Digital Conversion of the C3664A James Bond Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger
This Scalextric Digital conversion is made more complicated than normal because of the working ejector seat and rear bullet proof shield.
	It is often said that it is impossible to carry out a Digital Conversion of a C3664A James Bond Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger. Mainly because of the general lack of space inside to car due to the working mechanisms. So...we converted one to show how it's done. In this side view you can see the digital chip fitted to the underside of the rear parcel shelf. The wires from the pick-up to the digital chip and the wires from the chip to the motor are on this side of the car too.
	This is a close up showing the digital chip under the parcel shelf and the wires secured to the rear of the cabin to keep them away from the gears. We have used the Scalextric Digital C7005 In-Car Microprocessor.
	In this picture you can see the routing for the wires. In the original car the wires to the rear light LEDs run under the cabin on the inside of the cabin fixing screws. The new wires for the digital conversion also route under the cabin, this time on the outside of the cabin fixing screws. The wires for the motor have been extended to reach the motor tags at the front of the car. The wires for the lane changing LED run more centrally following the path of the driveshaft.
	There really isn't much to see on the left hand side of the car, apart from the ejector seat activation lever. This is why no wires run down the left hand side in this installation.
	From the rear the digital chip can be clearly seen under the rear parcel shelf. The other small printed circuit boards are for the rear lights.
	From the underside you can see the Infra Red LED is fitted into a new hole in the chassis just behind the motor. A tiny drop of superglue keeps the LED in position under the driveshaft.
	This is the C3664A James Bond Aston Martin DB5 Goldfinger digital conversion complete. Apart from the Infra Red LED you'd never know the conversion had taken place. No cutting of bodywork and the body fits to the chassis completely as normal. Both the ejector seat and rear bullet proof shield mechanisms operate as normal, as do the lights.

Another great Digital conversion from Scalextric Car Restorations

Fried chips and smokin' motors - Keeping the vital parts of a Scalextric car cool by understanding "duty cycle"

In order for your Scalextric car to give the best and ongoing performance it is necessary for the key components not to get too hot. The key components discussed in this article is the motor and the digital chip (if fitted). This article uses the notion of "duty cycle" to keep your Scalextric cars cool and running well.

Duty cycle
In this World not all machinery or equipment is capable of running or operating continuously. Some equipment needs to be serviced, some may wear out and some may get hotter and hotter in use. This would indicate that the equipment needs a period of rest between usage periods. This "on" verses "off" time is known as the duty cycle.

For example one of our instant soldering guns can be used for 12 seconds but must then rest for 40 seconds to allow the transformer to cool down. After the 40 seconds cool down period it can be used again for 12 seconds, etc. This on / off period is known as the duty cycle for this soldering gun.
Duty cycle may be expressed in time as in the soldering gun example or as a percentage. For example a 75% duty cycle could mean the equipment can be operated for 3 minutes and then rested for 1 minute.

Smokin' Scalextric motors
None of the motors used in any of the Scalextric cars is capable of continuous racing conditions. They are capable of long term use at slow speeds. As the race continues the motor is unable to dissipate the heat it generates and the motor just gets hotter and hotter. That is until the internal solder joints melt and the motor stops working with permanent damage.
Sometimes a tiny amount of oil contamination on the commutator will start to burn and the motor will emit smoke and smell of burning.
It therefore follows that a Scalextric motor has a duty cycle to let the motor cool down between races. All motors, cars and track layouts will be different but to be safe it is best to assume a duty cycle of 50%. That is race for 5 minutes and let the motor cool for 5 minutes, or race for 10 minutes and let the motor cool for 10 minutes. I'm sure you've got the idea by now.

Fried Scalextric digital chips
The Scalextric digital chip is nothing more than some basic electronics and a single micro chip computer to manage the communication side of things. The chip has 3 main sections; the power supply, the micro processor and the motor power drive. Even when operating in analogue the chip is still regulating the power to the motor. Note, there is no overcurrent protection on the Scalextric digital chips.
The power supply and micro processor are well enough designed to not usually cause a problem. The cause of failed digital chips is the motor power drive transistors. These drive transistor turn on and off many times a second to control the power to the motor. The transistor on time and off time is controlled by the micro processor based on the hand throttle position.
When the motor power transistors are switched on they effectively become low value resistors allowing the electrical current to flow through the motor. When the transistors are switched off they effectively become high value resistors stopping the electrical current from flowing through the motor.
When the motor power transistors are switched off there's no current flow and therefore no heat generated within the transistors. Therefore off is no problem for heat generation.
When the transistors are switched on, the full motor current passes through the transistors and heat is generated within the transistors. So, the more on time the more heat generated per unit time. The more on time, the more power to the motor, the harder the motor is working, In this case full speed racing will generate more heat in the motor power transistors and as this heat builds up there comes a point where the internal silicon of the transistor effectively melts. This will destroy the transistor function - fried chip.
Again the Scalextric digital chip has a duty cycle depending on the chip installation, motor, car and track layout. In this case Silicon cools very quickly so a duty cycle of 75% would be OK. However, we should limit the race time to prevent the heat building in the first place. We recommend not racing for more than 5 minutes to prevent permanent damage to the Scalextric digital chips.

Article from Scalextric Car Restorations

Digital conversion of Scalextric C2808 Range Rover Police car

This Scalextric Digital conversion is made more complicated than normal because of the working Police lights and siren. All the Scalextric Police cars can be converted to Digital using this process.
	This is the Scalextric C2808 Range Rover Police car as delivered by the customer. The car is new and unused. Now all it needs is a digital chip fitting…. However, this is a Police car with working lights and a siren. The electronics that power the lights and siren is not compatible with Scalextric Digital as the power feed needed is not provided by the Digital track or the Digital chip output to the Scalextric motor. As you’ll see later in this conversion we fit a special power adaptor to ensure the lights and siren all work correctly after the Digital conversion.
	Here the Range Rover has been opened up to reveal the contents. From left to right you can see the following; steel weight, rear axle, motor, electronic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) for the lights and siren, guide fixing screw, front axle and lastly another steel weight right at the front. In this arrangement the power from the track goes directly to the PCB and the wires for the motor also go to the PCB. There is a small piece of electronics between the track and motor to ensure the motor is always driven in the right direction. This electronics is known as a bridge rectifier and is used for the lights and siren too. Again, to ensure the correct polarity of Direct Current (DC) is fed to the electronics.
	In this picture you can see we have fitted the Scalextric Digital chip between the motor and the existing PCB. The Digital chip is secured in position with a small amount of superglue. We do this before we remove any components so we can be certain that all the parts will fit in position once the car is reassembled. We have used the Scalextric Digital C7005 In-Car Microprocessor.
	A close up of the Scalextric Digital C7005 In-Car Microprocessor in position with all the other components still in place.
	Now we have removed the electronic PCB to give the access need to complete the fitment of the Digital chip. We unsoldered the wires from the motor and the guide contacts. That’s four wires in total and two screws to remove the PCB from the chassis. All the wires from the PCB into the upper half of the body are untouched and remain connected.
	Here the Infra Red LED is fitted into the existing hole in the chassis just behind the guide blade. A tiny drop of superglue keeps the LED in position. The wires are also soldered to the motor in the same position as the original wires from the PCB. We’ve also added a piece of insulation tape on the top and side of the motor to ensure nothing can short out which would damage the Digital chip.
	In this picture the installation of the Digital chip is complete and the wiring tidied up This is now a fully working Scalextric Digital conversion but without the working lights and siren.
	The motor feed wires from the original PCB are trimmed off as they are no longer needed and could short out if left as they were. The original PCB is then refitted to the chassis with only two wires to connect. These were the feed wires that originally connected to the guide blade contact.
	As stated at the start of this article the feed wires for the siren and lights cannot be connected to the track connections or the motor connections directly. For the technical out there, the PCB needs analogue DC 6 Volts to 14 Volts. The Digital track provides AC and the drive to the motor from the Digital chip is a Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) signal. Therefore, we use this unique power adaptor.
	The power adaptor is fitted at the very rear of the chassis behind the metal weight and secured with a drop of superglue. The power adaptor has four wires, 2 are the power feed in from the motor and two are the corrected power output to the PCB for the lights and siren. Red and black wires to the motor tags and green and black output wires to the PCB.
	Close up of the power adaptor in location. The power adaptor takes in the PWM signal from the Digital chip to the motor and creates stable analogue DC 6 Volts to 14 Volts just like the PCB needs.
	In this picture the power adaptor has been connected up to the car and all the conversion work inside the car is complete.
	Back together and there’s no way to know that this Scalextric C2808 Range Rover Police car has been converted to digital. Everything works just as it used to including the lights and siren on both the traditional analogue layout as well as on a digital track.
	The finished car from below. Just the LED to see from this view.
	A close up of the LED just behind the guide blade

Another great article from Scalectric Car Restorations

Broken Scalextric Digital

It is without doubt that Scalextric Digital is a great innovation.  Controlling your Scalextric cars individually via a digital data stream is a great idea allowing multiple cars on one slot and having the ability to change lanes.  Simply fantastic.
However, Hornby (Scalextric), as is their style, have almost completely failed to deliver the dream.  So, what’s the problem, I hear you say.  Well, where to start? Let’s start with the track.  The powerbase has little or no short circuit protection, which means if the track rails are shorted out with a small piece of metal then the controller will fail, permanently.  Time to buy a new one.
Then, there’s the lane change pieces of track.  These use small electromagnets known as solenoids to move the points to allow the cars to change lane.  These are very poorly produced resulting in the points frequently sticking and stopping the cars from changing lanes.  If you are going to have active pieces of track then at least make sure it all works properly.  Does anybody test anything at Hornby?
Now we consider the cars, or actually, the digital chip that fits inside the cars.  The biggest mistake of all made by Hornby is this.  There were FOUR version of the chip.  What barking mad idiot thought that was the right thing to do and how did the Hornby board of directors allow that to happen.  Plain madness.  To make things worse the TWO saloon versions of the chip have proved very unreliable whereas the smaller single seater versions have proved quite good.

Additionally, the output of the chip is not protected so, again, a short circuit within the car will cause the chip to fail, permanently.  Time to buy a new chip.
With all this going on is Scalextric Digital worth investing in?  We’re simply not sure.  All we know is, our customers who have Scalextric Digital really enjoy it even with all the associated risks and problems.  Your choice really.
Brought to you by Scalextric Car Restorations.

Scalextric Digital conversion of C126 Lotus 77
	This Scalextric C126 Lotus 77 model was in very good working order and the owner wanted it brought up to date. Digital conversion, new Mabuchi motor, high grip tyres and a Neodymium magnet. These upgrades will give this car a new lease of life and more pleasure to the owner. Below is how we carried out the digital conversion and the other upgrades.
With the body removed the original Johnson 111 motor can be seen along with the simple wiring These cars form the early 1970s were not that complicated.
	This is where we started. A completely bear chassis moulding. Now we can build the desired car.
Starting to build up the chassis with the new Mabuchi motor. Note the 2 adaptor pieces, one at each end of the motor. This gives the Mabuchi motor the same form factor as the Johnson 111 motor. The adaptor at the rear of the motor has been shaped to mount the digital chip. The 3mm hole has been drilled for the LED.
	The lane changing LED is glued into position. We are using the C7005 In-Car Microprocessor manufactured by Scalextric. The C7005 chip is for use with Formula 1 cars as it’s smaller than the C7006 which is used for saloon cars.
The C7005 In-Car Microprocessor has been fitted into position and secured with adhesive to stop it moving around. The LED wires are tucked in under the digital chip.
	The wires that go to the motor from the C7005 In-Car Microprocessor are a little too short with the digital chip fitted where it is. We added new wire to the motor to extend the original wires.
The wires to the motor were tailored in length, soldered together and protected with a piece of insulation tape. A length of tape is also added to the digital chip to protect it from damage.
	The original guide will be used so the wires from the digital chip are trimmed and terminated with the correct 1.95mm guide pins.
The guide pins were pushed into the guide moulding and the guide is refitted to the chassis. The wires to the digital chip were looped to ensure there’s no stress on the digital chip as the guide rotates.
	The original axles were fitted with new high grip tyres and then they were refitted to the chassis. At this stage a D.C. functional test is carried out to confirm the electrical integrity of the digital chip installation. The C126 Lotus 77 model cannot be run on the track until the body is fitted.
The body and engine mouldings are fitted and the Neodymium magnet was fitted between the motor and the rear axle on the underside of the chassis. This gives the car lots of grip for acceleration and for cornering. The magnet is secured with a drop of adhesive.
	The car was tested on our Digital Test track. Everything worked as expected including the lane change LED. We also assessed the new motor, tyre grip and the effect of the Neodymium magnatraction magnet. Each digitally converted car gets a thorough workout to ensure the car is as good as it can be.
With the rear wing fitted this car is complete and ready to be returned to it’s owner. The car has had a new Mabuchi motor, new C7005 In-Car Microprocessor, new high grip superslix tyres and a Neodymium magnet fitted. This car is now more like a modern Scalextric car and nothing like cars from the period.

Digital conversion of Scalextric C3092 Lotus 49

Digital conversion of Scalextric C3092 Lotus 49 by Scalextric Car Restorations
	This is the Scalextric C3092 Lotus 49 as delivered by the customer. The car is new and unused. Now all it needs is a digital chip fitting.
	With the two halves of the Lotus separated there looks like just enough room for the Digital chip. Note the underside of the driver’s legs on the upper half of the car.
	All the original wiring has been removed to create as much space as possible.
	Trial fitting of the digital chip. It fits ! Just. We have used the Scalextric Digital C7005 In-Car Microprocessor as it’s the smallest of those available.
	Now we know the digital chip fits, we can start the installation process. Firstly, the lane change LED is secured into position just behind the guide. A hole of the right size was already present in the chassis.
	With the LED in position the next job is to glue the digital chip into position. It’s tight against the motor mount and sits on top of one body post and is clear of the other front body post.
	Here the contacts are fitted to the guide blade. We elected to keep all the wire and not to cut it. There’s just enough room for it all.
	Now the wires are soldered to the motor terminals.
	All the wires are tucked away and the driver has been cut away to give clearance for the chip and wires. The lower part of the steering wheel has also been removed.
	To hide the installation from the top we have secured white card to the underside on the body.
	The finished car from above. Note the chip is hidden from view by the white card. The body and underpan are fitted correctly with no gaps or other visible evidence of the digital conversion.
	The finished car from below. Just the LED to see from this view.

Another great Scalextric Digital conversion by Scalextric Car Restorations