[gerbil]

hi guys im pretty new to slot racing
i ve visited hawthorne slot club last friday(big thanks to all the help and advice the guys gave me and the big warm welcome)
ive been having a good look at all things slot related
im a bit stuck on the controllers im on a bit of a budget ive found the parma ecomony controller for around the £20 mark i realise this is a starter and basic controller but could it do me for starting out??? or is it better just to buy big straight away?
another thing is could someone please explain all this ohm biusness is the lower ohm better or should i get the highest
sorry for the list of questions just want a bit of advice before i buy
ive seen loads of differnt controllers on ebay and psr just a bit pricey for me at this moment
thanks for all you time in advance and any help is greatly appreiciated

 

[gerbil]

sorry ment to ask about positve and negative pollarity ??????
which one do i need
sorry

 

[tedm]

I can sort you a controller. See me next time you are at the club.
TED...

HPSCC..Scale racing in the Merseyside area....

 

[RichD]

For the time being you probably should stick with a Parma Economy controller. Resistor based controllers like the Parma are always going to be a compromise if you plan on running a variety of cars. Resistor controllers don't care which way the track is wired. Set type tracks are negative polarity, people that wire their own tracks usually use positive polarity. Most of the time your best bet would be a 45 ohm controller. If you borrow any controller that you can get your hands on you should be able to find what works best.

 

[300SLR]

Hi gerbil
Sound advice from Rich
The ideal ohmage depends on a lot of things (motors, cars, track voltage etc.)
45 ohm is a reasonable guess, but it's not possible to be sure without knowing rather more about the motors, cars, track voltage etc. you run.
If you are aiming to race at Hawthorne slot club it would be worth asking them what they use.

 

[gerbil]

Thanks for the replays guys I've spoken to ted and I'll be going on Friday with a list of questions ad I'll be checking all there gear out

 

[Julian_Boolean]

There's nothing wrong with a Parma Economy controller, plenty good enough for club racing, 45 ohms is about right for circuit racing, and remember the people with fancy electronic controllers are using them to make up for their lack of ability

 

[tedm]

Thanks for the input guys. I actually have a spare Prof. Motor controller which will be ideal for "Gerbil".

TED....

HPSCC...Scale racing in the Merseyside area....

 

[RichD]

It has been my experience, I have been racing for 51 years, that if you insist on using a controller that is totally unsuitable for the car and track conditions that you probably will not win many races no matter how skillful you are. If, for example, you you were to pick a controller with a very high or low ohm value your controller would be a virtual on/off switch and you would have a great deal of trouble driving the car. If you were to select the right resistor controller in many cases you should do as well as a person with an expensive adjustable controller. The biggest advantage advantage that some electronic vontrollers have is when you are using a motor that has a very non-linear response, like many long can boxer type motors. Some electronic controllers can be adjusted to have a non-linear response to smooth that out.

 

[Screwneck]

15 ohm for strong magnets/weight and hi power motors (NSR and SlotIt and some Fly and some Scalex)
25 ohm for not so strong magnets/weight and less powerful motors (most Fly and Scalex)
35 ohm for most cars (Ninco and Scalex and MRRC and some Fly)
45 ohm for no or very light magnets not much weight and ordinary motors (most Ninco and some Scalex and some Fly classics)
Anything over 45ohms is not worth buying

Ask you club drivers and find out if you could compare a 35 with a 45 to test the rule of thumb that 45 is the best all rounder. With most modern hi performance motors you may find that 35 now fits this bill.

 

[300SLR]

Screwneck has probably covered the useful ohms range for the sorts of cars gerbil is planning to race.

Parma do make controllers ranging from 1 to 90 ohms. The higher ohmages are mainly used for HO. The lower ohmages are mainly used for high power 1/32 and 1/24 cars. As I understand it, Hawthorne don't race those sorts of car, but of course there are lots of places who do.