# 1/32 Vintage/modern questions... voltage? slot depth?



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

OK so I'm curious. What kind of voltage did standard 1/32 home sets of the '60s (Revell, AMT, Strombecker, Scalextric, Eldon, anyone else?) run? I've seen Eldon power packs in 3v and I think 6v, but I suspect the 3v ones were toy-type stuff. What kind of amperage backed them up?

Next question: What kind of voltage did commercial slot-car tracks run back then (or now, I guess) when you went to rent time on a big 8-lane track? You could run 1/32 OR 1/24 on them, right?

Finally, what voltage do modern Scaley and Carrera and Fly and Ninco home set cars run on?

Here's what I'm getting at: If I pick up some vintage Eldon junk and beat it into running shape and set up a dinky little layout in the basement, what kind of voltage should I run, and how much amperage do I want to back it up to keep two cars running smoothly at once? Can the same vintage cars be run on someone else's new Carrera home track or on a commercial track, or will I end up with a face full of armature windings from trying to put too much voltage through a motor not designed for it?

I rigged an Artin 1/43 power supply to the old Eldon track I posted about previously. The rating on it said 7.5V, 800mA. It got the old Eldons and some new Artins around the track just fine, but it barely turned the wheels of the 1/32 Parma Womps and the old 1/24 hardbody Cadillac enduro car I have laying around here. I'm assuming that was more a function of the paltry amperage rating than the voltage...

And on a related note... What's the slot depth of modern 1/32 home track, old 1/32 home track from someone like Revell or Scalextric, and commercial large-scale track? The Eldon stuff seems REALLY shallow...

any insight would be greatly appreciated...

--rick


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

OK, I think I half answered my own question. Poking around on SCI, I found a couple old discussions of 1/32 voltage... according to Philippe de Lespinay, who is a slot car historian, all large-scale home sets till 1970 used 12vdc... EXCEPT Eldon, which used 6v, and even 3v on some early sets. Another racer posted that they have been successfully running Eldon cars on 12v and more since the 60s, and only experienced one failed motor...

Another post mentioned that Eldon had about the shallowest slot of all the home sets of the 60s...

--rick


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## RMMseven (Oct 22, 2004)

*12 volts*

Most of the vintage sets had 12 volts and about 1 amp for two cars. Eldon and some others had lower voltage. The vintage cars by Monogram, Cox, etc do not run very well on less than 12 volts. I have found many new cars run fine on 9 volts and sometimes even less. The Eldon cars will run fine on 12 volts. The current race sets by Scalextric, Carrera, Ninco and SCX are 15 to 17 volts but do not have much amperage.

Eldon and Scalextric Classic & SCX track have a rather shallow slot.

It's really a shame that nobody got together and agreed upon making all of these tracks work together (like the model rail roaders).


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## jas (Apr 7, 2006)

*Power Supplies*

ParkRNDL,

Little late to your thread. Posters are right, most old and newer stuff was/is around 12-13.8 volts.

For 3 and 6 volt cars, perhaps have transformer near by for them only. If you want to run a 6 volt and 12 volt same time. Just hook up 6 volt power supply to lane A, and 12 volt to lane B.

The rest you could run at, say 13.8. If cost is not a hindrance. Something like a TrakMate is great. Variable volts from zero to 27 and amps from zero to ten.

You can then dial in volts/amps for each lane. Allowing you to run any car, and optimize best volts/amps conditions for each one.

Also, PMDC motors are fairly forgiving. Else they’d all throw in the towel on all those magnet RTRs. Magnet cars place huge demands on motors when thinking about stiction & friction.

Not saying to do it. But have run 12 volt motors way beyond 18 volts, no issues. Run them for hours this way, no. Don’t recommend running motors with zero load at high volts either.

What is meant is, for brief stretches, like straights, doesn't hurt them to run beyond the label. Most home layouts don’t have 30-55 foot straights. In those instances, long straights, would dial back the volts some.

Hope this helps a little . . .


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## Soulrider (Aug 3, 2020)

When I was a kid back in the 60's. I had an AFX 1:32 track the power supply was 12 volt. One day a friend came over to use it and brought a big Lionel train power supply. Which i believe was 18 volts, and many more Amps. So we didn't dare turn it up all the way or it would fry the engines. They had so much power that they would jump straight up off the track doing flips twisting. We then put bleach on the track for flaming burnouts. Have Fun and Stay Safe.


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