[GallardoGT]

Hey,
I'm new here I mostly have collected just the cars over the past 10 or so years. Now being 22 and wanting to make my first big track layout I thought Silverstone would be a great track to make. So my point of this topic is I brought a Scalextric Sport Le mans set off eBay the other week. I set it all up all the parts looked in good clean condition but for some reason it suffers from really bad power shortages the cars really struggle to get round the course even when half made or as a oval track. I thought it must be the power pack so I changed it with another set I have which it works fine on but I still find the same problem. I then tried different controllers thinking it must be them but no still does not work. Also have changed the power lead but still no luck. The red light on the power pack seems to flash red when ever you push the control down to try get the cars moving. I managed to get a small track working with one car but as soon as I tried two cars together it would lose power.

Any ideas what's up with this set? I contacted the person who sold it they said they had it fully working all parts before being sold or would not have sold it. But seems really delicate and not working. I have many other Scalextric sets in the past and never had this problem.

Any help would be great,
Thanks,
Paul.

 

[Julian_Boolean]

Sounds like a short circuit but could be poor track joints, where abouts in Suffolk are you I may be able to help.

 

[GallardoGT]

Thanks for the reply I'm from Bury St Edmunds.

 

[Julian_Boolean]

I was hoping you'd be closer so I could take a look at it, have you tried a different car on it and also have you tried a car on the power track with no other track connected.

 

[roll1later]

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum.

The scaley Sport PB (Power Base) has the ability to take 2 power leads with a switch marked with 1 '16v' on the left and 2 '16v's on the right, if you are only using 1 power lead make sure the switch is to the left and using 2 it's on the right. If you already have this correct then as JB says it's probably a short or bad connection between track joints.

Good luck and I hope you get it sorted.

Cheers
Paul

 

[GallardoGT]

Hey,
Yeah I've tried it with other cars does not make any differences and the power pack works on it's own with no track attached. Even tried a couple of others from other sets I have makes no difference. I have also tried it with 2 power leads and done both with 16v and 16v's does not make any difference still seems to not work or have a lack of power around the whole track.

You have both said about this short / bad connection between track joints how would I solve this problem? As it's a big set and seems a shame to go to waste was planning on using the bits for my new project of Silverstone as well.

Thanks for the reply and help!

 

[steveaca]

Is it possible that the track, although looking clean, could be covered in maybe some sort of film, giving rise to poor conductivity ?

 

[roll1later]

Paul, have a read through this useful article, I'm sure it'll help get to the bottom of the problem.

Cheers
Paul

 

[Mr Modifier]

That article is great. Don't worry if your track is the older style classic track - the principles are the same.

It is vital to ensure the rails on one track piece connect well to the next track piece.

Power taps are also very handy for larger circuits (a power tap is a way of carrying power from near the power track piece to a point midway around your circuit using cables) - searching slotforum using the top right search box will help with this.

 

[GallardoGT]

Thanks for the reply's and posting that article. Just spent the past hour pushing all the lugs on the set together it seems to have made a bit of a difference now all I need to do is clean it up. Then fingers-crossed it's a set saved. Just wondered is it okay to use Isopropyl Alcohol 99.9% pure to clean up the track?

 

[alan1302]

QUOTE (GallardoGT @ 2 Mar 2012, 23:32) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks for the reply's and posting that article. Just spent the past hour pushing all the lugs on the set together it seems to have made a bit of a difference now all I need to do is clean it up. Then fingers-crossed it's a set saved. Just wondered is it okay to use Isopropyl Alcohol 99.9% pure to clean up the track?

Yes, that should be perfect to clean it with.