I have read that the new AFX powerpack will not allow power surges. Is this correct and how does it work?

Thanks,

Jim Norton
Huntsville, Alabama

I think the new afx power packs are 1 amp for stock cars you shouldnt see a surge

And there is something else that sets the Tri-Power Pack apart from the crowd. It features more amperage than any other set-based power pack. That pretty much eliminates the power surge one car can get when the other car crashes.:freak:

Has anyone actually tested this power pack for AC ripple? It contributes heavily towards cars overheating and burned pickups from what I understand.

ac ripple hurts all dc eletric motors, being that its a wall wart the ac ripple will be high, Not enough capacitors in them to elimnate the ac ripple

OK. An electrical expert I ain't but I can tell you what assumptions we used in making Tri-Power Pack and what the tests show:

1) SURGE: All typical stock HO cars draw ~ 300 to 350ma. All standard transformers (including AFX) put out about 330ma. So, if you have two cars running off of one transformer, neither car is getting more than half the amperage it needs. When you let off the accelerator or your car crashes off the track, the other car suddenly gets about twice the amperage it just had. Result - big, instantaneous burst of power followed by spectacular crash and loud laughter.

Tri-Power Pack puts out 1 full amp at each voltage level. From our testing, all but the biggest, baddest, all-neo, HO rockets draw no more than 500ma so the "surge" pretty much goes away. For good.

2) START & STOP: All of us who have been around HO for a long time know that when you set up a new track or don't use one for a while, the first few laps see the cars starting and stopping as the PU Shoes clean the thin layer of corrosion off the rails. At 1 full amp, there is enough Umpff (that's a technical term) to push the voltage through that corrosion. Result: stop and start is pretty much . . . stopped for all but the worst cases of corrosion. Of course DIRTY tracks are something else entirely.

Couple of other lesser facts: TPP is sold state compared to standard electric transformer; testing confirms that the extra amperage lets the motor work more easily so it runs cooler; power is regulated and filtered though we weren't able to go as far as we would have liked without charging A LOT more money.

Still, the really big news is three speed levels that, at BEGINNER, allows almost any age child to race and race and race without getting himself (and dad) frustrated because the car won't stay on the track.

It' really pretty cool.

Thank you!

This sounds like a great product for the intended market. It will certainly fulfill a lot of slot car enthusiast's power needs.

As far as current draw is concerned I often take a look at the current draw during races to see what's really going on. When there is virtually unlimited current available, super stock cars, which have stock arms but are typically slammed down pretty hard which increases current demand, I'll see brief excursions in the 2.0 A - 2.5 A range on a 4-lane track but the typical current draw does tend to stay less than 500 mA per lane. The peak is when all cars are starting from a dead stop where the instantaneous demand could theoretically be in excess of 12 A, but only for a few milliseconds. Once the arm starts turning the current demand drops off dramatically. Of course the cars will only get as much current as the power supply can put out, but even with a 1 A supply it's highly unlikely you will notice any effect at all in the dead start scenario. Drag racers running sub 1 ohm motors with neos all the way around would notice, but normal humans would not.

The Tomy/RaceMasters track system is in my opinion the best performing and best value track system in its market, both from an electrical standpoint but also from a flexibility and scalability point of view. I've always been amazed at how well it stands up over time under rigorous conditions even without some of the exotic mods (like soldering every rail joint) that some OCD'ers suggest. I think the tri-power pack is a great complement to the steadily improving line of products coming out of Tomy/RaceMasters these days. Using digicam analogies, I would classify the Tomy/RaceMasters slot car products as "Prosumer" class products compared to the "consumer" products being pushed by its direct competitors. There will always be higher end, higher priced strictly pro stuff out there for hard core slot geeks and fringe dwellers, but the big fat sweet spot in the hobby is being very well served by the Tomy/RaceMasters product line.

Some potential areas where Tomy/RaceMasters could add more "pro" flavor to their race system line would be an upgraded controller that's larger and a bit more robust and some sort of modular, polarized power jumper system that would allow users to add 2 or 3 additional power jumpers to their track to create even larger layouts.

Again, it's very gratifying to see a leader in the hobby continuing to make a significant investment in the hobby. The best part is that it's being done in a way that reflects the needs of a more refined and demanding customer base whose expectations have changed as the hobby matures.

Ordered a TPP through my local Hobbytown. My reason for getting one is that I'd like to run some new Tomy cars on my small home track and "dumb down" the rocketship tendencies I know they have. Sort of try to make them behave on a more realistic small track level. I would like to add the new clear window cars and maybe Mega G's to my collection (all good lookers), but I would never add anything that I could not also have a little fun running. I have a small 36 x 80 layout and I only run hard body cars (so far just tjets).

Here's what I found at the hands-on and non-scientific level. I used the one and only mag car I own (bone stock Tomy SG+) and a good running NOS tjet. I wired up an old AFX orange controller to keep that part of the test in the ohm range that I hear the mag cars are best run at. I left my day-in day-out controllers (95ohm BRP's) out of the testing. They've proven to be much better suited for tjets at 22 volts. Just for testing sake I tried an NOS tjet chassis. Wasn't expecting or hoping for any particular result here. Just trying to see what happens for spits and squiggles...

22 volt setting - Tjet zips right along as normal, but as expected the lower ohm controller gives you the typical stop/start on/off performance.
12 volt setting - Tjet pretty much crawled along.
8 volt setting - Tjet almost doesn't get around the track.

Impression: TPP is not going to add anything to your current tjet experience. Except I could see using one on a single lane with a vintage wheel controller. By setting the pack to 8 or 12 volts, you could probably run a tjet hands free purely to provide motion on the track without worrying about deslotting. This having been said, although the TPP doesn't add anything new for tjets... at 22 volts it takes nothing away either!!

22 volt setting - SG+... It's rocket city! Blinding speed and airborn where the turns are sharp. Controller trigger barely pulled too.... Yikes... heads up!
12 volt setting - SG+ still very very fast, but deslots are lessening, and I am now using the controller trigger a little more (probably half pulled).
8 volt setting - SG+ sticks to the track like glue, can go very fast, but is more controlled. Details of the cars can be seen as it goes by and I felt I could remove my goalie mask. The controller is now being used more through the range of the trigger. Cars never deslotted and I enjoyed driving the cars more. Also after many laps... the car was still fairly cool.

Impession: No change at 22 volts. At 12 volts I began to see the point in producing this TPP. At 8 volts I felt much better about #1 buying the unit and #2 buying (at some point) a mag car here and there in the future. I can also see buying a pair of better quality man-sized low ohm controllers now too. For me it made for a much more enjoyable experience at 8 volts. A small track powered on the lower settings now seems more practical.

Overall this TPP is a good product. I'm glad I bought it. There are no trade-offs with it. It takes nothing away from what you do now with a standard pack, yet adds a degree of control when running the mag cars. What I didn't test was a weighted mag-less mag car. I could see dabbling in that now that I can dial down the power though. I also didn't experience the 2 man race aspect when the power surge occurs when 1 person deslots. I lost my racing partner and there are not really any local people who are interested. I had a guy tied in a chair in my hobby room for years who I used to race against, but I forgot to feed and water him at one point and well... he just didn't fare too well from that. It was a shame too, because he really enjoyed racing for hours and hours on end. I am hopeful though that another willing participant can be found.

I'll chime in again when I try some other chassis styles. nd

Great read. Nice "everyman" review Nuther!

Thanks for taking the time and 'splainin' it in slot-tard terms.

Threads like this are what makes the HT forums so interesting to me. We have guys who will pony up for a new item, give it an objective test and share the info with one and all. And for Tomy products, the main man, US-wise, will jump in and give us cool technical details on the product as well as insight into the decisions made in producing the item. How cool is that? WAY COOL!

Thanks to all involved in this thread! :drunk::hat::freak::dude:

After reading this thread I added 4ea to my Tower Hobbies "Wish List".

Thanks for the great review Nuther. Dave.