - I assumed at first the it was a short, but it kept happening while running a single power supply (toshiba laptop PSU). Then I plugged in my second PSU and had no problems...