[woodcote]

It’s now time to wire up the track...

   

Again we’ll be working from the bottom, while the diagrams look down from above… It’s important to mark the underside with the direction and which wire goes to which rail…

   

I have already tinned the tabs (flux paste, solder and a quick dab of a hot iron) and the wire ends. So it is a straightforward join without having to apply heat for very long and risk hot rails melting any plastic…

   

The wire I’ve used is big – rated at 15 amps - and doesn't give the neatest joins to the track tab. The wire is a lot bigger than we need, but I’ve always followed the advice of wiring a slot car track with large gauge wire. To be honest, 10 amp cable would be more than adequate for a home track, but this cable is readily available and easy to use.

Flipping the track back over, I hooked the banana plugs up to a power supply and used a Parma resistor controller to test a car would work – and move in the correct direction. It did…

   

The final bit of wiring was an optional power tap. This set-up will be used for solo running on a test track, so I wanted the controller box to drive both lanes. I used large-gauge component wire to bridge the two lanes – making sure I connected the same rails so the car would go in the same direction…

   

I tested it and car does indeed run on both lanes in the same direction. This link also acts as a power tap if the track is run with a single crossover piece.

That could be it… but I want to tidy up and protect the wiring with a foamboard base, which I’ll also attach the box to.