OT - Anyone know about Scalextric electrics?

craker

So, I bought my little one a Scalextric set from a charidy shop last week. It's rusty, comes with one car and has a transformer but no controllers.

Got some Top Gear branded controllers off the 'bay and last night I plugged it all in.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200682977644?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Transformer -> power block -> LED lights up on power block.
Controller -> power blocks (3.5 mm jacks like headphones) plugged in.

No action from the car though.

It turns out the PSU - which is Scalextric branded - outputs 16v AC. It came with the set and, as stated, powers up the power block.

The car is obviously 12v DC (tried it with a car battery charger, works fine).

Have I bought the wrong controllers? What does the AC-> DC conversion?

It's an oldish Monaco set btw, it's not a new fangled digital thing.

Thanks.

ChrisSA

On the piece of track where you plug the controllers in there should be a switch.

One one side it will say "~16v". On the other it will say "~16v ~16v". If you only have one PSU then set it to the single "~16v".

Also if the track is rusty you may be getting bad contacts from section to section. But at least it should work on the track where the PSU connects.

Redhog14

If track is rusty then you could have an earth problem, try sanding down the rusty bits and rub the track contact strips with meths or white spirit to clean them.

Good luck - I remember getting a mini scalectrix which ran off of batteries, then my dad ( a teacher) brought home one of thse lab pack electric things and we cranked up the juice and the cars flew, eventually burnt out in a puff of smoke, it started me off well for a lifetime of real cars blowing up in smoke when I grew up! take a bow SAAB, Suburu and Mini.

Mad Roadie

Ah - scalex, the ideal gift purchased by Dads for sons at christmas.......... will sonny get a look in, or will it be an observation gift only

I bought my nephew a massive set for his 2nd birthday, he was allowed to use it when he got to 8 !

StorckSpeed

Buy a cheap multimeter. You can pick them up from Maplins etc for £5.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/domestic-multimeter-37279

I'm away from home so can't check this for you but I thought the PSU which plugs into the wall had an output voltage of 16Vac. This plugs into the power base which converts the power to 12Vdc. If you place the two leads of the multimeter onto the track of the power base this should read 12Vdc when the controllers are operated and if you place the car on the track it should work.
If you can't get a 12Vdc reading then clean the track as described above and check again.
Check that the controllers resistance varies from Open Circuit to almost 0 ohms when the button is pressed (Do this very gradually)
If you still can't get a reading I suspect the power block, (which is a AC-DC transformer is bust).
You can buy a new one on-line from Scalextric or any good stockists, ebay usually supply them too.
http://scalextric.hornby.com/shop/pit-l ... ntrollers/

My garage roof is now dedicated to cycle-trainer and scalextric set in case you were wondering. (2 boyhood dreams)

natrix

StorckSpeed wrote:

My garage roof is now dedicated to cycle-trainer and scalextric set

Wow, have you done the obvious and rigged up the cycle trainer to power the scalextric??

GiantMike

natrix wrote:

StorckSpeed wrote:

My garage roof is now dedicated to cycle-trainer and scalextric set

Wow, have you done the obvious and rigged up the cycle trainer to power the scalextric??

Now that would be truly awesome. 16-way turbo trainer-powered scalextric racing (handicapped scratch racing). If your car comes off the track you have to get off the turbo and put it back on (in your cleated shoes).

And assuming a 300W output, that would be a feckin' quick scalex car.

StorckSpeed

Can't believe I never thought of any of that. What's the output voltage of a Busch & Muller Dynamo. If it's 12Vdc then I'm sorted :-)
The clubs turbo sessions could look a little different in the future.
I have raced scalextric whilst riding on the turbo but if the car comes off it's a pain, you have to unclip, unmount, get the car, fit it back on the track then mount the bike and clip back in. It still tickles me to do it and the time flies past.
I'll try the Dynamo thing though, thanks for the suggestion.

Stewie Griffin

Switches on the track, LEDs and digital? Its been a long time since i played scalextric

PostieJohn

Have you tried turning it off and on?

Mad Roadie

natrix wrote:

StorckSpeed wrote:

My garage roof is now dedicated to cycle-trainer and scalextric set

Wow, have you done the obvious and rigged up the cycle trainer to power the scalextric??

that would be cool - like Totopoly but based on the turbo related speed - yes please

ChrisSA

Mad Roadie wrote:

that would be cool - like Totopoly but based on the turbo related speed - yes please

WARNING!! Showing your age alert!

fbeechinor

Whatever you do don't sand the rails - this removes the nickel coating and it will help performance for a day then conductivity will deteriorate dramatically to make the track almost unusable. If you need to clean the rails use a specialist cleaner called plebys (see it on ebay). If you go to slotforum.co.uk you can get all the advice and information you would ever need about maintaining scalextric.

Have a look here to see turbo powered slot racing. It looks like anything over 50 watts will send the cars flying...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRF3EepXd-o

Cleat Eastwood

everytime we played ScaleX at xmas it always interfered with the telly - drove me dad mad - shame I was 38 at the time.