Taming the Beast

[TuscoTodd]

Will definitely be interested in hearing how you guys make out Stumpy!
:D

[gonegonzo]

Stumpy ,

That power pack is a "variable voltage" DC power pack . It max's out at 12 volts .

Gonzo

[TuscoTodd]

Stumpy -
I will be interested to hear how the testing goes, as the Willys received a new "stock" chassis (magnet removed) for the next run. Running it on the power supply - she sounds pretty darn sporty! :D
I left the factory rubber on it, as I think, until another option is approved, limiting it's traction is going to be my friend. :D
:auto-layrubber:
Looking forward to the next round of racing!

[TuscoTodd]

The Vega also received the conversion over to a fresh chassis, keeping the stock rubber. (I will bring slip ons with me if these prove to be "too" slick) - but should be good to go for the next event! :D
:banana-dance:

[TeamMadMarsupial]

Thanks Ralph, was away for the weekend enjoying the Eastern States Weekend at the Historic Orange County Fairgrounds Speedway! We have however made some changes fairly recently. One of our club members works as an electrical engineer and his company was recently changing out some industrial power supplies on some of their machinery. We were able to change out our twin car battery power source for a really nice adjustable industrial power supply. Since multiple units were acquired, I was also able to switch out the car batteries on my little 18' x 4' road course. Both tracks are now actually set a little bit above 24v. As for running the T-Jets at this voltage, yes it can get interesting, adding that we run some low ohm rewinds and I also run braids on most of my pick-up shoes. In all honesty, I can usually only use about 1/2 to 3/4 throttle on my most modified T-Jets. I actually usually keep one finger behind the trigger to act as my governor. The above mentioned club member has a 36' x 4' road course also, his has power taps every 2', yes 2' and also uses one of the industrial power supplies. As Ralph mentioned, our club track is lock and joiner, 32' x 4'. The other club members track is Tomy, as is my little road course.

[RichD]

If you run your track with two car batteries wired in series and those are fully charged and in good condition you will have 25 volts. The voltage might drop a volt or so with the cars running. It is nice to have a regulated variable power supply with enough power for the cars that you are running. For pancake cars with stock armatures a couple of amps per lane is plenty. A 10 amp power supply is enough for a four lane track in many cases. If you run rewound armatures or higher level inline magnet cars 20 amps would be better. My own track is powered by two Mastech 0-30 volt, 20 amp power supplies, which is overkill for sure! Having good filtering and regulation is important. Regulation will eliminate the surge that you get with cheap power supplies if a car comes off and good filtering will make your cars run a little cooler. Here is a nice 10 amp power supply: http://www.mastechpowersupply.com/switc ... od_70.html These are not cheap but in the long run something like this is a good investment.
I don't think you could fit a 1 ounce weight inside of an HO car unless it was made of depleted uranium. You must be thinking of grams!

[Ralphthe3rd]

[TeamMadMarsupial]

No problem Ralph. Yes we have way more juice than we need. We actually experimented with lowering the voltage when we first installed the new power supply. In the end we all hated it, as it just was too damn slow.
On the other hand, admittedly, my fastest cars do not handle well down the long straights! While that may sound weird, they are actually too fast for the rough lock and joiner track. Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, my cars at full throttle have gone end over end in the middle of a straight.
Some newcomers hate it, but we have learned that you must not only race the other competitors, but you must race the track also!