Anybody Doing SSD? Let's Talk

[Nor Cal Mike]

Through a series of trades, gifts, and purchases, I have been brought into the realm of Scalextric Sport Digital. For a newbie, I have a nice start on Impact Resistant cars (8), controllers and extra chips to digitize other cars. I have a C7030 PB with a C7042 on the way. I have a yet to be determined number of curved LC's (CLC) as some are still in the mail from a trade. I think I will be a little short on track but since I am a well practiced wood track builder, I wouldn't hesitate to hybrid in so wood sections to fill the gaps and add variety to the track.

I just got home from Home Depot with 2 4X8 sheets of 1.5 inch rigid foam insulation board and handful of pine 1X4's and 1X2's with the idea of surrounding the ridged foam with a wood frame around the edge to make a 6 ft.X 10ft. table that will sit on saw horses. Portability for this track is high on my list as I would like to take it to my G scale model train club "steam up" events.

I have learned a lot anoud SSD over the last week and a half but have much more to learn. From looking at this board, it looks like the preponderance is towards Carrera D132/24. It seems from looking at Slot Car Illustrated they are about even up between the two systems. When I go to Slot Forum International, SSD seems to have the most adherents with some that are extremely advanced when it comes to user improvements to the software and hardware of the system. That discussion is way over my head. It seems that Ninco and SCX digital are way down the list.

So anyway is there anyone out there doing SSD? What is your take on the system and the racing? I know that it will never replace my analoge wood track but it does have an appeal to me, mostly because of multiple car racing on a scale sized 2 lane road.

[patwa]

Hi Nor Cal Mike,
I have been using the SSD system for about 4 years now ,with regular organised race nights with between 4 and 6 people.
The system has not given me any real problems and has been well used and enjoyed.
We did go through a period of upgrading the motors to see what we could get away with and found the Slot.It chips to be a little more robust.
In the time I have had the SSD system I have replaced one of the crossover straights that one lane changer died on and found a controller or two that needed replacing because either the lane change button or the yellow caution button stopped working.
Most of the issues( not changing lanes or causing a track safe mode )are caused by an issue with the car. Usually a wire connection or braids.
Electronics are not my strong point as far as system mods and upgrades,but I am happy with the unit as is.

[Nor Cal Mike]

So which 6 car PB are you running? Any upgrades? I'm using a C7030 now. It has worked flawlessly but I haven't really putting a load on it yet. I have some friends coming over later in the week so we will get a few cars going simultaneously to see how she does. I am working on a C7042 APB that I got in the trade. It arrived with the brain box cut away from the base track to allow it to be mounted remotely from the track. I just got all of the communication wires soldered together with an extension wire made from telephone wire (8 wires). I got a four wire trailer hitch plug wired to the track piece to extend the power feeds to the track. I will probably add in a tap in this wire that can be used to feed power taps around the track. Once I get the track set up where I want it, I will look into building some cars to play on it. Since I want to run no mag with only classic type cars, I don't see any need to add hotter motors or more volts to the track. I do have two laptop power supplies that have few more amps than the stock Scaley PS's.

[docdoom]

welcome to the darkside. I would ditch the old power base and get the C7042 power base hooked up. and try one of the many race programs to run. and add another level to the system. also would be much better setting up cars for people to run.just a click of a mouse and your car is programed and off to the races you go. I run rsc64 but there are others you can down load and use. have to get the patch cord that runs from the power base to the computer. I'm sure you have been checking out the threads on the other sites. i also have a thread here parkside race. good luck

[patwa]

I am running the C7042 PB with no upgrades at all.
I have no experience with any of the earlier models.
Without magnets I cant see there will be any issues at all with power supply.
We have kept the motors under 25k rpm and have lots of magnet and they do not bother the system.
As Docdoom says I need the cable from the computer to the power base. I have someone working on that as there is an upgrade for faster cars timing.
Set a minimum lap time for your track in case there are any timing glitches, that worked for me.
Power taps will depend on the length of your track and the amount of lane changes. I have 8 lane changes the track is 4 to 6 lanes, and 45ft long and requires only 1 power tap.
Cheers.

[Nor Cal Mike]

Yes I have been checking out the digital topics at the other sites as that seems to be where the majority of the digital racers congregate. The thread at SCI is especially good though the articles there are way over my head and a bit complicated to follow. I do look forward to using the C7042 PB for its ability to adjust the power. Unlike most in the digital world, I want to turn the power down rather than up. Lap counting/timing and having the ability to hook up a computer is the other reason.

My primary reason to checking out digital is that I eventually would like to rebuild my 3 lane wood track down to a two lane width while retaining the ability to run more than two cars. I like SSD because of the smaller chip size. I think this will make it easier to chip other brands and my kit bash cars easier. Probably won't run over 3 nor maybe 4 cars too often because that is the total of the racers that I can conjure up around here at any one time.

[RV Racing]

I'm not up to speed on digital, but I'm with you on the notion of a lightweight portable track constructed from rigid foam. I'll be following your progress on table construction for ideas.

Thanks,
Rick V.

[CVGshadow]

Easy to turn down the power and fine tune the ghost car speed with the C7042 PB , although the menu can be a little cryptic. You will like it.

[Nor Cal Mike]

[docdoom]

That was one of the main reasons I went with a computer run race program. trying to figure out what buttons to push made my head hurt. no ugly lap counter to deal with and up and racing in no time.I'm telling you ditch that led read out and go with rsc64 or another program. be money well spent.

[Nor Cal Mike]

[Nor Cal Mike]

[CVGshadow]

Looks great Mike, I did a similar extension to mine. On my carrera track I hid the scoring tower like this:

[Nor Cal Mike]

That is a cool way to disguise the scoring tower. It looks great.

[Nor Cal Mike]

This is a note to myself. Anyone else who uses SSD and wants to chip non Scalextric cars will find it useful as well. It is a source for the elusive Ferrite Man which filters electronic noise from the braids and the motor which can confuse the chip. Chipping a car requires two, one at the guide, another at the motor. Unfortunately, Scalextric provides only the one at the guide with the with the universal chip but none for the other end. They also do not sell these parts independently. Here is a source for them.
http://www.route1racing.com/