[Dr_C2]

As mentioned, this is an experimental approach to upgrading Scalextric lane changers. That said, nothing is particularly novel here just some obvious next steps :)


What follows in this post is intended only for  those who are interested in the microcontroller technology in play here. Sorry to everyone else!

The standard Scalextric lane changer uses a 16F630 microcontroller while my experimental upgrade uses the ATtiny3224 - a far newer product so far more capable.

16F630 Key specification
===============

Program Memory = 1kwords i.e. 1k x 14 bits
Static RAM = 64 bytes
Flash Memory = 128 bytes

ATtiny3224 specification
===============

Program Memory = 32kbytes i.e. 32k x 8 bits
Static RAM = 3k bytes
Flash Memory = 256 bytes

So a huge increase in space for program code (x18) and variable arrays etc (x48) and a x2 increase in non-volatile memory space. The question of interest here is what can be achieved with all this additional microcontroller capability?

The ATtiny also has an arithmetic logic unit with fast multiplier hardware - so far better for number crunching too.

Finally, for this post, a graphic showing the pin-out which overlays the Scalextric lane changer perfectly. Extra pins in use are for the two additional sensors mentioned earlier and the hardware serial port. This port is useful for configuration of the lane changer, speed/ID read-out and a ‘black-box’ diagnostic read-out which should be useful as the anticollision side of things is developed.

Thanks for your interest in reading all of above.

c