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Analogue / Digital switching

How DO they do that??
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wixwacing
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Posts: 1871
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:22 am

Analogue / Digital switching

Post by wixwacing »

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DIGITAL SWITCHING


A racing colleague approached me the other night at our local club and asked if it was possible to fit a switch on his digital Scalextric cars so that he could race on the club track (analogue) and have brakes, but switch back to digital for his home circuit. I had to say I wasn’t sure but If he gave me a model I could look into it. I have raced digital cars and had great fun but one of my unanswered questions was if I ‘chipped’ any of my models would they then not be any good to race on traditional analogue set ups. The notorious lack of braking being my main concern!

Well, I was pleased to discover (half expectedly) that it is a simple fix. The only variable was if there was going to be space in the model to fit a switch. The Scalextric Porsche Boxster doesn’t have any problems. Because there is no interior detail it is a simple case of fitting a DPDT mini switch between the existing circuit board and the motor. A hole was carefully drilled and filed in the base.


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The motor wires (red and black) are desoldered from the suppressor and choke RF unit on the motor and then soldered to the pair of terminals on one end of the switch. A new pair of wires (black and white) are soldered to the pair of contacts on the other end of the switch. These are trimmed and soldered piggy back style to the green and yellow wires from the guide. Finally, another pair of black and white wires are soldered to the centre contacts on the switch, observing the same polarity as the first pair. These are then trimmed and soldered to the RF suppression at the motor (where the red and black wires came from. In doing it this way, both sets of RF suppressors are kept in both circuits, minimising interference and smoothing digital supply.


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This is a simple solution and the model runs fine in both modes. The switches are the type that disengage before they make and finally I cut the finger toggle down ‘til it barely protrudes from the chassis. Because there can be little space to play with, I superglued the switches in place and finally epoxied round them to secure them.


As mentioned, this model has no interior detail so it isn’t hard to find a place for the switch. Other fully detailed models might be a little harder but not impossible. If necessary, you can run wiring to behind the rear axle and fit the switch in the rear! You'll then have the best of both worlds!!
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When I'm not racing slotcars,
I'm out in the back yard, burning food!!

When I win, it's because of my talent, not my car or my controller!
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