Wiring the stock Artin 1/43 controller for brakes
Warning: Do not attempt this modification if you do not understand the basics of testing electrical circuits for short-circuits. Performing the described modification wrongly could lead to injury and at the very least the potential destruction of your track power supply.
v Dynamic Braking and controllers:
o Most controllers in slot car racing are simply variable resistors. The resistor is in series between the positive wire of the power supply and the track. As you start squeezing the trigger on your controller, there is some resistance between the power supply and the track, limiting the voltage available to the cars on the track to a low value. As you squeeze the trigger more, the resistance decreases and more and more voltage is available to the cars. Finally at full throttle, there is virtually no resistance and all the voltage from the power supply is available at the track.
o So-called dynamic braking in a slot car enables the reverse current generated by the motor while it is coasting (with no throttle applied) to be used to actively/dynamically slow down the motor.
o For a more complete explanation see this article by Paul. There you will find all the diagrams and schematics to explain dynamic braking as well as track wiring diagrams. Excellent track wiring schematic, diagrams, and explanations can also be found on the Professor Motor web site.
v Controllers:
o Typically, a controller NOT wired for brakes will have two wires only
o Typically, a controller wired for brakes will have three wires:
¤ White: connected to the positive of the power supply
¤ Black: connected to the right rail of the lane, when looking at the track from the top
¤ Red: connected to the negative wire of the power supply and also to the left rail of the lane, when looking at the track from the top
o Caution: everything in this article only applies to resistive controllers, not electronic controllers (Prof. Motor, Parma EC, DiFalco, etc É)
v The Artin 1/43 stock controller:
o A typical Artin 1/43 controller is shown in the picture below. It usually comes in either red or blue. Only two wires come out of the controller at the bottom of the handle.
o There is also a smaller version of that controller that comes with the battery-operated sets. The internal components are the same.
v What will be needed for this modification:
o Dremel tool
o Ohm meter
o Soldering iron
o 18-gauge red wire
o Krazy glue or equivalent CA glue
o Three banana plugs (see table below)
o A small piece (2x4 mm) of copper or other pliable/soft metal
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81N1187 |
$0.58 |
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Red Banana plug, solderless |
81N1188 |
$0.58 |
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Black Banana plug, solderless |
81N1189 |
$0.58 |
o The picture above shows: the red wire, one red banana plug, the small piece of metal (barely visible in the middle), and a controller ripped open.
o In the controller, the two wires from the bottom of the handle are connected to the spring mounted trigger (shown here in the off position) and to the other end of the wire wound resistor.
v Opening up the controller
o Unfortunately, the Artin controllers are glued in place with some seriously strong glue (probably some kind of CA glue) and opening them up is very difficult
o This is why I prefer using the Dremel tool to actually cut open a portion of the top of the controller which can later be glued and/or taped back in place. See picture below.
o The next step is to drill a hole in the bottom of the controller handle for the additional wire that we will add for the brakes.
o By cutting and drilling where shown on these pictures, no structural damage should occur to the controllers and the wires inside
v Wiring for brakes:
o First, cut the desired length of red wire and thread it to the hole in the bottom of the handle all the way through to the opening that was cut in the top.
o Very important: Make a knot in the red wire to block the red wire from the inside of the controller against the hole at the bottom of the handle. The knot should be about 5 inches away from the end of the wire that will connect inside the controller.
o Take the small piece of metal, cut it to a size of about 5x3 mm and shape it into an L, lengthwise.
o Then solder the end of the red wire to the bottom of the L. Do not forget that for good soldering, you need to heat up the wire and apply some solder, then heat up the metal piece, apply some solder until the solder start melting on the metal piece, and while leaving the tip of the soldering iron on the metal piece, bring the wire in contact.
o You should then have something equivalent to the following picture. A red wire with the L shaped metal piece soldered to it, showing through the opening at the top of the controller. I highly recommend the rubber band on the trigger, since it will free up the area where the metal piece at the end of the red wire needs to be inserted.
v Putting it all in place:
o The final step is to glue in place the L shaped piece of metal, with the red wire at the bottom and the other part of the L on the edge of the flat piece that holds the wire wound resistor.
o Be careful that the metal L piece does not contact any part of the resistor and/or resistor end-contacts at the top and bottom of the flat piece of insulating material (just some cheap cardboard).
o Evaluate the position of your L shaped piece so that the trigger will touch it when in the off position (throttle fully released)
o When satisfied with the position, glue in place. I use Krazy glue, but most CA glues should work (remember though that you are gluing metal to cardboard).
o Make sure no glue comes on the surface of your L shaped piece where the trigger will contact it as most glues are a great isolator and do not conduct electricity at all
v Finishing the job:
o The final step here is to finish the job by changing the contacts on the wires. This is critical as doing it wrong could lead to shorting your power supply and destroying it, as well as creating potential for injury.
o Use a red banana plug at the end of the newly inserted red wire in your controller
o Cut away the Artin small plug at the end of the black wires
o Using the ohm meter identify which of the two black wires is connected to the trigger, place a black banana plug at the end of this wire
o Using the ohm meter make sure that the other wire is connected to the end of the wire wound resistor (on the side where the trigger would be at full throttle), place a white banana plug.
v Testing the job:
o Place your ohmmeter between the black and white banana plug, make sure that there is 0 (or close to zero) resistance between the two at full throttle
o Place your ohmmeter between the black and white banana plug, make sure that there is an open circuit between the two at no throttle
o Verify that the resistance value on your ohmmeter varies between 0 and 20-25 ohms when moving the trigger from full throttle position to no throttle
o Place your ohmmeter between the red and white banana plug, make sure that there is an open circuit between the two at any position of the trigger
o Place your ohmmeter between the red and black banana plug, make sure that there is an open circuit between the two at any position of the trigger except in the no throttle position where there should be a short circuit () or very small resistance)
v Closing the controller:
o You can now put the piece of the controller housing that was cut away back onto the controller.
o It can be glued back in place, or simply taped back in place for easy access in case of any problem on the controller or in case you want to clean the inside of your controller later.
v Connecting the controller:
o In all case the controller must now be connected in the following way:
v White banana plug: to the positive wire of the power supply
v Black banana plug: to the right rail (when looking from the top) of a lane on the track
v Red banana plug: to the left rail of a lane on the track, which also should be connected to the negative (ground) wire of the power supply.
v What does this mean for the stock Artin 1/43 power supply and power base track piece?
o If you use the standard Artin power base track piece and power supply, they should look something like on the picture below. On the left is the wall wart and on the right is the plug at the end of the wall wart wire (the red part on the plug is the fuse holder, 2A/250V recommended). In the middle is the Power Base track piece, where the plug from the wall wart connects and where you also plug in your controllers.
o If you flip the track piece and plug over you will see several contacts. The middle one goes to both lanes (left rail when looking at the picture above) and should be connected the negative of the power supply. The other two go to the right rails of the lanes and should be connected to the trigger wire of your controllers. Finally, at the bottom of the plug, the oddly shaped (not straight) contact should be connected to the positive of your power supply.
o Before you wire the controllers, you have to verify that the power supply, plug and track pieces you have match the wiring shown above. In addition, I would strongly recommend one more test. Simply plug in the wall wart and the plug at the power base track piece. Using a voltmeter, connect the COM wire from your voltmeter to the contact where the two red arrows point in the picture below. Then, connect the +V wire from your voltmeter to each of the contacts where the white arrows point in the picture below. In both cases you should read a Positive voltage value of 8 to 12V DC. If not, DO NOT ATTEMPT to connect the controllers.
o The picture below shows you how to connect the controllers to the stock Artin power base and plugs. Both red wires from both controllers (the new red wires installed as in this article) need to connect directly to the negative side of the power supply which is the contact with the blue dot on the power base track piece. The black wires (the wires with the black banana plug, i.e. the wires from the trigger of the controllers) need to connect to the left most contact of each pair on contacts on the wall wart plug. The white wires (the wires with the white banana plug) need in turn to connect to the right most contact of each pair of contacts on the wall wart plug
Last Update: 8/19/06 Drop me a note