[Zippideedooda]

One more follow up to your post Woodcote. 

Yes because the track is only 40ft. the LC's occur immediately after curves. So it is possible some of the intermittent operation is caused by the cars missing the track sensors, but I have run the cars at very slow speeds to test this, and still have missed lane changes.

[woodcote]

Thanks for the reminder about the track photos - that's a good size track, about 5ft longer than the track I set up at home. I don't need to use jumpers on mine.

I think you've narrowed down the issue. I'd still be tempted to isolate the LCs from the big track in a small oval with the powerbase. I think that would set your mind at ease that the LCs are functioning correctly on their own. And you could test them straight after a corner and see if there any issues. However, with a variety of cars, I would expect only some cars to miss the sensor, not all. Most should get through at low speed and if manually pushed over the sensor. I did notice that you can move one lane changer a 1/2 straight away from the corner. I'd be tempted to do that.

The power drop is the main cause for concern. Almost any track - designed in software or built freehand - won't join up perfectly. The Scalextric track does allow for some flexibility (unlike the more rigid HO track pieces, plus Carrera etc) and with a bit of 'jiggling' a small-ish gap should be easily swallowed up. A 1cm gap should be fine. However, that jiggling needs to be done right around the track - a 1cm gap spread over 20 or more track joins is nothing. Closing a 1 cm gap at one track join might cause problems.

One thing I would check is that the plastic tabs at the track joins are locking tight. Sometimes - especially with new track - the tabs don't lock. If that's the case, lift the little 'locking' tab upwards...

   

If you can identify exactly where the power drop begins, that will help you find the problematic track join. If you temporarily disconnect the track from the right-hand side of the powerbase, you'll probably get a dead stop where the problem is - or at least a more pronounced drop.

Good luck

[Zippideedooda]

   
Well this evening I broke down, literally, my track so I could test my 3 LC's. 
Happy to say they all worked flawlessly with multiple cars and controllers.
So that narrows down the issue to either poor conductivity, caused by track being stretched make a connection, or from not having at least a half straight before the LC's.
All my LC's come immediately after curves. 
More testing to come.

[Zippideedooda]

    This afternoon I began to modify my track with the plan to try and add a half straight in front of each of my 3 LC"s so they would switch when asked to.

I was able to do this on one LC. Another LC I moved around the corner from my pit lane and in front of my power base section. This provides a full straight section in front of the LC.
The third LC I was only able to put a qtr. straight in front of. At least that's better than it was before.

Then I gave the new setup a go.

And... one lane was dead from LC 2 all the way around to the power section. ? 

Taking a hard look at the track joints I noticed this...see photo.

This lower joint is the same lane without power. It appears the metal rail is not long enough. Could this be causing the power outage? 

I took this LC out and replaced it with straight pieces and POW! power was restored to the troublesome lane. 

Would this be covered under warranty?

[Zippideedooda]

So I reread my previous post and noticed that I neglected to mention that this short rail occurs on the end of LC3. 
And also this LC was not a piece that came with the Arc Pro Platinum set I bought in January.
This LC was purchased separately, from an auction site and a vender that sold a variety of "cheap" goods. So the warrenty idea is not looking good.
Just to confirm my suspicions. I replaced a good LC with the questionable LC, and the dead lane issue returned, affecting the area of track that now contained that LC.
Why this LC worked perfectly when placed in the small circle test track earlier I am unsure. Maybe the length of the track has something to do with it.

[woodcote]

It shouldn't be a disaster, but if the connection is stressed at all, you might lose contact. I'd expect a nice, straight connection in the oval and no problems there.

It does look like the 'short' rail is raised a little. You could gently flatten the end down - and certainly tightening the tab underneath will help...



You might be able to shift the rail slightly towards the end of the track piece when you do this.

If that doesn't work, do you have a soldering iron?

Ultimately, this could be a lesson learned... I avoid buying used digital stuff - powerbases, lane changers, chips etc. It can be a false economy.

[Zippideedooda]

Well I wanted to post an update on the temperamental LC I have. I took Woodcotes suggestion and soldered the short rail to a short straight section of track[attachment=15571).
Then I decided to redo my layout design and try to include at least a half straight section before each LC. I was able to accomplish that but only by buying some R1 curves and more short and quarter straights in Sport track, eliminating the old 90 degree R1 classic track and converter tracks that were in the layout.
And the results so far are...no more dead rails and the LC seems to be working great! And I replaced the last straight section with some R4 curves for more sweeping curve action! Now the layout has all four radius's of curves in it.

[Zippideedooda]

More photos of changes.            
   
I'm thinking that this should put an end to my LC blues. Happy Racing Everybody!