[Swissracer]

I have a Fly 45 Ohm controller here for testing, with adjustable trigger tension and adjustable brakes.

I can not get the brake control adjusted enough to prevent any car, but the most heavily magnetic, from drifting backward when at rest.

Anyone have any ideas?

I have tried reversing polarity but it is not that.
I am running 12.5 volts 3 Amp max per lane.

It does this on both Carrera and Scalextric tracks and does not seem to be motor or make specific (ALL cars do it!)

I have seen some of you guys rave about them so what am I doing wrong 'coz it is driving me mental?

Cheers

Swiss'

 

[mtucker666]

When I use mine it does exactly the same and gives others a good laugh. Its the electronic circuitry applying a constant brake by sending current the wrong way thru the motor. I have not found a way to stop it other than setting my cars at a slight angle at the start line so there is a bit more inertia for the motor to overcome which is normally enough to stop them reversing.

You can lay a thin band of tape at the far most point of the brake band in the controller which will disengage brakes but you don't want that happening when you race.

Matt

 

[Nep72]

Hey, Swiss.

Hard to adjust this controller without info, eh? ;-)

I'm also testing this controller (thanks, Albert Boet) and I've discussed with some guys how to use braking.

After some time running with several combinations I've seen:

-Polaritiy: car wheels must turn in reverse direction than running. In a BSCRA connection (brake is negative, resistor is positive) must be outwards. If wheels don't move, help them a little bit.

-Brake adjustment is useless to me. It seems like running in a BSCRA-connection maximum braking is "-" position, but based on voltmeter readigs: there's no difference when running. Anyway I can stop car drifting with some adjustment.

 

[Swissracer]

I have tired every combination of Polarity, brake adjustment( I agree it seems to do absolutely nothing) and car type.

No Joy.

There MUST be a problem with this controller surely! If not then it is next to useless for anything other than a basic home racing set and then it is over priced and over manufactured.

Aaron - any ideas or tips mate?

 

[Nep72]

Maybe your adjustment is broken. Try to read with a voltmeter brake wire, it should change between -4v and -6v (more or less). If this is not the case, I wolud recommend to change controller for a working one

 

[Dennis David]

Would that be a PM?

 

[R Livingston]

I used reverse polarity braking in the 1960's and, by so doing, demagnetized a Pittman motor. I used a 4 volt lantern battery hooked into the brake circuit. Yes, the car would travel backwards at the start line until I rearranged the controller resistor coil to have a dead spot between full brakes and slow forward. Finding the little dead spot was not easy.

With today's motors demagnetization should not be a problem. But my experience then was that the extra braking power resulted in tire sliding, jerky operation, and no real increase in lap times. Maybe my driving skills were too poor (and poor they were).

However, if a hot-wound motor is severely deficient in dynamic braking effort, I can see possible use for the system. In the meantime I am contemplating a K&B Cortina "disc" brake I recently bought (a vintage part) which may be applied to one of my cars. It fits on the drive gear. I favor mechanical over electrical solutions.

 

[Dennis David]

Use to do that with HO as well.

 

[astro]

With the brakes, I have found that maximum + means doing nothing, and maximum - is lots of brakes and rolling backwards.

 

[MR MAX]

All sounds way too complicated for my little brain. Why can't you be content with just backing off of the controller trigger and seeing the car slow down? Who needs brakes anyway with the latest quick cars, they go so quick, you want to keep up all the speed.

 

[McLaren]

Erm, no.

The faster you go, the more you need brakes.

 

[astro]

changing gear ratios means you can increase top speed, but his reduces the cars' braking. With active braking, you can have the best of both worlds, high top speed and lots of braking.

 

[Tropi]

Any kind of reverse power braking is usually strictly banned in clubs - rightly so in my opinion.

 

[bastumannen]

It sounds interesting with adjustable brakes if they work. I've got a pair of PM's and at first I really liked the soft brakes, but with some cars it's just not enough, especially compared to my full brake modified old Scaley ones. But then again full brakes is too much for some cars to be smooth

. So I have to admit I've been very tempted to try the adjusable Fly one, but with all the trouble that Swiss has had I'm not so keen anymore. Have you got it to work yet Swiss? Or have you got it replaced? Keen to know

.
Has anyone here experimented with variable resistors themselves and come up with any good values for the resistors in use?

Toby

 

[Swissracer]

Nope, it is broken or crap

Have not had the time to test another OR get it sent back fo repair.
These days, apart from cars, which I like messing with, if it does not do what it says first or second time round it gets sold or binned.

I would not recommend a Fly Controller, if this is a sweeping statement sorry but Companies should get it right first time round or improve their quality control.

The time is fast coming when saturation point is reached as far as the hobby goes. I mean that there are just so many people buying just so much stuff and too many Companies producing too much. The ones with bad quality or a high number of complaints will be the first to go under.

 

[astro]

I think your one must be broken, swiss

I love my fly pro controller, more than PM, parma, red fox, scalextric and carrera controllers I have tried. Controllers is a matter of personal taste (and club rules!) but both the ergonomics of the fly one and the active brakes suit me perfectly

I can understand the anger at them not making sure each one sold is functioning perfectly, but from what i hear and my experience, people often have to fiddle with the wiring and contact points on parma and red fox controllers, so fly are far from alone on this matter.

 

[Tropi]

What Astro says IS true of other makes also.
But Swiss has exactly the right attitude.
It doesn't matter who makes a product, if it continues to cause problems for purchasers, the manufacturer must expect his reputation to suffer and that will eventually be reflected in reduced sales and profitability.