# AFX 3 level power supply



## riclis28 (Mar 20, 2015)

I have 1 of the new AFX 3 level power supply for my track. It came with my new AFX track. My problem is that I have 2 Tyco 440x2 cars with hot armatures and when I try to run them on expert level they just sit on the track and chatter. They wont move around the track. They run on the beginners level and the intermediate level but they will not run around the track on expert level. What is the problem? Could the downforce magnets be sucking them down to the track that tightly that they wont move. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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## vickers83 (Mar 8, 2010)

riclis28 said:


> I have 1 of the new AFX 3 level power supply for my track. It came with my new AFX track. My problem is that I have 2 Tyco 440x2 cars with hot armatures and when I try to run them on expert level they just sit on the track and chatter. They wont move around the track. They run on the beginners level and the intermediate level but they will not run around the track on expert level. What is the problem? Could the downforce magnets be sucking them down to the track that tightly that they wont move. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


Sounds like the top voltage setting isn`t working. Time to get the trusty volt meter out! :thumbsup:


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

How hot are the arms? The Tri-power only has 1 amp max output. If the start up load draw on the arms are higher than that, you can see those same symptoms. We saw similar issues at drag race events with armatures lower than 4.5 ohms per pole. We moved up to a commercial power supply to solve the problem.

-Paul


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## vickers83 (Mar 8, 2010)

The arms turn on the lower voltage settings Paul....


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

Didn't catch that. It would be prudent to check each of the power settings with a volt meter. We has some odd behaviors with the higher powered arms and the Tri-power. But the voltage was a full 22v.

-Paul


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## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

Call em up for replacement.


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## vansmack2 (Feb 9, 2012)

If you have an old single voltage Tomy/AFX power supply try that to see if it will work with those cars. The voltage on them is usually about 22V. If you can do this you will know if it is your tri-power supply, or just not enough amps for those cars at full power.


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

The higher the applied voltage is the more amps the car will draw. A car with a 6 ohm armature will try to draw 3 amps at 18 volts when it first starts up. A car with a 3 ohm armature wants 6 amps. If the power supply can't handle that much current the voltage will drop a lot, but will go back to its rated voltage once the car gets moving. I looks to me like there is a problem with your power supply when it is on the high setting.


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## [email protected] (Jan 31, 2010)

Hmm I must be confused. 

I thought the higher the voltage the lower the amperage is used. 

For example well pump at 120VAC pulls 12.5amps running.

240VAC pulls 6.25 amps running. 

Am I wrong?


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## blue55conv (May 23, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> Hmm I must be confused.
> 
> I thought the higher the voltage the lower the amperage is used.
> 
> ...


That's for 2 different pumps with the same power rating. If you take a pump rated for 120vac and put 240vac across it, you will get a lot more current.

Ohm's law says Volts = Current times Resistance. That's V = I x R. 

Current = Volts divided by Resistance. That's I = V/R.

If the resistance is constant, then the current increases as the voltage increases.

This is for DC circuits and fixed resistors. Motors are a little more complicated.


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

A DC motor only acts like a resistor when it isn't turning. If you know the resistance and the applied voltage you can calculate the starting current using Ohm's Law. Once the motor starts to spin it acts like a generator and produces a voltage that is the reverse polarity of the applied voltage. The faster the motor spins the higher that voltage will be, the net effect is that the motor will act like it has more ohms as the RPMs increase. If that was not the case you would need a very large power supply to run your track and the cars would quickly burn up.


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## blue55conv (May 23, 2007)

Rich Dumas said:


> A DC motor only acts like a resistor when it isn't turning. If you know the resistance and the applied voltage you can calculate the starting current using Ohm's Law. Once the motor starts to spin it acts like a generator and produces a voltage that is the reverse polarity of the applied voltage. The faster the motor spins the higher that voltage will be, the net effect is that the motor will act like it has more ohms as the RPMs increase. If that was not the case you would need a very large power supply to run your track and the cars would quickly burn up.


Great explanation of back EMF.


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## Gary#8 (Dec 14, 2004)

The new tri-power packs have a type of transistor circuit breaker per the safety laws now in affect for this type device. Most anything with a better arm and magnets above the cars that come with the set will make this circuit breaker trip and reset and trip again over and over in a split second so that is why the car chatters and won't run.  Best thing is the 22v power pack from the older sets. They were made before law change for power packs. I use older AFX 22v packs (wall warts) one for each lane. Hope this helps.


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## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

riclis28 ...... have you found the problem?


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## JazzyJerome (Feb 14, 2012)

Gary#8 said:


> The new tri-power packs have a type of transistor circuit breaker per the safety laws now in affect for this type device. Most anything with a better arm and magnets above the cars that come with the set will make this circuit breaker trip and reset and trip again over and over in a split second so that is why the car chatters and won't run.  Best thing is the 22v power pack from the older sets. They were made before law change for power packs. I use older AFX 22v packs (wall warts) one for each lane. Hope this helps.


Thanks for the info.


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