Hi, for newbees in the Carrera system it is often tricky with it. This here is an example of it. You can only run the cross sections if you use two in your track. One won`t work. It is obvious why not, if you are familliar with electricity. The average customer doesn`t know it. The current flow is disconnected, due to the plastic cross in the middle of the cross track piece. It only works, if you run over it, with a certain amount of speed, if you use both crossing pieces. If you run over it too slow, the car will stop. Same issue at the Go!! system with those cross sections, as well as on the intermission parts. I do leave out those pieces from my analog tracks. If you run the digital system, it is possible, to have only one lane cross changing piece in your layout, because in the digital system, you can run the cars on each lane. On the Evolution system, Carrera recomends a lenght of not longer than 12 - 15 meters, to not need extra power supply. This goes for the digital system, too. There are folks, that mount extra power supplies after only one meter. Therefore, the power transmission is fully secured on the whole track length. You are loosing power after each trackpiece connection due to the transfer resistance. The amount is not much, but you can measure it after a longer way on the track with an Ohm-Meter. What you could also do is, to smear a slight film of Ballistol oil on the rails. That secures the power transmission and keeps the rails also clean. To drop a small drop of Ballistol oil on the braids from time to time keeps the braids clean, too. Ballistol oil is actually for cleanning weapons, but it is also a nutrition. You could cook with it as well. But it does not taste well at all 🙂 Actually there is no use for the oil, if you have the Carrera track system, because the rails are made from stainless steel. But on other track systems they are not. Than, the trick with the Ballistol oil is helpful to prevent corrosion and aslo it supports the current flow, like I mentioned before. It is necessary to clean the rails from time to time though. The friction from the braids on the rails and other dirt will leave a dirt film on the rails. I use alcohol, like Isopropanol, to clean them. In the Carrera Go!! system, you can have track lenghts of over 28 meters and they won`t need an extra power supply for bothlanes. I did just that with on layout. I did read in Carrera forums of the Go!! system, that one had a length of about 100 meters and it worked just fine on one lane. Keep your guide in the slot and greetings from Northen Germany 🙂
Hi, for newbees in the Carrera system it is often tricky with it. This here is an example of it. You can only run the cross sections if you use two in your track. One won`t work. It is obvious why not, if you are familliar with electricity. The average customer doesn`t know it. The current flow is disconnected, due to the plastic cross in the middle of the cross track piece. It only works, if you run over it, with a certain amount of speed, if you use both crossing pieces. If you run over it too slow, the car will stop. Same issue at the Go!! system with those cross sections, as well as on the intermission parts. I do leave out those pieces from my analog tracks. If you run the digital system, it is possible, to have only one lane cross changing piece in your layout, because in the digital system, you can run the cars on each lane.
On the Evolution system, Carrera recomends a lenght of not longer than 12 - 15 meters, to not need extra power supply. This goes for the digital system, too. There are folks, that mount extra power supplies after only one meter. Therefore, the power transmission is fully secured on the whole track length. You are loosing power after each trackpiece connection due to the transfer resistance. The amount is not much, but you can measure it after a longer way on the track with an Ohm-Meter.
What you could also do is, to smear a slight film of Ballistol oil on the rails. That secures the power transmission and keeps the rails also clean. To drop a small drop of Ballistol oil on the braids from time to time keeps the braids clean, too. Ballistol oil is actually for cleanning weapons, but it is also a nutrition. You could cook with it as well. But it does not taste well at all 🙂
Actually there is no use for the oil, if you have the Carrera track system, because the rails are made from stainless steel. But on other track systems they are not. Than, the trick with the Ballistol oil is helpful to prevent corrosion and aslo it supports the current flow, like I mentioned before.
It is necessary to clean the rails from time to time though. The friction from the braids on the rails and other dirt will leave a dirt film on the rails. I use alcohol, like Isopropanol, to clean them.
In the Carrera Go!! system, you can have track lenghts of over 28 meters and they won`t need an extra power supply for bothlanes. I did just that with on layout.
I did read in Carrera forums of the Go!! system, that one had a length of about 100 meters and it worked just fine on one lane.
Keep your guide in the slot and greetings from Northen Germany 🙂