As the title says, what are your thoughts on the new Tomy tripower wall pack?

Are you good,bad or indifferent about them?

I'm thinking about picking 2 up for my 4 lane track and was wondering what some of the board members experiences were with them here before doing so.

I have 2 little ones that like to race but it seems it ends up with daddy reslotting cars constantly.

I was wondering how well these packs regulate the cars around the track at the lower voltage?

Any help,perspective or your experiences would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I have one! Now, if you are moving from standard issue wall warts to these, they are great! Back when I just had the standard issue wall warts, I could NOT run the XT's and T-Jet's or any magnetless car like I wanted - totally uncontrollable! But with these tri-power packs, it calms them down on the 12V setting which is VERY nice! I'm using the stock controllers that came with the Tomy/AFX track, so maybe that will make a difference.

When racing the AFX cars - SRT's, SG+, Turbos, etc., you can crank it down to the 8V and they are still blistering fast, but can definitely take the full throttle pull without deslotting. I personally think that these cars are still way too fast even at 8V and could be cranked down lower in voltage....but then again, I've had people tell me I need to get a specific controller for those cars vs. my magnetless cars. Look, for me, I don't want to mess with a variety of controllers to race different cars. I'd rather crank the voltage down and run one controller with different cars.

Regarding the deslotting power surges you normally get with the standard wall warts, that issue is definitely been addressed! If one of the kids deslots, no surge and slam into the wall deslotting. In fact, Steve over at AFX mentioned if you get two tri-power packs per controller track section, you can run one pack per lane and have the voltage setting different PER LANE! That means if the kiddos use lane 1, you can set them to 8V and if you use lane 2, you can use 12V! That is the wildest part of this new pack!

Needless to say I'm thoroughly enjoying my pack and would recommend it to anyone wanting to upgrade from the standard wall warts. Is it a great replacement for variable power supplies? No. Those have total control and ability in 1V increments - typically - and I'd never consider these packs as a direct replacement to these power supplies.

If you do not have a local hobby shop that you can get these at, I'd highly recommend picking it up at BRS Hobbies! Brian over there is highly educated in his products and takes the time to provide the BEST customer service around! He ships quickly and packs your purchases with TLC! Even once you get your product, he will continue to help out with any and all support questions you may have! Definitely a great shop to do business with!

If you have any other questions, let me know!

PD2:thumbsup:

Thanks PD2!

That is exactly the info I was looking for!

I use set controllers myself which I put screws behind the triggers off to regulate for my little ones to use that only trigger halfway or where I adjust them too.

I dont want to spend mucho $$ on after market controllers either.

I know a power supply is the way to go but I want to stay with an easy set set up of plug and play.

I will probably pick up a pair of the tripower packs for my big 4 laner and away we will go regulated at the lower voltage.

Hey Thanks again for the info!

It was very helpful!

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup:

There is some concern about just how regulated these actually are. The owner of Dave's Model Racing Engineering posted on the SCI forum some of his test results. If you go to the afxracing site and follow the review link to the comments thread, you'll see these comments. To summarize, the voltage in his tests varied quite a bit from the specified values -- over 35%. His comments caught my eye because he did a custom power supply package for me a few years ago and it's been working great for me. All things considered, the price about the same as buying one Tripower pack for each of my four lanes.

There is some concern about just how regulated these actually are. The owner of Dave's Model Racing Engineering posted on the SCI forum some of his test results. If you go to the afxracing site and follow the review link to the comments thread, you'll see these comments. To summarize, the voltage in his tests varied quite a bit from the specified values -- over 35%. His comments caught my eye because he did a custom power supply package for me a few years ago and it's been working great for me. All things considered, the price about the same as buying one Tripower pack for each of my four lanes.

Yup, I saw that post and say the argument that followed between two EE's. LOL! By no means are the power packs conditioned and regulated to hold values constant all the time. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, someone pointed out that either Radio Shack or Wal-Mart has some "adjustable" power supplies that have very similar settings and capabilities that perform the same.

Sounds like you got a great deal with Dave building you a custom setup! Congrats!

PD2:thumbsup:

Thanks PD2!

That is exactly the info I was looking for!

I use set controllers myself which I put screws behind the triggers off to regulate for my little ones to use that only trigger halfway or where I adjust them too.

I dont want to spend mucho $$ on after market controllers either.

I know a power supply is the way to go but I want to stay with an easy set set up of plug and play.

I will probably pick up a pair of the tripower packs for my big 4 laner and away we will go regulated at the lower voltage.

Hey Thanks again for the info!

It was very helpful!

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup:

You are very welcome Wayne! It was my personal, non-engineering opinion and as TK Solver pointed out, feel free to read through the engineering notes and see if that further helps you make an informed consumer decision of whether these power packs are still the right direction for you. The article is definitely worth a read!

Good luck and have fun!
PD2:thumbsup:

Hi PD2!

I think the tripower packs will be fine for me and the kids....

I have no intentions of my track ever being a club racing track.

I just wanted away to turn the voltage down to make the cars more driveable and to help with all the deslotting/reslotting issues that come with new unexperienced drivers.

A couple of the tripower packs in place of my current standard set packs should do the trick for me!

I dont need to have the best of the best constantly to be up to par with what the club tracks require.

Just want to have fun racing with my kids.

Set track,set controllers and couple tri power packs and a bunch of cars I have collected = Fun times for me and my kids.

Isnt that what this hobby is about? LOL!

Take care and thanks again!

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Hi PD2!

I think the tripower packs will be fine for me and the kids....

I have no intentions of my track ever being a club racing track.

I just wanted away to turn the voltage down to make the cars more driveable and to help with all the deslotting/reslotting issues that come with new unexperienced drivers.

A couple of the tripower packs in place of my current standard set packs should do the trick for me!

I dont need to have the best of the best constantly to be up to par with what the club tracks require.

Just want to have fun racing with my kids.

Set track,set controllers and couple tri power packs and a bunch of cars I have collected = Fun times for me and my kids.

Isnt that what this hobby is about? LOL!

Take care and thanks again!

Wayne :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Last time I checked, fun was definitely on the list of priorities for this or any hobby. LOL!!! Like I said, you have to watch the AFX cars - I've set the power down to 8V and they still were screaming fast to me....only difference was they were not flying off the track. I got a nice AFX Porsche 959 on a Turbo/SRT chassis and it FLIES at 8V, but never comes out of the slot....and that is full throttle on the Aurora controller. The SG+ is a little different story, depending on the car - the ones used for the F1/Indy cars do better than the regular width ones....I think it has a lot to do with the magnets and placement.

Regardless, I think you will have a blast! Enjoy and once you get the tripacks, post up what you personally experience. Hope its what you want!

You are very welcome!
PD2:thumbsup:

Tyco makes some controllers with 3 settings just for this purpose , have not tried them but seen them on greedbay pretty cheap.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=3+speed+tyco&_sacat=See-All-Categories