[moped rider]

Many of you will be aware that all electrical goods of European based manufacturers have to be tested for electrical suppression and radio and microwave signal interference. Goods that are approved have a "CE" rating. European slot cars have what can be described as a brown blob next to the motor which is the device that insulates the electrical motor and prevents it from interfering with TV, radio and mobile phone signals.

The USA does not have similar regulations and goods purchased from a retail outlet in USA by individuals in Europe do not have to comply with the "CE" regulations. However, goods exported from the USA to Europe for sale from European outlets do have to comply with the "CE" regulations.

Just to advise that coding chips sold in Europe are designed to be fitted to units that have the "CE" suppression device in place.

If they are fitted to a unit that does not have the "CE" suppression devise you will risk a malfunction of the coding chip.

This has come to light as a result of a railway modeller purchasing trains from the USA and subsequently fitting DCC coding chips from a European source.

Now I do know that it is common for our slot car friends from the USA to remove such suppression devices if fitted. It may be better to leave them in place if you have any plans at all to try out digital slot cars as the various companies who produce digital coding chips are European and the chips must have been designed for slot cars that have these suppression devices fitted.

Clearly chips manufacturered specifically for the USA model train market to be fitted to USA trains will not have this issue but as the slot car market is more global in nature then there may be an issue with chips designed for slot cars if suppression devices are removed.

I don't know what the experiance of Davic users is but a bit of feedback could be useful.

Cheers
Moped

 

[astro]

interesting post moped

so basically there can be chips that work with the capacitor, chips that can only work without it, chips that can be damaged without it and all the other combinations.

It would make most sense for manufacturers to do a chip that worked in all conditions (cheaper bulk manufacturing, less complaints from slot car tinkerers), but that isn't always the case, so it is a matter which needs either statements from the manufacturers or investigation by us lot - which will have to wait til the chips are here.

 

[Tropi]

QUOTE as the slot car market is more global in nature
Yet another wild and sweeping statement.
I don't believe it for one moment.
The model train market has always been global, since long before the advent of the internet.

The rest appears to be based on a presumption that all manufacturers are dolts and implies that they have not given these allegations any thought whatever.
If this had been posted by an accredited or even respected source, it might carry some credibility . . .

 

[moped rider]

Of course the slot car market is more global in nature.

The same slot car by Ninco or Carrera or Scalextric is sold and exported to every country worldwide where there is a distributer and interest in a Scalextric Ford GT40 or a Carrera Ferrari is global.

American outline trains predominantly sell in the USA. British outline trains predominantly sell in the UK. German outline trains predominantly sell in Germany. Japanese outline trains predominantly sell in Japan. Each of those countries has its own model railway companies and manufacture is predominantly for the home market only.

The Americans often wonder what that little brown blob is that slot cars have under the hood and there have been questions about it at SCI in the past. As it is easier to include this capacitor or whatever it is in every slot car made then no matter where in the world the slot car is exported to it will include the specification required by European legislation.

Cheers
Moped

 

[ProfFate]

Hi

"tempest in a Teapot"? I am unaware of any 1/32 slot car in production except for non-scale stuff like a womp, that do NOT have the noise supressor.

And mope, as you are not even sure WHAT the "little brown blob" is, you might check with the train problem you describe to find out if the problem was with the owner and not the device! What was the "tech level" of the user and his problem. If this was "WAAA, I paid good money and it don't work" type argument then this may be about nothing.

As far as I know, the trains in the U.S. are made by third world slave labor just like our cars.

Fate

 

[moped rider]

It was a reply from a DCC expert in UK's "Model Rail" to a question put by a reader who had a problem with a European coding chip in a USA outline train that he had imported form the States. Basically model train manufacturers in the USA are not obliged to incorporate interference suppressors within their models and they don't! The locomotives do not comply with the "CE" requirements of Europe.

If you are operating a European DCC system then you may have difficulties with loco's from the USA. Conversly an American DCC system may not be able to operate European locomotives. Its all to do with the amount of suppression that the chips are designed to cope with.

As Prof Fate has kindly indicated, all slot cars appear to have these suppressors fitted no matter where in the world you are. The chips for digital slot car racing will have been designed with this in mind as standard.

The only thing I can say is that it would be advisable to leave these suppressor units in place and not remove them.

In the past it has been known for folk to remove them as it is said that this increases the performance of the car. It is one of those little "modifications" that club racers undertake in the main.

If you do happen to remove these suppressor units in Europe then you may be breaking the law and if it is proven that you have interferred with the equipment of the emergency services for example, or somebody's heart pacemaker, then you may have to suffer the consequences.

Moped

 

[astro]

how come Fly cars don't have any capacitors or chokes? I don't understand how they obtained their CE certificate if this is the case

 

[McLaren]

Because they are designed never to leave the shelf!!

McLaren

 

[Fergy]

I was prepared to let this one go, but....

QUOTE the equipment of the emergency services for example, or somebody's heart pacemaker

What kind of equipment do you use over there!

The suppressor is for low-level RF interference, as you MIGHT experience on SOME TVs in close proximity to the car. It is not to stop your slot car from jamming the 9-1-1 frequencies, or wreaking havoc with medical equipment, or causing pacemaker failures, or bringing down military jets, spacecraft, or giving aliens headaches. (Hopefully they don't read your posts!)

Do you honestly believe that North American slot cars are causing such trouble here in North America?

 

[McLaren]

While we are on the subject of trains.... Just had a program on in the background where Pete Waterman was talking about steam locomotives. His basic description was:

QUOTE It's a kettle... It's a kettle with comlpications...

Anyway, after that I saw the first ever advert for a slot car manufacturer on TV (edit: "that I have ever seen"). It was a Hornby ad, but was again for trains. Sounded like Mope wrote the script though...

McLaren

 

[astro]

generally speaking, electronic and electrical goods can 'contaminate' the mains supply - in other words add a signal to the mains which will travel to other houses; it can even be used as a network cable, sending signals between computers, if you wanted. However, if people all spuriously put accidental and intential stuff on the mains, it will interfere with other people's equipment which is designed to work with a clean mains signal. I think the regulation is a good one, the people who like it the least are the people who have to design electronic/electrical stuff, because they can't be lazy.

 

[astro]

QUOTE I saw the first ever advert for a slot car manufacturer on TV

you missed the scalextric challenger advert that was screened on ITV a few months ago?

advert thead

 

[McLaren]

Yeah, I don't watch TV that much....

- Didn't think I could keep a straight face...

McLaren

 

[Tropi]

Fergy
QUOTE It is not to stop your slot car from . . .
giving aliens headaches.
(Hopefully they don't read your posts!)Having great difficulty in not juggling a few words around up there!

Another point:
I don't THINK that was the "First ever advert for a slot car manufacturer on TV" !

 

[McLaren]

Sorry, I meant "the first ever one that I have seen"

Mclaren

 

[Fergy]

It is quite true that RF interference can be broadcast through the mains supplies. I did not mean to infer that the phenomenon doesn't exist, but rather that it is not the serious problem Mope would have us believe. For many reasons. First, most modern equipment has built-in suppressors on the receiving side - TVs, stereos, etc. Also, any critical installations have the mains protected from ALL such sources of interference. Heck, my house even has it! And we use intercoms that intentionally broadcast ON the mains feed within the house.

Emergency services do not rely on consumer-level suppression. And pacemakers should NEVER be plugged into the mains supply!

Just one more case where Mope has taken a potentially valid thought and gone off on a ridiculous tangent.

 

[McLaren]

QUOTE And we use intercoms that intentionally broadcast ON the mains feed within the house.

I never really uderstood how those worked... We have some door bells at work which has senders and speakers which communicate using a similar method I presume. Is the technology similar to digital (slot racing technology)?

McLaren

 

[Fergy]

Yes, in some ways! It's puts a high frequency signal onto the mains which is detected by appropriate receivers, much like the digital signal is placed onto the track feed for slots.

 

[McLaren]

Right back on topic.... kind of....

 

[Fergy]

Not sure it ever was....