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Power consumption of a Scalextric car

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J

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hi there,
I am setting up a 12 meter (roughly) long track for a local Charity event and it needs to be powered by means other than the mains.
I am thinking of a car battery or a small generator such as this one.
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/...-generator-g720

Does anyone know the maximum consumption of power from a scalextric car? I know there are many many variables but I am trying to get an idea of what I need to run 1 car at a time (time trial) one and off throughout a day.

Many thanks,
Jack
 
F

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#2 ·
Jack,

I have never sat down and measured the power consumption of a Scalextric car, but I do know that the stock Scalextric Wallwort is 14.8 volts at 200 milliamps.

A typical auto battery, when fully charged will provide 13.2 volts and depending on the size of the battery, can supply up to 480 amp hours.

You can safely run several Scalextric cars around all day long with that battery. Just make sure it is fully charged prior to using it and then charge it back up after the event.

I hope this helps.

Marty
 
J

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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Thanks Marty.

I have calculated that:

150 people (absolute guess) at 5 laps at 20 seconds each equates to 4.1 hours. This is exagerrated as I don't think it will be run for that long in a day. Seems over the top.

Do you think a 12v 45 amp hour battery will definitely cope then?

Thanks again,
Jack
 
F

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#4 ·
Jack,

It should (operative word there being "should").

However in any type of scientific endeavor, we should always lean towards the conservative size. Do you have a way - such as a running auto - to charge that battery? Perhaps a backup battery? Erring on the side of safety never results in embarassing situations.

Marty
 
Ade

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11,429 Posts
#7 ·
hi
i would go for the above mentioned, you are not going to run out of sparks with the leisure battery.

A standard scalextric car wich is fine fettle ie no binding or carpet fluff flying round will draw a max of 1amp, so a 10 amp battery should run the car for around the 10 hrs mark..

I use a psu with a visible amp meter and with 6 cars upto speed the meter hovers round the 3-4 amp mark.

When they all take off the line then the amp draw is a little higher but not much.also the scaley digital powerbase only supplies 8 amps to the track and that is enough to run all 6 cars and the lane change sections...

So a 80 ah battery will easily do a days running and some...
 
GregK

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#9 ·
I can't remember were but there was a strong warning about using a fuse or cutout on the battery .......... an 80AH battery will cause serious damage if it shorts out ............


Hopefully someone like RichG or Riko might pass by and add some further a bit later .......
 
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3

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#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
I've run a 4 lane track at a school fete all afternoon on a car battery without flattening it, so I don't see a problem with a battery to run 1 car at a time (time trial) one and off throughout a day.

Cars only take maximum current for a very brief period when accelerating from rest. The average is far more important if you want to know how long before the battery goes flat. The peak current for a scalextric car is about 2 amps, but it only takes that much for such a brief period that it doesn't record on a normal meter. As you say, there are lots of variables that can change the average, as a ball park figure half an amp average should be somewhere near. Half an amp for 8 hours is only 4 amp hours, so even quite a tired car battery will manage that easily

P.S. Just seen Greg's post - indeed a fuse or circuit breaker would be a wise precaution if running off a battery. 2 amp rating will give your one car all it needs and protect against shorts.
 
P

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#12 ·
QUOTE (GregK @ 29 May 2012, 20:41) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I can't remember were but there was a strong warning about using a fuse or cutout on the battery .......... an 80AH battery will cause serious damage if it shorts out ............


Hopefully someone like RichG or Riko might pass by and add some further a bit later .......

good idea.....even 12v can get quite spectacular!!
 
John Cahill

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#14 ·
hi,
Just noticed this thread. I have a question...since you estimate needing about 4 amp hours (4 hours x 1 amp),
why would you spend all that money on a 110 amp hour, deep cycle battery? For example, any old $30 motorcycle
battery will give you 8 amp hours.

£88 is a lot of money...I'm just saying *grin* I'm thinking any old car battery that will hold a charge, or a new
motorcycle battery. My 2 cents (yeah, pun intended). Good luck with your outing!!

John
 
J

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
QUOTE (John Cahill @ 30 May 2012, 03:56) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>hi,
Just noticed this thread. I have a question...since you estimate needing about 4 amp hours (4 hours x 1 amp),
why would you spend all that money on a 110 amp hour, deep cycle battery? For example, any old $30 motorcycle
battery will give you 8 amp hours.

£88 is a lot of money...I'm just saying *grin* I'm thinking any old car battery that will hold a charge, or a new
motorcycle battery. My 2 cents (yeah, pun intended). Good luck with your outing!!

John

Cheers John.
Yes, that could be overkill but I would rather that than risk a drop off.

Perhaps this is better suited
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lucas-Ultra-Cycle-...y/dp/B002P4E730
 
RichD

· Rich Dumas
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4,640 Posts
#16 ·
Back in the '60s a commercial track where I raced was powered by a single standard automotive battery. An ordinary "12 volt" battery in good shape is 12.6 volts when it is fully charged (I just looked that up on Wikipedia). The charging voltage is 13.8 volts, so if you were to measure the battery in a car while it was running it would be more than 12.6 volts. A regular Scalextric "black stripe" motor will try to pull a bit over 2 amps when it starts up, the running amperage is much lower. I would expect that a full sized automobile battery would last all day if you were just running four Scalextric cars at a time. Chances are that the voltage would drop off gradually as time went by. You could minimize the drop-off by using a voltage regulator. As someone already mentioned it would be a good idea to fuse your track.
 
J

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Discussion Starter · #19 ·
QUOTE (sm1thson @ 31 May 2012, 15:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Take pleanty of fuses they will blow if for example a braid drops across the track. maplin used to (and may still) sell some good self reseting breakers that would be perfect

Thanks.
The new kit I have has come with this transformer.
Shall I just chop it half way and connect the two wires to the battery with a fuse?

http://www.scalextric.com/shop/track/power...ug-transformer/
 
J

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Discussion Starter · #20 · (Edited by Moderator)
We had the first event on Saturday. I calculated that about 800 laps were done by about 100 people. We had a constant stream of kids and adults. The battery was reading 12.68v when I measured it the next day so very happy with that!

A 4 year old was top of the (Top Gear style) leader board for about 2 hours with a 5.8s!
Then a couple of guys managed to ease that down to 5.5, .4, .3 and the second the last guy that had a go got a 5.1. He is now £30 better off with the prize money.
One thing we did noticie was that hardly anyone was playing it for the prize - it was mostly just for fun.

Looking forward to the next.
Thanks for the advice!
 
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