[drummer]

Thanks to ScalextricRacer for notifying me of his successful running of Challenger on his SSD setup.

I am not sure what its performance was like, he only mentioned lane changing as an issue. He said he taped a controller at full throttle (as per the ghost car thread), but I ran it without a controller depressed at all.

Based on his advice I ran my Challenger around the track, but without putting it into learn mode, and only for a couple of laps as frankly I was worried about the SSD manual saying that running a Challenger car on SSD would (?could) result in damage to the Power Base (it wasnt going very fast either so I wasnt inspired to continue).

(I'd love to hear comments about the electrical reality of this... )

But other than considerations of Lane Changing and the above electrical concerns, I started thinking that perhaps the use of the X,Y guide mechanism as the 'recording device' , could be somehow replaced by hand-controller fed information*.

Ie: can we set Challenger to Learn mode and then drive it for 2 laps, and then playback as usual??

(Tapping into the circuit somehow?)

Any takers?

 

[martinkay]

I'd also love to get my Challenger running on the digital circuit but I don't want to risk putting it anywhere near the track at the moment in case it gets toasted... I might need to put it on Ebay!

We had some really good races with it in analogue days. But I am struggling to see how such a car would ever work on a digital track with lane changes.

Sure, it does its two laps to learn the circuit, but there is no guarantee that "the circuit" would be the same every time around. Even if it doesn't have lane-changeability in itself, sure as eggs are eggs at some point it will follow a user-controlled car so closely and quickly through a LC that it ends up on the opposite track to the one it learned - then what it thought was going to be a gentle left becomes a sharp left and it will be off the track.

Also, on our old 4-lane track there was the occasional issue of the Challenger being involved in a shunt which meant the end of the race as far as it was concerned, as it just tours back to the start. But responsibility for avoiding contact with it was largely only the responsibility of the guy on the lane next to it. Now, mixing it on just two lanes there is likely to be frequent contact with everybody - and you certainly don't want it to amble back to the start and park up...!

Will be interesting to see how this gets resolved...

 

[SWoRd]

QUOTE (martinkay @ 17 Jan 2005, 21:12)Will be interesting to see how this gets resolved...6 words: re syn cro ni sa tion.

 

[Skeeter]

3 letters.... WTF? seriously tho, doesnt the challenger run on a kind of digital set up anyhow? electonics geniuses get to work on this one lol!

 

[SWoRd]

Hi Skeeter
QUOTE (Skeeter @ 18 Jan 2005, 03:23)3 letters.... WTF? seriously tho, doesnt the challenger run on a kind of digital set up anyhow? electonics geniuses get to work on this one lol!The principles of resyncronisation: the more often the car can resyncronise it's correct position on the track, the less it will deviate from where the controller think the car is placed.

If you can resyncronise the car position at each lane change, it ought to be more robust than a car that only resyncronise each lap.

 

[Skeeter]

so the car learns track sectors rather than the whole lap. sounds good. if u got a sensor in the track that it can pick up (LC's) then this would be cool.

but if u crash just before a sensor and someone puts you back on just after it (to avoid trafic etc) then ypu wpuld put the car out (it will have missed a sensor and think its somewhere it isnt)?

 

[SWoRd]

Hi Skeeter
QUOTE (Skeeter @ 18 Jan 2005, 20:45)so the car learns track sectors rather than the whole lap. sounds good. if u got a sensor in the track that it can pick up (LC's) then this would be cool.In my current design it's the other way around. The sensor in the track can pick up the car, and communicate this to the track controller. It is the track controller or the connected PC that controls how fast the car is going.

QUOTE but if u crash just before a sensor and someone puts you back on just after it (to avoid trafic etc) then ypu wpuld put the car out (it will have missed a sensor and think its somewhere it isnt)?If it's the track controller that detects the car position, it will know which lane change the car has passed.

If a car has not arrived at a lane change within a certain time limit, the system could assume that a deslot has occured. It would then be enough to let the car drive at a reduced rate until it reaches the next lanechange, where the car position will be resyncronised, and the car can accelerate to full pace.

A cool extra feature

: When the track controller detects a deslot, by monitoring if any car on the track is much later than usual at a lane change (i.e. sector time), it could activate yellow lights at the section of the track that lies between the last lane change passed and the following lane change.

If you want smaller sectors, you can add lane change controllers to regular track sections, and leave the solenoid control outputs unconnected. That could also be used for pit stop detection and detection of pit lane speeding

 

[Skeeter]

youve got everything planned, be carefull scalextric, carrera, or SCX dont come allong and bundle you in the back of a van and tourture you for your knowledge! i no id be scared if i was a director in scalextric reading this!

 

[drummer]

QUOTE A cool extra feature smile.gif: When the track controller detects a deslot, by monitoring if any car on the track is much later than usual at a lane change (i.e. sector time), it could activate yellow lights at the section of the track that lies between the last lane change passed and the following lane change. cheers.gif

THATS IT!

Been wondering why that's not also possible with current SSD. You have to tell the Power Base wich cars are in use (Y/N) and therefore it should easily be able to calculate total power demands and when this changes markedly (ie; a car deslots) then all cars go to Yellow Flag Power status until the offending vehicle is replaced.

Either way keep up the flow of ideas! Well done again Soren.

 

[SWoRd]

Hi Skeeter and Drummer

Thank you for the kind words ... I'm glad you like it.

 

[beach cruiser]

A drone racer is one of the things I wish were in the Scalextric system. Maybe they left it out because it is not a beginner , kid type of thing. It depends on a careful set up and no wheel spin ,in the pacer car form, if I am correct.

They certainly know how to do this stuff, if only imimperfecly. I use a old battery powered section that remembers throttle positions as you drove the car in the other lane, providing an oponit from whatever car you place in the other lane. It's not perfect, and had to be configured for a second power supply, but it gets the job done.

I also, hoping for improvment, purchased a challenger car, from an early defective lot, took it back and never replaced it. I want one, but feel digital will provide a better answer, so I am waiting.

I know Scalextric is aware of the value of the product, having brought it out two different times, but was bummed when a pacer feature was not included in the digital features. I hope poor sales or negative customer feedback did not influence the decision to not have the feature.

I think they will have some form of this feature , if only to keep up with the Jones's. (Carrera, and I'm sure Ninco)

I guess you could just convert the pacer car when you get a chip, but I would rather have the brain out of the car and able to drive any selected car.

 

[Iain]

I don't know much about the challanger, but i believe it uses a springloaded, angled guide to detect the corners doesn't it?
If so then it could cause trouble for the LC flaps, especially as the slot widens at this point.

I like the idea of having sensors to detect where on the track the car is. - you could almost use any car as a pace car this way, except...
how does the car communicate to the controller what the track is like? it has to learn the corners of the track as it goes round, and pass this back to the device controlling it's speed.

If there is room inside, try this. (I presume interior space is the issue, or somebody else might have done this.)
take a standard SDD chip and sensor - wire it between the challanger guide, and the wires that previously went to the guide, as if you were converting any other car. and install the LED through a whole in the floorpan.

you can now assign the car an ID, it will go straight at all LCs, and it can partake in races, laptimes etc on the SDD controller like any other car.

you'll have to tape the controller shut.

 

[drummer]

Iain, without re-learning the track I put my Challenger on the SSD layout and it happily ran around the track (without any trigger down or Chip upgrade).

The guide mechanism doesnt seem too bothered by the LCs.

I still dont understand the interaction of the challenger circuit and that of the SSD circuit when used together - can damage occur? I dont know.

SWORD .. ?

 

[SWoRd]

Hi Iain
QUOTE (Iain @ 22 Jan 2005, 02:47)how does the car communicate to the controller what the track is like? it has to learn the corners of the track as it goes round, and pass this back to the device controlling it's speed.Why not let the user record a lap, and let the system play back that recorded lap (or series of laps)?. That way you could build a library of different lap speeds and lane change sequences.
QUOTE you'll have to tape the controller shut.You could also make a minijack with a fixed 4,7Kohm resistor. That would emulate full throttle.

 

[SWoRd]

QUOTE (drummer @ 22 Jan 2005, 02:51)can damage occur? I dont know.

SWORD .. ?I don't know either ... I haven't got a challenger.