Controller Upgrade

[CJ-345525]

I am looking to upgrade to a professor motor controller or something similar and I'm unable to find any controller upgrades that have the same plug that the c8545 power base has for controllers. Does anybody have any information that's helpful with this? Anybody know of any conversion kits? I've been digging left and right and I'm not fighting the answers I need.

[Andy P.]

Most professional controllers like the Professor Motor ones are used on semi-professional and/or permanent tracks that usually use regulated power supplies. Those have their own types of connectors and they vary not only from track to track but also country to country.

When I was in the UK I say they were using some 3-pronged connector that I was told was usually used in caravans/campers?!

In Germany the standard are so call "banana clips" that or long jacks often with a small spring on the side.

What all of these variations have in common though is they have "brakes". Essentially you a have a positive and a negative but also a return wire that makes the car's motor turn into a generator when the throttle is released thus slowing it down even faster.

Electric vehicles use the same method called regenerative braking.

The Scalextric c8545 does not have the circuitry to have "brakes". The cars just roll to a stop the same as shifting a regular car into neutral.

The older powerbase C8217 DOES have brakes and even has the ability power each lane individually so that if a car goes off the track the other does not get a surge (the c8545 is supposed to have circuitry to avoid this as well but I have never tested it).

So where does leave you?

IN theory you can connect the Professor Motor controller up to anything. All analog controllers are simply a sliding resistor that throttles the power to the track.

Doing so with the c8545 would mean the cars would have no brakes.

Using the older C8217 would be more or less ideal. Wiring is pretty straightforward. There are lots of guides online if you google "slot car control wiring" or "slot car power wiring".

Another option is get two c8545 and disable one of the lanes in the respective powerbase. You still wouldn't have brakes,...

Last option is get a regulated power supply and follow one of the many online guides on how to wire things directly to the track.

I think some controllers have jacks for Ninco track which you can connect to Sport track using adapters. There is a Ninoc <-> SCX/Scalextric Classis adapter and then use a SCX/Scalextric Classic to Sport adpater to add it to the layout. That will make a long straight though...

Good luck!

[Paul-346202]

To upgrade to a club level controller like a Truspeed on the old Scalextric powerbase with a stereo jack adapter it will cost about £70.

I would only spend this if you have a large layout, running magless and are really serious about getting the most out of the cars and have the knowledge to tune cars to a club level standard.

It would cost even more to run a variable power supply but maybe worth doing that and having a 3 pin UK standard plug.

I just use the Scalextric hand controllers and don't connect my Truspeed as most of my good cars can't run on Scalextric track as they have wood guides.

It is worth mentioning that with the Arc systems you can custom map the throttles but you don't have breaks. If I was going to go to the trouble of running decent hand controllers I would go with Policar track.

[Andy P.]

Define "Brakes". ARC AIR and ARC PRO have a brake button and hitting that slows the cars right down.

I never got a straight answer from the development team but they act a lot like brakes to me!

It is very different driving because you can keep your finger on the throttle and jab the brakes as opposed to the traditional having to release the trigger to activate the brakes.

[Paul-346202]

Define "Brakes". ARC AIR and ARC PRO have a brake button and hitting that slows the cars right down.

I never got a straight answer from the development team but they act a lot like brakes to me!

It is very different driving because you can keep your finger on the throttle and jab the brakes as opposed to the traditional having to release the trigger to activate the brakes.

 

 

Sorry, I mean you can't map the brakes. They are just on or off. I don't have Air or Pro but I have the old digital powerbase and the brakes feel horrible.

 

 

I think oxigen has proportional braking. I have throttle sensitivity and full control of breaks on my Truspeed (analogue), but not proportional, unless you turn the brakes up or down whilst breaking which you can do.

 

 

You could probably modify Arc bases in some way but probably not worth it.

 

 

 

 

[Andy P.]

The BLE for ARC was released a few years back (go to Slotracer.online to find out how to get it) and I think it is a binary on and off thing as you say....