Full power is just a question of connecting the power supply tothe tapes - and hence to the motor. An on-off switch would do this bit!The less resistance at full power the faster the car will go - so low resistancecontacts and thick wire help. For ultimate performance a fullpower relay may help.

In some circumstances, it is an advantage to have less then fullpower. This is provided by a 'choke' - usually an adjustableresistor with a resistance of a small fraction of an ohm. Link- how to connect a choke
(Rather confusingly, 'choke' has more than one meaning. Inelectronics 'choke' is a term for an inductor. In normalslot racing controller jargon 'choke' means a devices for reducingpower in which inductance is usually irrelevant.)

Brakes

Brakes are achieved by connecting the motor terminals together.This makes the motor act like a dynamo and slows itself down quickly. The lessresistance on brake the sooner the car will stop - so low resistance contactsand thick wire help. This is called 'Dynamic braking'.

In the very early days of slot racing controllers didn't havebrakes, so the cars just coasted to a halt slowed only by friction, some homesets are still made this way.

Many drivers find reducing the braking effect can improve thedrivability at some circuits. The controller can easily provide variable brakesby inserting a variable resistor between the brake band and the negativesupply. Lower resistance give more braking. Link-how to connect a brake box

Cornering

Reducing power for corners is the main area where controllershave developed in recent years. The normal method of reducing the motorpower is to waste some of the power as heat. All resistance controllers,all diode controllers and most transistorized controllers work this way.

Traditionally a variable resistor has been used to reduce power.This usually consists of many turns of resistance wire wound on a ceramicformer, with a wiper making contact direct on the resistance wire. Up till thelate 1980s this was the only technology generally available. It worked prettywell, and when the resistor suits the car you are driving the advantagesof anything more complicate are marginal . The major disadvantage is thatone resistor didn't suit all cars and all tracks. Too low a resistance andyou cannot go slow enough round some corners - in extreme cases (e.g. Scalextriccar on 5 ohms) you end up with something not much better than an on-off switch!Too much resistance and all the action happens too near the full power - inextreme cases (e.g. Group 12 car on 25 ohms) you end up with something not muchbetter than an on-off switch again! Some people had several differentcontrollers - Some people found ways of adjusting the resistance - but theproblem was really solved by the introduction of transistorized controllerswhich were very widely used by the early 1990's. There is more on resistance controllers here.

There is an alternative approach to allthis hot stuff - that is to switch the power on and off very quickly - if thisis done fast enough (say hundreds of times a second) the motor behaves just asif the power has been reduced by more conventional means. This method producesvery little heat (and wastes very little track power). The wasting very littlepower is vital for electric powered radio controlled cars that carry theirbatteries in the car - so 'switching' controllers are very widely usedin RC cars. Wasting heat is not a problem to slot racers as long as it can be dissipatedadequately (simply a question of large enough / high enough power ratingresistors, and enough heat sinks on the transistors.) It's half jokinglyobserved that many club rooms need warming up in winter!

Plunger Controllers

A plunger controller should be wired to a plug asfollows-

NOTE this diagram is for a modern plungercontroller - the long obsolete 'barrel' controllers fromMRRC , VIP or Tradeship must be wired differently seeseparate diagram .

NOTE - This diagrams omits switches, fuses etc. Click here for the full instructions on track wiring.

The diagram on the left shows how to wire a resistancecontroller. The plug from on top. The plugs almostinvariably have N E and L molded in if you look closely. On the left isthe standard for track wiring. The controller should always be wiredthe same way with the positive (+) side of the power supply going to thecontroller, and the negative (-) side going direct to the track and braketerminal.

The wire colours shown are conventional plug wiring. Theimportant thing is the right pin goes to the correct part of the controller.MRRC controllers always used to have green to N; red to E ; and black toL.

For controllers with no brake connection only have two wires,these are connected to the N and L pin, see the sectionon resistance controllers for more detail.

Trigger controllers

Trigger controllers should be wired to a plug as follows.

The wire colours shown are standard for Parma controllers. Generally US made controllers come with Croc clips or 4mm banana plugs in the coloursshown below. This is because their tracks have 3 separate studs, or 3 separate studs for controller connectionrather than the normal British 3 pin plug. When I say British, this is the BSCRAstandard, but most non- BSCRA clubs also follow this standard.

Scalextric Sport and Ninco resistance controllers are connected to the track with a jack plug. These are connected as shown . The cable end contact is connected to the power band (L on a BSCRA style plug). The center contact is connected to the the controller wiper (N on a BSCRA style plug). The end contact is connected to the the controller brake band (E on a BSCRA style plug).

A choke (in slot racing jargon) is a device forreducing power to the car. The diagram below shows an exampleof where to connect an external choke.

Adjustable braking reduces the car's breaking from the full dynamic brakingprovided by the controller's brake contacts. They can be built intothe controller or housed in a separate external box, Often the brakeadjustment uses an adjustable resistance of a fraction of an ohm. The diagrambelow shows an example of where an external brake box isconnected.

Plugs

If your plug has a cable clamp us it to clamp the outerinsulation of the cable. This reduces the strain on the conductors so will helpwith reliability.

A plug with split pins is better able to accommodate variable orworn sockets. Most plugs have solid pins, but a few minutes with a hack saw cansort that out. Lumps of solder or other solid additions to the pins shouldbe avoided - (a) they don't work as well as split pins and (b) they just stretchthe sockets and give everybody else a problem!