Slot Car Track Wiring Machine Machine

TRACK CONSTRUCTION Part 6

Pageupdated January 2009, minor additions March 2012, January 2015, resistancetable updated September 2015 and January 2018

What do you wire a slot track with? - well OK with wire obviously but what type. The important factor is the cross sectional area of copper, which dictates the resistance. (The current ratings given in wire tables are not relevant) Yes it does need insulation, but any insulated wire will do (it only needs to withstand about 14 volts). Offering Slot Cars, HO slot cars, 1/32 Slot Cars, 1/24 Slot Cars, Toys, and other hobby product online and shipped to your door. Slot Car Track Wiring and Power Sort By: Price: Low to High Price: High to Low Most Popular Title Manufacturer Newest Oldest Availability 36 per page 72 per page 144 per page 216 per page 360 per page Page of 2.

Part 5 of this series of articles says what shouldbe connected to where - and gives a simple guide to how to wire it. This pagegives the reasons for the recommended wiring and explains how differentthicknesses of wire and ways of connecting it make a difference.

Thereis a separate article explaining how to find andrepair track wiring faults.

TheResistance of Copper Wire

What do you wire a slot track with? - well OK withwire obviously but what type. The important factor is the cross sectional areaof copper, which dictates the resistance. (The current ratings given in wiretables are not relevant) Yes it does need insulation, but any insulated wire will do (it onlyneeds to withstand about 14 volts). There are special cables available (atconsiderable expense) which are intended for Hi-Fi loudspeakers - these may dosomething for the nuances of musical reproduction, and will certainly dosomething for your HI-Fi retailers profits. Yes there are small changes inresistance depending on the wire (the resistance of copper does change a littlewith impurities; fully annealed copper has nearly 4% less resistance than fullyhard). High quality speaker cable can be well over double the the cost of anequivalent thickness mains cable, but its resistance is only very slightly lower- if you are going to spend twice as much, spend it on twice as much mains cableand halve the resistance - what really counts is how much copper you getfor your money! Normally the cheapest suitable wireavailable is mains cable. Each core is usually a single strand of copper, so itssuitable for fixed wiring (for your controller you need flex - where each careis made of many strands of thin wire).

This advice is correct for the prices of cable inthe UK, I don't know what prices are charged for cable in other countries.However, wiring up mains power in buildings is bound to be a much larger marketfor cable than more specialist uses in any part of the world, so I assume thatcable for wiring building would be the cheapest source of cable with reasonablylarge cross sectional area in most if not all countries.

Shorter wiring has less resistance - half the length hashalf the resistance. Double the cross sectional area has half the resistance -so paralleling up two core of a cable will half the resistance. The table aboveshows the approximate resistance of various conductors used in track andcontroller wiring. (The resistance of nominally similar copper wire does varydue to various factors, but this is a detail that is unimportant to trackwiring.)

(If you want an equation, ohms law tells us the voltage drop = resistance x current and resistances add up as shown below)

The dev team also takes great care of the game as they constantly update it and add new slots. Slot coins free games. Cashman, and Fire & Rain are all playable.

What does this mean on a realtrack?

The best way to answer this is to work out the figures fora typical track. The example I’ve used is a 30m / 100 ft. lap length track -the exact figures will vary with different lap lengths, but the principles arealways the same. The resistance varies round the lap length. The graphs show howthe resistance between the car and the track power supply vary as you driveround the track. A greater the length of track between the car and the powerfeeds, gives more the resistance and hence the less power. As the graphs show,the highest resistance is mid way between the power feeds, but the resistancechanges very little for some way either side of the halfway point . The reasonfor this is that as the car goes round the track the resistance from theprevious feed isgoing down -these two just about cancel out round about the half way point.

Superior casino no deposit bonus codes august 2018. There is also some resistance in thewiring between the battery, the controller sockets, and the point where power isfeed to the track. This is why the graphs don't drop to zero resistance at thepower feed point. (The graphs assume 0.05 ohms between the power supply and thetape / braid where the power is feed in. Again this is typical of a good clubtrack)

The Graph 1 shows a comparisonbetween tape and braid. It clearly shows that the resistance of braid is muchlower than tape. In this example a 10 amp. load half way round the lap would seeabout 1.5 volts less than the battery voltage on the braid track. The same 10amp. load would see about 4.6 volts less than the battery voltage on the tapetrack.

Given a reasonable battery, thebraid track op to about 30m / 100 ft lap length shouldmeet BSCRA recommended power levels with the power feed in at one point.

The tape track certainly does notmeet BSCRA recommended power levels with the power feed in at only one point -indeed it doesn’t even meet the BSCRA minimum level. A Group 12 powered carwould be noticeable down on power, a hotter motor even more so. However, a 1amp. load would only cause a drop of 0.46 volts, so extra feeds make much less differenceto low powered cars such as Falcons (and the extra feeds make even less differenceto Scalextric,Ninco etc. cars) .

The answer to this lack of poweron a tape track is to add extra power feeds. The resistance for tracks ofdifferent lap lengths will be in proportion to their lap lengths - for exampledouble the lap length, double the resistance; half the lap length, half theresistance. The graph for a single feed will always be the same shape with thehighest resistance half way round the lap length.

Graph 2 shows the improvementthat can be achieve with an extra feed or 2 on the tape track. (I’ve assumedthe extra feeds are 3 metres of 2.5sq.mm cable fed from the main power feed. Ona real track extra feeds would probably be all different lengths, but thisexample gives a reasonable idea of what's going on in most tracks). The exampleshows that a couple of extra feeds will reduce the highest resistance to alittle over 0.2 ohms - a voltage drop into a 10amp load to a little over 2 volts- a big improvement on the 4.6 volts with only a single feed, but still not asgood as braid.

Graph 3 shows the improvementobtained on the taped track with 4 or 5 feeds (the main feed and 3 or 4 extrafeeds). I’ve shown braid on the same graph It can be seen to that tape with 5feeds gives broadly similar levels of power to braid with a single feed.

Feeding power to both ends of alength of tape reduces the resistance substantially. Graph 4 shows what happensto the resistance with a single tape break. the rise in resistance would be muchworse with one break on each side.

What does this mean to my cars?

OK, so how much does all this matter - is theeffect of all these tiny bits of resistance going to mess up your racing? Thereare tracks that most racers consider 'good power' and there are othertracks where the power attracts complaints. BSCRA rules do recommend powerlevels (10 amps at 12 volts) and set a minimum (4 amps at 12 volts). I’vemeasured the power on many tracks. The tracks with a reputation for 'goodpower' meet BSCRA recommendations (at least most of the way round). Thetracks people complain about are usually well short of BSCRA recommended levelsand some are below the minimum. BSCRA rules do not specify track resistance, butif you start with a battery or power supply at 13.8 volts ohms law tells us that to get at least10 amps at 12 volts the resistance must be under 0.18 ohms (and for the minimumpower level the resistance must be under 0.45 ohms. ) This 0.18 ohms includesthe resistance of the battery itself, so perhaps its advisable to aim for a bitless resistance in the track wiring.

Using the above figures, with 'goodpower' a 26g strap motor accelerating from low speed will only see about10.2 volts -and a Group 12 accelerating from low speed will see about 12 volts.At the minimum level a 26g strap motor accelerating from low speed will only seeabout 7.2 volts -and a Group 12 accelerating from low speed will see about 10volts.

The same principles apply to plastic track, but the main problem with thistype of track is often continuity at the joints due to the connectionsdeteriorating. The rails of plastic track do have resistance (for exampleScalextric Classic track rails have a resistance of about 0.039ohms/meter) but this is less of a problem with the very much lower currentmotors that are usually used on this sort of track.

Chris Frost

Copyright © 2000to 2001C FrostMinor updates included 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015 Allrights reserved

No liability is accepted forthe information on this site or any use to which it may be put

There are two ways I could cover trackwiring - either give a detailed explanation of why a particular size of wire is needed,or just give a simple guide to what to do. No doubt some readers willjust want the simple approach, and others will want the reasons, facts figures,graphs etc. I aim to provide answers for both sort of reader - read on forthe what to do guide - the reasons, facts figures,graphs etc are in the next article in this series.

For those who don’t want tomess around with the reasons why things work here are a few quick guide-lines ontrack wiring that should provide a reasonable amount of power. It assumesa normal club size track, running BSCRA type cars. For lower powered cars theprinciples are identical, but lower thinner wiring will suffice. A lot of clubs now useelectronic power supplies in place of batteries - these rules apply equally wellto both (but I won't keep repeating 'battery or power supply').

1) Use separate feed wires fromthe negative battery terminal for each lane. Although a SHORT length(less than a metre) of VERY THICK wire from the battery to the pointwhere the wires separate is tolerable the general rule is DO NOT USE COMMONRETURN WIRING.

2) Obviously the positive wiringhas to separate fairly near the battery to go to the separate controller sockets. Ideally use separate feed wires fromthe positive battery terminal for each socket. Although a SHORT length(less than a metre) of VERY THICK wire from the battery to the pointwhere the wires separate is tolerable.

3) Keep the wiring from thebattery to the controller sockets as short as possible.

4) Keep the wiring from thecontroller sockets to the track as short as possible.

5) Keep any wiring from thebattery to the track as short as possible.

NOTE For tracks where the driversrostrum is next to the track (like most tracks) 3,4 & 5 can be achieved byputting the battery under the track close to the middle of the rostrum.

6) I would recommend at least 5power feeds for a 30m / 100ft lap length TAPE track. (4 might be adequatefor a very compact layout.) More feeds are needed where the lap length is longer( as a rule of thumb, one feed per extra 6m/20 ft. of lap length).

Slot Car Track Wiring Machine Machine For Sale

7) For braided tracks asingle power feed may well be adequate for tracks up to around 30m / 100ft laplength a second feed will be needed where the lap length is longer.

8) Run the first set of extrafeed wires run from from the main power feed to a convenient point about halfway round the lap length. Its important to keep these wires short, so forexample if the feed wires can be 5m shorter if they connect 5m from half wayround, then go for the shorter wire. The extra feeds should be distributedevenly round the lap length.

9) Separate feed wires are neededfor the positive and negative side of each lane.

10) Use 2.5sq.mm cable (ring maincable or similar) for track wiring (including extra power feeds) (but somethingmuch thicker is needed where VERY THICK wire is recommended)

11) Connect up the tape / braidas a continuous loop round the track - a break in the connection increases theresistance considerably.

Making cars run forwards without blowing controllers!

The current BSCRA standard has the cars wired so that when looking down on the car in the direction of travel thepositive braid is on the right. Most imported American ready to runcars, standard home set cars (Scalextric,Fly, Ninco etc.) are also wired to go forward when the positive braid is on theright.

(The original Association standards since they were first published in 1961 was positive on the left. BSCRA will be changed over to the 'plus on the right' standardon 1 Jan 2003. )

At first you might thinkthat the wiring options shown in either of the lefthand parts of Diagram T would make BSCRA 2003 and 'Scalex etc.' cars go forward. Wellif you use a resistance controller either will work. If you try to use atransistorised controller, the wiring with the big green tick will work fine andyour car will go forward. However the wiring on thelower part of Diagram T will blow up your transistorised controller and none ofyour cars will go anywhere (even on a correctly wired track) until yourcontroller is repaired (Probably with a new transistor). On the right handside are the equivalent diagrams to make the cars go backward ( which isonly rarely used).

Why does it make any difference to your controller whichway the track is wired? Looking at the controller socket the standard wiring(Top of Diagram T) has the E terminal (the brake) wired negative and the Lterminal (the power connection) wired positive. Transistorised controllers aredesigned to work this way round. Looking at the lower half of Diagram T, you’llnotice the E terminal (the brake) wired positive and the L terminal (the powerconnection) wired negative.Thisconnects the transistors back to front, so they will not work, and unless youare very lucky they are destroyed (this happens far quicker than you can unplugthe controller, and faster than a fuse can blow.) Unfortunately there is nosimple change that can be made to a controller to get round this problem - theonly simple solutions are to wire the track properly or use a resistancecontroller. (unlike transistors, resistors work exactly the same whichever waythe current is passing through them.)

Using the track in the opposite direction

Do you always want to run the track in onedirection? Running in the opposite direction giveseffectively a different circuit to race on - some layouts work well in eitherdirection. It's sometimes more difficult to drive a track in one direction thanthe other - bends that open up are often easier to drive than ones that tighten(the Oaklands Park circuit is a good example of this) There are potentialproblems with running backward. Cars will deslot in different places inthe reverse direction so themarshalling positions will often be significantly different, and there can be ahigher risk of cars landing in awkward places (like under the bridge). Some ofthe imperfections in trackbuilding upset cars much more in one direction than the other.

If you want to run either type of car withouthaving to rewire each car, or you want the option of running either way roundthe track without swapping over the wires on the car - the track needs to be wired to allow either. Manyclubs now run both types of car, unless you are quite sure the track will onlybe used for one type, I recommend the track is wired top allow both types ofcar. It mightappear easiest just to connect the battery / power supply the other way round -unfortunately this produces incorrect controller connections (as the lower half of DiagramT). The right way to do it is to swap over the connections to the lane on thetrack side of the controller socket as shown in Diagram U. (Cars wired to 2003standard will run in the reverse direction with the switch in the 2002 position.Cars wired to 2002 standard will run in the reverse direction with the switch inthe 2003 position.)

I’ve shown a two pole switch, it willalso work with relay(s) or plug/sockets. These are carrying the full power tothe cars so

(a) The switches, relays, plugs/sockets need tobe of a suitably high current rating (20 amp. for strap cars)

(b) The power wiring must not be extended anymore than absolutely necessary or else there will be voltage drops in thewiring.

This means the switches, relays, plugs/socketswill almost certainly need to be under the track. If you envisage frequentchanges between the wiring polarity, its convenient to use relays and have theswitches at race control. (Switches on the drivers rostrum are an option - thismakes it easier for the sensible drivers - but gives more opportunities to theless sensible for messing about.)

IF the track polarity is reversible, the lapcounters will also need to be suitable for running in both directions - this iscovered in the Lap Counter article.

The 'power on/off' shown in Diagram V wouldusually be a relay contact. This should be mounted between the power supply andthe socket as shown. This removes power from thecontrollerwhen track power is turned off which can be very useful if a faulty controlleris plugged in. (Putting the power on/off on the 'N' lead (the blackwire in Diagram V) would still turn off the track but would leave the powerpermanently connected to the controller)

The power relay should havecontacts rated to carry the maximum current a car will take. 20 amps per lane isadequate for BSCRA cars. A separate contact for each lane is ideal. A separaterelay for each lane is a good idea - it allows individual lanes to be switchedoff which can be useful in holding cars on the start line. These relays areavailable for a few pounds each, and are commonly used in full size cars.

The fuse shown in Diagram V protects the trackwiring and minimises damage to controllers in the event of a faulty (orincorrectly wired) controller or other dead short circuits. Domestic 15ampfusewire (0.5mm) or a 25 amp plug in automotive type fuse is suitable for this fuse - practical experience is that thisdoes not blow in normal use - even with 25g armatures - even with the sort ofshort circuit exhibited by a chassis sparking on the tapes as it goes round (yesI hope that's not normal use)- but it does blow instantly when somebody plugs ina controller with the E and L terminal are shorted through the brakes. Just incase you were wondering - a couple of cm. of 15 amp. fuse wire has negligibleresistance compared with the rest of the track wiring, so it will not slow thecars down. You might be surprised that experience shows therating for fusewire is so different to automotive type fuses, it'sprobably got something to do with how fast they blow on overload but Ihaven't investigated the reasons in depth.

Some American tracks use a 10amp. circuit breaker wired into the brake connection (see Diagram X). Thisprovides similar protection for incorrectly wired controllers, but doesn’tprotect against other short circuits. It's also likely to have a small resistancewhich may slightly reduce the brakes. Incorrectly wired controllers are amore likely problem - particularly as many American tracks depend onseparate croc clips for each wire rather than a 3 pin connector. (With separatestud connections, the careless competitor has the opportunity to wire up hiscontroller wrongly every time he plugs into the track. With a 3 pin connectoronce the plug is wired up right you cannot go wrong.)

The standard wiring for the studson American tracks is

L pin - To Battery Positive -White Stud

E pin - To Battery Negative - RedStud

N pin - Power to car - Black Stud

Slot Car Track Wiring Machine Machine Reviews

It would suit slot cars very wellif the voltage arriving at the motor was always the same whenever you put yourthumb hard down. So why isn’t that just what you get on any slot track?

There is a popular misconceptionthat copper wire has no resistance - this is not true - the first thing tounderstand is that copper wiring has resistance and that resistance is enough toreduce the voltage to your car by a very noticeable amount. There is also amisconception that car batteries produce a constant voltage under varying loads- this is not true either - the voltage drops with increasing load. Generally, electronicpower supplies provide a more constant voltage than a battery. Thecombination of these voltage drops is the reason the lights on your full sizecar go dim when you turn over the starter motor.

In fact it doesn’t matter much if the power available isexactly equal all the way round the track (Good job too because there's nopractical way of making it exactly equal all the way round as I’ll explainlater). Certainly adequate power is needed all the way round, but less power is'adequate' in a bend where you cannot put your controller full downthan on a straight where cars are accelerating on full power. As long as thepower available on any particular part of the track is the same every lap, itjust becomes part of learning the track .. Drivers learn to deal with thedifferent levels of power just as they learn to deal with different radii bendson different parts of the track. The voltage from some club batteries go downslowly by half a volt during a 3 min race, and the drivers naturally compensate(by braking a little later and applying a bit more throttle in corners) withoutrealising they were doing it. What drivers cannot compensate for is power goingup and down by the split second depending on how much power the other cars are taking.

Separate wiring to each lane is important. If the wiringis common (see 'wrong!' half of Diagram W), when one lane is drawingpower the voltage to all the lanes will drop by say 1 volt. So thepower to all the lanes will go up by 1 volt when one car brakes, and the poweron all the lanes goes down again when the driver on one lane puts his thumbdown. With separate wiring each lane has the same voltage available regardlessof what the other lanes are doing! (see left hand half of Diagram W)

The maximum power available to the car is limitedby -

(1) how much power is lost in the resistancebetween the car and the battery / power supply.

(2) the power available at the battery / powersupply.

The next article in this series explains whatsort of wire to use, why, and includes some graphs to show what happensall the way round the track. If you just want asimple what to do guide go to the top of this page.

The power for the cars comes from the track powersupply - traditionally this was a car battery with some sort of charger. These days the use of batteries is less common. High currentelectronic 'regulated' power supplies are available at reasonable costand are often used without a battery. For home set type carslow cost unregulated power supplies can be used.

A 12 volt car battery is a good source of highcurrent dc at a fairly constant voltage, and was the standard choice for manyyears (although they are now less common). The battery needs to be recharged otherwise it'll go flat fairlyquickly. The voltage from a battery is at best only fairlyconstant. The combination of clapped out batteries and poorly regulatedchargers, that used to be all to common, produces disappointingly largevariations in voltage. In fact poorly regulated chargers can quicklyconvert a good new battery into a clapped out one!

So what do you need in a battery charger?
(1) A trickle charger will do the battery no harm,and will recharge it eventually. This means only a few amps of chargingcurrent, and unfortunately means that high powered cars will drain the batteryrather much more quickly than the trickle charger can replace it.
(2) A higher current charger that turns itself off very quickly when full chargevoltage is reached. This is how traditional car charging systems work, andin the early days of slot racing car parts were the most common way of doing it.
(3) A constant voltage charger set to the correct float charge voltage for thebattery (13.8v is usually recommended forbatteries with lead/antimony plates, 14.2v is usually recommended for batterieswith lead/silicon plates). An electronically regulated supply is usuallyused - ideally 10 amps per lane (e.g. 40 amps for a 4 lane track) so you candeal with any motor, but many clubs manage with considerably less.

So what do you need in a power supply (withoutbattery)?
You need a power supply that can give each motor the maximum current (amps) itneeds. That means the maximum motor current multiplied by the number oflanes. Here are some examples
(1) For high power cars 20 amps per lane is needed - so a 40 amp supplyshared between two lanes etc. will do nicely.
A 75 amp supply shared between 4 lanes seems to workfine.
(2) For group 12 powered cars 10 amps per lane is needed - so a 40 ampsupply shared between four lanes etc. will do nicely.
(3) For Falcon powered cars 5 amps per lane is more than adequate - so a 20 ampsupply shared between four lanes etc. will do nicely.
(4) For home set type cars 2 amps per lane is more than adequate - so a 4 ampsupply shared between two lanes etc. will do nicely.

Is a higher current power supply aacceptable?
YES Motors only take as much current as they need. For example if alow power motor running at speed needs half an amp then it'll only takehalf an amp even if the power supply is capable of supplying 100amps.
Even for home set use it makes sense to buy a big enough supply to cope with thehighest current motors you are likely to want to run. Cost is a reasonfor not going too far above the current you need.
Higher current power supplies will put more current into a fault, so protectionagainst faults is important.

Does lap length makes a difference to what powersupply is needed? No (except possibly with digital tracks) - BUT extrawiring is usually needed for extra lap length.
Some electronic power supplies can be connected in parallel satisfactorily,some cannot. The best way to avoid this problem is to connectsupplies to lanes individually - so for example if you have two 40 amp suppliesfor your 4 lane track connect two lanes to one power supply and the other twolanes to the other power supply as shown in the diagram below.

NOTE - The blue wire'x' in the diagram is often necessary to get the lap recorders working- the power supply to the cars will work properly if it omitted.

Slot Car Track Wiring Machine Machine Troubleshooting

There seem to be plenty of suitablepower supplies about. For example, the BSCRA Nationals track currentlyuses four Rapid Electronics 40 amp switch mode power supplies (part number85-1828) - two lanes from each supply and no batteries. The output voltageis adjustable, they are used on the fixed 13.8 volt setting for championshipracing, but for charity events lower voltages are used.

Adjustable Voltage Powersupplies with an adjustable voltage are often used on slot tracks. Manyclubs simply want a fixed voltage, and never make use of the voltage adjustment.Adjustable voltage provides a useful way of reducing power, for example whenopening a track to the public (see section 7).

Capacitors - some tracks(particularly in North America) use large capacitors connected to the powersupplies. I haven't measured the supply on a track with these fitted soI'll only offer a theoretical observation. The capacitors will maintainthe the track voltage over very short periods (fractions of a second) of highcurrent load, which can help with the peak current when starting from rest. They should also be useful for reducing ac ripple (ac ripple was a problem with simple mains frequency transformer power supplies,but shouldn't be a problem with switch mode power supplies). There is noguarantee all power supplies will start up with capacitors connected.

Homeset power supplies
Many home set tracks come with a low costunregulated power supply. These are suitable for their intended purpose,but can present problems for the enthusiast who wants consistent power to hiscar.
The problem with unregulated power supplies is that the voltage goes up and downas the current changes. Think about what happens when two cars share thesame unregulated power supply. One car taking current reduces the voltagefor the other car. When one car suddenly stops taking current (as it willwhen the brakes are applied, or it falls off) the other car suddenly gets morevolts. At worst this means when one car falls off the other one getsenough extra power that it also falls off ! This can be described as apower surge problem.
A regulated power supply (asdescribed above) is a great solution to these problems. A low cost solutionto this power surge problem that makesuse of these unregulated power supplies is to have a separate onefor each lane. The voltage still goes up and down depending on how muchpower the car is taking but the driver is unlikely to notice. Drivers have no trouble in learning to drive acar on 13 volts in corners and 10 volts under low speed acceleration. Theyare looking at the car not a voltmeter! Consistent voltage differences are justpart of learning the circuit. The diagram below shows the right way toconnect them (separately), also for clarity I've shown the wrong way to connectthem (in parallel).

NOTE - The blue wire'x' in the diagram is often necessary to get the lap recorders working- the power supply to the cars will work properly if it omitted.

Chris Frost

Slot Car Track Wiring Guide

Slot Car Track Wiring Machine Machine Repair

Copyright © 2000-2002 British Slot Car Racing Association updated2004, 2005, 2009 Allrights reserved

Slot Car Track Wiring Diagram

No liability is accepted forthe information on this site or any use to which it may be put