After market power supply

[dw5555]

[chappy]

As the lads have indicated for analog amps shouldnt be an issue and for digital an inline fuse rated less than the chips max amp should suffice. Think back to when we used to run cars off of a car battery. 500 amps and 12 volts. The amps only go where needed its the volts that will burn out motors if you give it too much.
I run pretty much everyrhing at 10.5 volts with a max 20 amp power supply all 3 lanes hooked up. Max voltage on my supply is 16. Magnet racing will draw more amps as will the higher powered commercial type motors. Usually the average rtr car will draw just over 1 amp on start up or full pull on the throttle. I think the unit Harry has linked you too is fine for your needs and who can beat that price for an adjustable power supply.
Bob

[slowshoes]

I bought my adjustable supply after my Ninco WICO powerbase fried. I was going to just replace the WICO base, since I liked the wireless aspect of the system. I contacted Professor Motor about purchasing another base, and they said they basically stopped selling them as they've had such a high failure rate.

Rather than reinvest in an unreliable system, and knowing the controllers weren't very sensitive (ok for me, but would be difficult for my up and coming racing grandkids. (at least I hope they want to be racers). I decided to re think my system, and ended up going with not only going with an adjustable power supply, (which has been great - same unit that Harry linked to), but Professor motor controllers with adjustable sensitivity and braking. (the ones for home use).

All this adjustability has been great, not only for my up and coming grandkid hot rodders, but for me as well. Cars that I tended not to use as much because they were so twitchy and hard to control (despite my tuning efforts) have become good drivers because of the adjustability.

I don't turn the amps up all the way after I observed just how little amps my cars draw. Just as a background, I'm just a home racer - my track is a two lane Ninco, and the first thing I do is remove the magnets when I receive a new car, so it's not surprising I'm not drawing much with my setup. I also am not that concerned how fast a car goes around the track, but rather getting any car to be a quick, predictable driver. Much of this is about tires as well - some brands run much better with their stock rubber on Ninco track than others.

Best of luck with your new adjustable power supply - your going to love it. :)

[rick42]

Thanks for the info. Everyone who has an adjustable power source seems to love it. I am just a home racer/driver with a 132/124 Carrera track. Have the digital and analog, but don’t really like all the digital bells and whistles. Maybe some day I will , but for now I’m going analog. I have 132 , 124 , and some Carrera go cars . I can run all of them on this track. How is a car different with the magnets removed ?

[RichD]

Magnets can hide many problems. Tires with poor grip, loose axles, crooked wheels and out of round tires are all less of a problem if you run with traction magnets. In addition cars with traction magnets tend to be all or nothing, they are great up to a point, beyond that they will deslot without warning and crash hard. When you run without traction magnets crashes tend to be less severe and your cars will not be as likely to be damaged. There are some cars that run quite well with the magnets removed, others will be difficult to drive and might require a considerable amount of work. Possibly some parts will need to be replaced. Rather than jump to using no magnets at all you might consider using just the front magnent in a Carrera car or moving the single magnet forward with other makes, that will allow the car to slide out before it deslots.
You might want to take a look at this article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzLR42 ... sp=sharing

[Racie35]

Might take a few weeks but they're sure cheap enough from china.

Forget this...scamming seller and eBay refunded me.

[Z-carfan]

WOW, that's deal! I paid $48 off eBay. It shipped from West coast, but it appears to be exactly the same.

[rick42]

[Czar]

Put the fuse inline with the positive lead from your poser supply. I use a 5 amp fuse for home style motors, but a 7 amp would probably be tops. I went to the auto store and bought an inline fuse holder that uses the modern style plug in fuses so you can change the level of protection quite easily and cheaply. BTW, I have never popped a fuse racing with my set.

[dw5555]

:text-yeahthat:
I'm not sure if I got a 7 or 7 1/2, whatever was available. The CU's are supposed to handle 8 amps but best to stay under that.

Dave

[rick42]

[Czar]

Yes, I am sure it will since they sell the 1/24th sets. The wall wart may be different, but I would think it would just be too expensive for Carrera to build two separate CU's.