How much power

[HRWJim]

I have a quick question. The first of many I'm afraid, but I want to upgrade the power supply for a 4 lane plastic oval . What will I need to power this type of track? How many volts ..amps . I was looking at one similar to what Harry talked about on ebay but wanted to make sure it would cover it. Thanks in advance. Jim

[btaylor]

Jim. I run these on my oval. One for each lane. My cars never draw even 1 amp, even when I had them on magnets. There are others, but the variable PS will equalize any motor/ gear combo you may have.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PS-28A-ADJUSTA ... :rk:1:pf:0
This was just a quick search. You may find something cheaper. I think the only cars I know of that draw big amps, are the old 1/24 motors on commercial tracks. Most of the scratch built stuff, and RTR cars don't draw near the amps they used to. And of course you can bigger for very little extra coin.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/30V-5A-Digital ... 0005.m1851

Bob

[RichD]

How much power you would need would depend on on the type of car you want to run. The one factor is the ohm value of the armature, another is the track voltage and the final and less significant factor is the strength of the motor and traction magnets that the car has. HO tracks are usually run at 18-20 volts, G-Jet type and gravity cars are run at 12 volts. If you know the track voltage and the ohm value of the car's armature you can calculate how many amps it will draw. The formula is volts/ohms = amps. Set type inline HO cars like Tycos, Tomys and Life Likes as well as regular BSRT, Slottech, Viper and Wizzard cars have 6 ohm armatures, so at 18 volts the amp draw would be 3 amps. That is more than you would expect, however the draw drops off by a lot once the car gets moving and will be 0.25-0.50 amps as the car circulates around the track. Here is a video that I shot of the display on my track power supply. The track was an oval with 12 foot straights and 24 inch radius turns. The car was a pancake type with a 4 ohm armature. With the car running flat out you would expect to see 4.6 amps.



In fact the peak draw was 0.7 amps except at the end of the video where I started the car from a dead stop and registered 1.2 amps. I was using a 20 amp power supply. The amp display is time averaged and will not accurately show the actual starting amperage. For regular HO cars with a 6 ohm armature I recommend a minimum of 1 amp per lane. More would not hurt, if you did not have enough amps available to cover the starting draw the cars would just be a little slower getting off the line, after that the extra amps would not be in use. It is best to use a regulated power supply, if the power supply is not regulated, set type power supplies are not regulated, the voltage will be constantly changing as the amp draw changes. A lot of regulated power supplies are also variable and that is a nice feature to have. One low cost type of power supply is a laptop power supply, an 18 volt 90 watt model would be good for 5 amps and would be regulated. It is also nice to have a power supply with a volt and amp display. A good 10 amp regulated variable power supply with a display can be had for less than $100 if you shop around. If you go crazy and buy a big power supply you should have a fuse or circuit breaker for each lane, 1 or 2 amps should do the trick.

[HRWJim]

Thank you both for the reply.
Rich what started this is , I pulled out my box of T-Jets. so right now just running original T-jet and Autoworld cars type cars. Who know where this will go but if I can buy something that will fit the bill for "future proofing" I would like to do it. I am a total nook when it comes to this scale ( there is so much to learn)

The second power supply was the one I was looking at Bob. I also saw a 10 amp for about 10 Bucks more so I was wondering if I need the extra amps for HO? Thanks again Jim

[btaylor]

Another note on individual lane power. when a car deslots, it does not surge power to the other cars. A big amp power supply does help this, and it may not be significant on HO cars, but any larger scale it does effect other cars when sudden amp draws stop in other lanes. Been there, done that.
Nothing sucks worse than being in your "groove" and another cars deslots and send a power surge to your ride! suddenly the groove goes away.

Bob

[RichD]

Having a separate power supply for each lane will eliminate those annoying surges. Most set type power supplies are good for less than an amp and would be marginal with higher performance cars. Even a large unregulated power supply will sag when a moderate load is applied. If the power supply is regulated there will be no surges unless the total draw was more than it could handle. It is not a bad idea to future proof your track. It may be cheaper to buy a somewhat larger power supply than you may need right now than to buy another one in the future. Really high performance cars, like restricted opens or unrestricted cars, would need about 3 amps per lane.
Drag racing is a special case because getting off the line is much more important. In that case you would want the full starting amperage to be available with a little to spare.

[HRWJim]

I used a little Ozark engineering and rigged and Artin wall wart to the track and even that made a big difference in the cars performance. So I went with the second link and the 30volt 10amp model. I looked at the laptop power units but I really want adjustable for the grand kids. Nest I will look at controllers. Any suggestions on inexpensive models for ho? Thanks again Jim

[RichD]

The Artin power supplies are the only set type ones that I know of that are regulated.
If you are looking for controllers I would have to know what sort of cars you expect to run. Resistor based controllers like the Parma Economy model are the least expensive but if you run a wide range of car types, say vintage T-Jets to modern inline cars, you may need several different ones. A good electronic controller is adjustable and can work very well with any type of car.

[HomeRacingWorld]

[HRWJim]

That's sage advice. I'll hold off until the power supply gets here. Like I said the Artin did wonders. I need to learn so much more about tuning these little cars. I forgot how much fun T-Jets can be. I will let you know how it all turns out. Thansk again Jim

[RichD]

Check this out: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1msYjFT ... sp=sharing
I also have similar articles for Johnny Lightning/Auto World and Dash Cars.

[HRWJim]

Oh WOW! Thank you. This is awesome Rich. 29 pages ? Just saved it and will read it with coffee in the morning. Sadly I'm old enough to remember that little tube of oil for the T-jets. I don't have any dash chassis but I do have Johnny Lightning. I would love the link to both. Thanks again Jim

[RichD]

Here is the article on the JL/AW cars, it is almost the same as the one for Aurora cars, but having both as well as the Dash cars in the same article would have been confusing.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PQmU2A ... sp=sharing

[HRWJim]

Thank you again for the articles. Tons of great information to absorb. Have already put a couple things to use. Wish I didn't have to work today. Thanks again Jim

[eastside johnny]

Sitting here at 2:15 pm looking at your poSt from 2:46 pm IN THE FUTURE
Cool