Product News

You told us that you wanted a 50 degree potentiometer for the RBT that lasted longer than the standard one. We built ourselves a test rig and ran a load of the old design through a range of life tests to get some solid data that we could discuss with the manufacturer. To cut a long story short, the manufacturer has created a new potentiometer design with an improved track layout. We have had these running on the test rig for many 000s of operations now, and the ones we have stripped down show negligible signs of wear. Our tests to establish an exact figure will take some time to conclude but early results are very encouraging, and we are pleased to say that these are now available.

This picture shows the old [top] and new track designs.

It’s here….our new dual channel interface. This nifty board allows you to control two of our DNOs or Pro series from a dual axis joystick. It gives true single-handed control of speed and direction in skid steer vehicles. We used to make an analogue version of this years ago but this one is digital which makes it much more versatile. It can accept pot or hall inputs, and can operate with the throttle in center-off or single ended mode. The steering sensitivity can be adjusted via the trim pot. If you’re building a ride-on tank or Banana Splits type buggy this could be what you need.

We’ve been looking for a cost effective throttle lever for ages now and not found anything suitable, so we thought we’d have a go at building our own. 3D printed in tough rPETG, it’s got removable end stops and center detent. All metal parts are stainless, and it has a hall sensor that’s good for 10 million cycles. Easy to dismantle and all parts are replaceable.  The end result is a substantial, chunky, throttle lever designed for applications where the odd knock is expected.

Our new Pro-360 is now in production. We’re really chuffed that it’s only taken a little over 6 months to go from concept to launch. Using the control board from the Pro-160 meant that we could re-use most of the software, and using the metalwork from the 4QD-300 gave us proven high power hardware. If you need a high power controller with lots of features come and have a look.

We were asked by a Greenpower team to come up with something to help equalise the power available to all three drivers. All too often we see the first driver going hell for leather only for poor old number three to end up looking like the proverbial Miss Daisy and grinding to a halt after 85 minutes. This board plugs in between the normal throttle arrangement and the Porter, and can be used to restrict the power available to each of the first two drivers. Alternatively it can allow multiple engine modes i.e. “normal”, “pass”, and “all out”.

For a while now we’ve been pondering how best to help customers diagnose problems with their controller installations. Our troubleshooting page and checklists have proved popular and effective but we still felt that something was missing. It’s a fact that well over half of all controllers that are sent back to us have nothing wrong with them. So to help track down wiring issues we’ve created this multi-purpose controller test board. It works by temporarily taking the place of the normal control wiring, and helps to identify and isolate problems.

It works with the 4QD, Porter, DNO, and Pro ranges.

It will be appearing in the accessories pages soon. We’ll be making one available free of charge to all model loco clubs [club reps please request yours by email].

Here’s a pre-production prototype of our new programmable battery meter.

It’s very clever version of our old favourite 5 LED battery condition meter, only this one:

• is much more accurate [+/- 0.1V]
• has temperature compensation
• has a low battery cut off function [can interface to most of our controllers to save those valuable LiPos]
• can be programmed [by us] for almost any battery chemistry between 11V and 30V
• will fit existing 5 LED BCM installations