A Parma 45 ohm or 25 ohm economy controller is about the first step up from the basic Scalextric controller. Unfortunately they are getting a bit hard to find these days.

It might be worth contacting SCD ri see if they have any in stock. SCD can be a bit slow in answering you so be prepared to wait a week for a reply.. Failing that have a word with Sean at P{endle and ask his advice.

SCD http://www.chaskeelingscd.co.uk/

Pendle https://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/

 

I'm fairly new to all this & found the options for power supply & controllers all a bit bewildering. I'd bought a load of 2nd hand sport track & wanted a variable power supply without loads of expense that I could just plug in & use as I've minimal DIY electronics ability or tools. I ended up with this simple set-up which was cheap & works really well. The standard sport power supply with a 2nd hand Philip Harris bench top power supply for £25 as it runs A.C. output like a standard scalextric plug in transformer.

 

I have the original push down scalextrick hand throttles from the sixties witch I like to use but I have noticed when using modern cars tend to smoke so im concerned that somethings wrong power wise any simple solutions so I can run my early and modern cars without burning something out as im not sure if they run at different amps etc many thanks mark

Controllers smoke when they are trying to get rid of a lot of heat. There are several options

• Upgrade to a controller that can deal with more heat
• Reduce the track voltage by using an adjustable voltage power supply (this makes the cars less powerful which may or may not be a good thing)
• Keep your existing power supply and reduce the voltage by building a voltage reducer - cheaper than a new supply if you are up for building it yourself (this also makes the cars less powerful....)
• Fit lower powered motors to the cars - an expensive option if you have a lot of cars to convert (this also makes the cars less powerful....)

It's worth asking why you want to change your power supply.
Do you want adjustable voltage?

Does one car noticeable speed up when the other one is braking or does one car noticeable slow down when the other one is accelerating?

If yes to any of that then a power supply upgrade will be an advantage.
If no to all of that then your existing power supply is adequate.

A Parma 45 ohm or 25 ohm economy controller is about the first step up from the basic Scalextric controller. Unfortunately they are getting a bit hard to find these days.

It might be worth contacting SCD ri see if they have any in stock. SCD can be a bit slow in answering you so be prepared to wait a week for a reply.. Failing that have a word with Sean at P{endle and ask his advice.

SCD http://www.chaskeelingscd.co.uk/

Pendle https://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/

Agreed Parma controllers are a good upgrade but hard to find
An alternative at the same sort of price level is DS. Pendle currently have stock of both the 45 ohm https://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/ds-hand-controller-v2-45-ohm.html and 25 ohm https://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/ds-hand-controller-v3-25-ohm.html

Another option is a modern Scalex controller which will be OK for your modern Scalex cars unlike your old Scalex controllers, and cheaper than upgrading to the Pama or DS.

 

with the early scalextric hand controllers im using a guagemaster railway power supply so I can turn the power to the hand controllers up or down I can control 4 lanes if needed separately could this be a problem im adding a couple pics thanks everyone

 

Hi Alfie

Replacing that power supply won't help with the smoke from old Scalex controllers problem.

If your cars work OK on that power supply, I cannot see an advantage in replacing it.

The photo shows a Gaugemaster Series Q, apparently a superseded model of the series Q. The Gaugemaster web site gives the spec for the series Q they make now, https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/gaugemaster-gmc-q.html If we assume the spec is the same as your older model (and I emphasize that is an assumption)................

The unit gives separate outputs with a maximum of 1 amp each with overload cutouts.

That means it's safe to try it and see, if any of your cars need too much current it'll simply trip the cut out, the red light will come on and that lane will need to be reset.

Scalex cars generally won't take as much as 1 amp when running except for a brief period when accelerating from rest on full power. That might mean some cars will trip the cutout when accelerating from rest on full power, but more likley it'll work OK. It'll do no harm to try it and see - worst case it'll do no harm but you will need a different power supply to run those cars.

If you were ever to want to run more powerful slot cars the cutout is more likley to be a problem, but you could deal with that if it ever happens.

 

Here is an article on power supplies. If you find that it is too technical please let me know.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r_mey6LXg4kmp6sX4U3lU-fDA72pXhfj/view?usp=sharing

With Scalextric tracks there is a wallwart to reduce the AC mains voltage to a safe level and a unit connected to the track that includes the rectifiers needed to produce the DC voltage that the cars run on. You can get variable voltage by replacing the Scalextric wallwart with a variable AC source like the one that is pictured. There would still be some issues with that arrangement that are discussed in the article.

 

For most standard cars train controllers are normally fine, I've used one for ages. As said above with some motors if you go straight to full throttle they will trip the supply. If you use a separate output for each lane you will have a lot less problems. It will also mean you can adjust the power for each lane to either balance up cars are make things easier for beginners.

Unless you have plenty amps separate power to each lane is best.

Having said that I've upgraded to an adjustable power supply.

It's a switched output power supply, similar to a laptop power supply but with a switchable voltage, as apposed to variable, but is rated at 4 amps. The only little problem with this unit is that it uses a screened low voltage lead, bit of a problem as needed wire ends, but you can use the supplied adaptors and just replace your existing power supply.

I've also got a slightly cheaper one that is 3 amp up to 12V and 2 amp up to 15V