Power-trouble

mm, since the track is similar in size as the maximum size I can normally make myself there are a few points I would go through if I had your problem.

1) Two 'standard' powersupplies should for 'normal (?) driving be reasonable. are they working alright? Are the lanes correctly connected and isolated from each other electrically?

2) Are the connections between the different parts of the track in good condition? I would also get some extra electrical cables and connect between the powerbase track and the furthest part of the track. Some people do this every on every fifth meter track.

3) If 1 and 2 are sorted above and there still are problems then I would wonder what kind of 'cars' and 'engines' I am using... Probably not your average Ninco or Scalextric car then... I would suspect.

4) Maybe your demands are much higher then mine and in that case you would not be happy unless you get yourself a proper staibilized and regulated powersupply. I would not myself recommend a supply with less than 3 ampere at 16 watt. But if I HAD to buy a supply for this purpose I would go for a 1-20 watt with 5 ampere at 20 watt.

hope this makes any sense at all. There are others at this forum who might be better suited to give a more detailed explanation and recommendation to your help you solve your problems though.



//peter

duh... yes point 4) should be Volt - (must have been a brain blackout or something...) sorry for not paying attention.... It should read 1-20 Volt with 5 ampere at 20 Volt.


I think that it was Kipling who ones said something in the style of ' there are many reasons but not one really good excuse' ...


//peter

/gosh I AM confused today...

The phenomena you describe does come across to me as a rather typical result of sharing power between the lanes. Ok it could be solved with a better powersupply. BUT if you try to isolate the two lanes from each other with one powersupply dedicated to each. You might be rather pleasantly surprised and more than happy with the result. I know that there probably are differences between the supplies, but to be honest these might not be very noticable. If they are not an issue for you then you have just saved yourself some money... If they still are an issue then go for a good power supply. I do not know what other forum members think but the powersupply you mention seem to be more than able for the job required. As others have said before 3 Amp at 12 Volt (or above) means 1.5 amp per car and this should be sufficient for any 'normal' slotcar from the main manufacturers. The reason for me to have 18 Volts available fo my own purpose is mainly that I then can run the 1/24 scale cars from Carrera... For 1/32 scale cars I do not see any reason to ever have to go to more than 16 Volts and as has been explained elsewhere it is the AMPERE that makes all the difference (and 12 Volt would be sufficient).


//peter