New Power supply - 12 Volt, 30 amp - cheap

[Perrotoro]

Harry - in your picture I see a connection to allow you to ground or not ground. Are there times to use or not use?

[HomeRacingWorld]

The quick and dirty answer? You won't need to worry about it. Just leave the strap connected as it comes from the box.

These supplies are considered to be "lab" type supplies. The "ground" is there for certain electronics that require it.

[frank9129]

I got a reply from Banggood. They agree that the damage was on their end. They have offered to replace the unit once they receive my Okay.
I send the Okay. Now lets see how long it takes. I was also advised to keep the original.
I'm sure it is cheaper just to replace it rather than pay shipping back.
It took a couple of e-mails, but I'm happy with their service.

[mattb]

I've ordered 4-5 times from Bangood and never had problems. It is pretty much free shipping from China, so it doesn't get here overnite, but I know that going in. You get what you pay for, however you buy stuff!

[Perrotoro]

Enjoying New 30V, 10a Variable Power Supply.

Questions:
1) I'm using the constant voltage setting. I set the Power Supply to 12.7V, but I read 11.58V across the track contacts with the variable Multi-meter. I assume this is minor voltage losses through the Carrera Controller to the track. Good assumption?

2) The Amps do not zero on constant voltage with no cars on the track - looks like about 0.5-0.6amps are required even if no cars are running. This is normal?

3) Each car seems to require about 0.5 Amps at peak draw. On the readout with one car running, I see amps varying around 1.0a - which I assume is 0.5a for the track with no cars running plus a varying 0.5a to run the car at different loads as it traverses the track. Good assumption?
(Each additional car adds about another 0.5 amps that vary with loading.)

[HomeRacingWorld]

First, I never set it over 12. Just me. But yes, you should see some loss due to the weaker connections of the power base.

No idea on AMP draw from your base. The two I have are at zero. But, this is a hard wired track and benchtop.

That is about normal for our regular home set cars. It varies between cars with heavy mags/different motors.

Try this: Disconnect the supply from the track and see if the AMP meter goes to zero. You might have an issue in the powerbase itself.

It might be a glitch in the supply, but likely it is fine.

The big question? DO they run ok? Is it working for you?

[Perrotoro]

Yes, I am very pleased with the outcome. I've setup about 12 cars now for the new lesser voltage. At the old higher voltage I was running heavy magnets and thus heavy cars. I have not run a lot of cars simultaneously as yet, but I can already see that the heavy amp draw of the heavier cars was taxing the old power supply that had limited amperage availability. It's easy to see that multi car events will benefit from adequate amperage supply and less amperage draw per car - win/win there.

I'm non-scientifically monitoring the amp draw of each car before and after removing magnets, but of the first 12 cars I've reset, casual observation would indicate amperage reduction is 0.1 to 0.3 amps for each car. The speeds are, I would think, more like scale speeds. The cars seem to squirrel a little more realistically in the curves and less heavy overturn flip-outs occur. The cars are quieter - less load on the tires and gears I would guess.

I'm excited that car setups will be more representative of performance when other cars deslot as a result of adequate amperage.

The softer chassis cars will have less risk of bottoming out with less magnet load - not that this was a significant problem. Super fun trial and experimentation. Fun to watch amperage draw with single and multi cars.

Family coming in this weekend - not sure the short visit will allow racing time, but will see.