[Philk1]

Hello,
I'm new to this hobby, unless of course you count the Aurora set I had many many years ago. I live in the state of Maryland in the good ol' USA and recently purchased a Carrera GT Face Off Set. This includes a Porsche 911 (30915) and a Ford (30913). I added the pit lane to my set along with a few other tracks. Per the instructions and various YouTube videos, I programmed each car to a controller, the fuel tanks were programmed to full capacity. The fuel switch was set to "Real." I realized pretty quickly that the Ford flashed its [almost out of fuel] lights after 25 laps around my layout while the Porsche lights flashed at 50 laps. Needless to say, this confused the heck out of me. How can I do a fair race when one car has to hit the pit stop twice as often as the other. I was told by a Carrera rep that the brain is in the controller and not the car, so I reprogrammed the controllers to be reassigned to the other car thinking that the Ford would now do 50 laps and the Porsche 25. That did not happen. Next I flipped the fuel switch to the "On" position and re-tested both cars - no difference. Next I reprogrammed the fuel capacity, one car on the track at a time, to see if that would make a difference...No! On my next contact with Carrera, I was told that each car has a different fuel tank (size based on the real car) and that I could reduce the fuel capacity of the Porsche so it too would do 25 laps instead of 50. This still makes no sense to me, it seems like a band-aid solution. So now I'm even more confused than when this journey began. Why would the manufacturer put two cars in the same set with such a major disparity in fuel capacity? Also, if I were to buy additional cars, how do I know in advance the fuel capacity of that car? The Carrera rep also told me that in nearly 20 years on the job, he has never come across this issue before. Do I push to get a replacement car? Controller? Digital home track? Or is there something inherent to the system I'm just not aware of? Any light on this issue would be tremendously appreciated. Thank you.

 

[bswan72]

The fuel usage is based off of how much throttle is being used. So if a car happens to handle better, than the amount of throttle being used during the course of a lap will be more than a car that has to go slower around the curves. Basically, no two cars will b exactly the same in regards to fuel usage since it comes down to the handling of the car and how the car is driven. Someone who is driving really aggressively will burn more fuel than someone who is being easier on the throttle.

When you noticed the issue, how were the cars driven around the track? At a constant speed to test or normally?

 

[Philk1]

I was the sole tester. There was some speed ups and slow downs around the curves, but I kept things pretty consistent with both cars going around the track. Of course each test varied slightly, but not enough to warrant a 25 lap difference between the cars.

 

[bswan72]

You might try it again and take note that the lap times are similar as you run the laps. If one car is lapping the track a second quicker then this can cause the car to use significantly more fuel (even more so on a small track layout). Also, be sure that each car has a full tank of fuel before starting the race.

 

[UDoKuoio]

No more "fuel race" on our club, since a slightly better motor has much more better fuel comsumption.

 

[Slotspeed]

Does the more fuel efficient car also run faster at much smaller throttle position than the thirsty car? It could be the well known FET issue of 2020 which also affected some set cars. Its late here but I’ll post a link in the morning. That description from your rep is completely wrong.

 

[Slotspeed]

Ok here it is. Link to Fet issueAnd to be clear, the FET issue was during manufacturing in 2019 and was fixed in manufacturing in early 2020 but managed to find its way onto shop shelves by mid 2020. Quite a few people reported issues with fuel usage as well as throttle response issues. It can be fixed by someone handy with a soldering iron or many people have successfully returned their affected decoders or cars for replacement under warranty service. Including from North America. Surprised your rep isn’t aware of this.

 

[Philk1]

Ok here it is. Link to Fet issueAnd to be clear, the FET issue was during manufacturing in 2019 and was fixed in manufacturing in early 2020 but managed to find its way onto shop shelves by mid 2020. Quite a few people reported issues with fuel usage as well as throttle response issues. It can be fixed by someone handy with a soldering iron or many people have successfully returned their affected decoders or cars for replacement under warranty service. Including from North America. Surprised your rep isn’t aware of this.

You guys are fantastic! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I will contact Carrera again and see what I can find out.

 

[Slotspeed]

You guys are fantastic! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I will contact Carrera again and see what I can find out.

The cars from your set are probably unavailable by now, depends how many were made. Make sure you find out what your options are in terms of them resolving the issue.

 

[bswan72]

A new chip will work to solve it.

 

[Slotspeed]

A new chip will work to solve it.

Correct, as long as the new chip was made before late 2019 or after week 2 of 2020.

I think I read that the fuel usage of the slot.it SP43 aftermarket chip is a little different on fuel usage, unsure of the other aftermarket offerings.

 

[Quark]

I'd be very curious as to the actual (IRL) fuel capacity of the Ford. The Porsche's have a rather large tank. And I'll go way out on a limb and suggest that the Porsche would get better mileage than the Ford as well. Perhaps not 50% better though. lol.

The referenced link to the chip problem seems to point to throttle response issues ? The OP didn't mention that in the original post.

 

[Philk1]

I'd be very curious as to the actual (IRL) fuel capacity of the Ford. The Porsche's have a rather large tank. And I'll go way out on a limb and suggest that the Porsche would get better mileage than the Ford as well. Perhaps not 50% better though. lol.

The referenced link to the chip problem seems to point to throttle response issues ? The OP didn't mention that in the original post.

I interpreted the Carrera rep as saying that the controller is the 'brain' and that's where the tank capacity data lies. He also suggested that different cars IRL have different capacities, and that's why this whole issue probably exists. So I challenged him to show me the stats that bear (or is that bare) out that statement. He said he would, but he never got back to me. And yes, as I told the rep, 50% difference in mileage is borderline ridiculous.

 

[Quark]

Hi Phil,

Can you confirm that the setting on the CU was set to "On" or "Real" ?

On the physical CU I mean


Regards

Bill

 

[Philk1]

Hi Phil,

Can you confirm that the setting on the CU was set to "On" or "Real" ?

On the physical CU I mean


Regards

Bill

Hi Bill,
“Real”, but I tested again using “On.” There was no difference.

 

[Slotspeed]

The referenced link to the chip problem seems to point to throttle response issues ? The OP didn't mention that in the original post.

The problem with the throttle response issue has a big impact on the fuel usage, it makes for a disappointing experience for people trying to run races with refueling. This is a well known and well documented issue, not just here but in many other places.

 

[Slotspeed]

Following on, the fuel usage is impacted by the relative small amount of throttle that the affected decoders use. Meaning the faster decoders also use much less fuel! There is heaps of information about this if you look in the right places.