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SERIOUS POWER FOR SERIOUS RACING! When I first built my track back in 1991, power became a concern. Building a large layout
requires power taps every so often to keep constant juice around the track. Plastic track is far from perfect and connections are not always desirable.
  I built an early power system into my track using 22
ga phone wire, power packs and some old shelving for lane stations. I placed power taps in the track every 10 feet or so by pinching the wire between the rails at certain connections. The 4 22v  Tomy power packs were run one per lane to avoid
the power draw experienced with stock tracks. This system worked pretty well for stock Tycos, T-Jets and AFX cars. SuperG+ came out in 1991, a couple of years after the track was built. The added
downforce of these cars led us to increase the amperage for the track. At the time all we could afford was more power packs, so 4 more packs were added, running 2 per lane in parallel. This
increased the amperage, but not the voltage. This set up lasted for a number of years until we started getting into modified cars. At that time it became obvious that we needed a more serious power set up for the track.   
The first thing to do was pull up all of the 83 feet of track and clean all of the contacts for the connections. This was
done with a wire wheel on a Dremel. Tedious, but worth it when we saw all of the dirt and arcing burns on most of the
connections. Next was to pull out all of the old 22ga wiring and the junction block. Next all of the remaining parts left of the power set up were removed and discarded. What a mess!     
While we were clearing out some of the junk stored under the track we dug up some old sets that were donated to build Vargo Speedway. As we dug through some other boxes we came across some cool old stuff that was stashed away.
Here are the noisemakers for the AFX grandstands and other misc trackside items we found.    
   The next order of business was building the new
power grid assembly. After careful planning we began to layout the new components we had previously purchased. The plan was for 18ga wiring connected to a power grid structure that was accessible and properly assembled. This meant
crimped eyelet connections on everything and a professional looking wire layout. The wire we used was 2 lead thermostat wire we purchased at Home Depot, 100 ft for
@ $35. Our new power taps were to be placed at the beginning of every straight-away, and every ten feet after where necessary.   This amounted to 9 separate power taps through the track  We used 4 individual 8 leg junction blocks, with
one leg handling a second output. All of the wiring was strung to the power taps locations, and the process of
hooking up the power taps came next. Larger holes had to be drilled into the table to allow for the fatter cabling. When the power taps were all
installed, we re-assembled the entire track, placing small dabs of dielectric grease at every connection to keep out dirt and help prevent arcing between the connections. (Don't get this on the track surface.) Now that the entire track was back in
place, it was time to finish the power grid area. 2 amp fuses were placed in the fuse blocks, and the power packs were all plugged in.  Additional junction blocks and 12v power packs were also
installed for track accessory hook-ups. The final project to complete the new power set up was
building the new lane stations and hooking in the brake and directional switches. Once everything was in place, the "switch"
was thrown, and to our amazement, everything worked stellar! The new power was incredible. Nice smooth, clean power everywhere. Well worth all of our efforts.
Later on we added a relay control and track call switches that were integrated into the track and TrakMate track timing
program. I built a special relay box into a 110vac power strip that controlled the 8 Tomy power packs. The track can be controlled by the computer or turned on and off manually. I tapped into the green light signal at the LED starting tower to
control our relay system. The track call buttons do not start and stop the track timing program itself, but if someone
makes a track call that is lengthy, we usually hit the PAUSE key on the keyboard until the crash is remedied. Our
home made relay system works very well. The final step was to tie in the track control lighting around the track into the
relay system. This was achieved by using the other legs out of the Bosch relay. When the track is you get a green all
the way around the track. Red when the track is off. We then placed a toggle switch in the red light circuit to add yellow lights for cautions. A final ON/OFF switch was installed to turn off the track condition lights completely. In 2002 we added a Lambda 0-30 volt, 10 amp power supply to the track, replacing the wall pack
power we had for years. Wow, what a difference! The new power supply meant building a new relay box to control the track power. The new power supply has given us unlimited amperage for
all of our racing needs. The filtered DC power helps keep the cars running cooler and gives much better power "out of the hole". I highly recommend getting filtered power for any serious HO track
layout. Wall packs are the cheaper alternative, but just don't compare.
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