Capacitors and other electronics?

To clarify on capacitors for increasing power (mentioned on a different thread recently):

A capacitor can only store a voltage, it cannot increase it. Thus, you can't get more out than what you put in, which can't exceed the full-throttle voltage.

The size of the capacitor determines how much current it can hold, but does not change the voltage, only the available amperage during discharge. Although an LED can remain lit for some time when powered from a capacitor (through a resistor to limit the current to safe levels), a slot car motor typically draws about 100 times more current than an LED can handle, with a total power requirement (wattage) about 1000 times higher. To run a slot car for even a fraction of a second would likely require a capacitor about the same size as the car. In theory, if power to the track is shut off at the end of a race (for example), a large capacitor hidden in a controller might propel a car for an additional inch or two, but that's about it.

The whole "hidden capacitor" thing is pretty much an urban legend.

But they are great for lighting!

Inte, I'm sorry but that actually doesn't happen. Capacitors CANNOT increase voltage (unless you also have a hidden transformer in there too! ). If you seem to observe that the cap DOES, then you do not have a properly regulated and/or filtered power supply in the first place. In this case, the voltage you meter without a cap is an AVERAGE of a fluctuating voltage, while the voltage you meter with a cap is the PEAK voltage - however, when a car is in use and actually discharging the cap, it will quickly draw the cap's stored power down to the average level. In essence...no real gain, except that the motor may run slightly cooler in the long run because it will see a voltage level that is much more constant (near the average), rather than one that swings much higher and lower. Capacitors aren't magic, they are only storage devices.

I suggest close scrutiny of Inte's cars and controllers, guys!