Slot.it SCP-1 Hand Control

Tested in Analogue

For years I have waited patiently for the perfect electronic hand control but always settled on my trusty Parma Pro Turbo’s in varying ohm ratings. There was always the issue of a flexible trigger which I meant I would pull the wiper away from the contacts or reliability issues that many of my fellow racers were having with their electronic controls.

The trigger on the SCP-1 does not make contact with any form of resistor at all, but instead gets its signal from a magnetic readout of the trigger position. This does not cause any loss of sensitivity and gives a smother feed of power than any resistor controller could give, once you learn the best set up for yourself.

The controller has a nice feel in the palm of the hand along with a surprisingly light weight which is contrary to its size. The trigger action is very light and a relief to those of us who suffer from worn out hands, (work related) of course. I used the control for four hours straight when I set it up with our race groups connections. The controller is wired the same as a Parma although Mauricio has stated that he does not agree with the colours of the wiring it was simpler to stick with a known standard. I would have to agree with him here.

After initially testing the control at Armchair Racer on their massive Carrera 8 laner I was eager to run it on my own tight and undulating layout. I selected one of my more difficult cars to drive, on my track at least.

Starting Out

Before plugging in the controller you must remember not to put your car on the lane. The controller needs to power up first so the car will take off and smash at the end of the straight if you forget this.

For a simple start up I flicked the switch on the back to Linear. This will give the power curve a simple and consistent feel. The power is transferred to the rails of the track relative to the trigger position. 25% trigger means 25% power.

There are two dip switches on the top of the controller marked 1 & 2.move any of the switches to the on position. If left with both in the up(off) position in liner mode the “Curve/Max†dial acts as a power limiting device. This is handy for young children using the controller as you can limit the maximum volts the controller supplies to the track. With the dip switches in any of the other positions you can adjust the “Min Speed%†of the car in the slowest corner on the track.

I found this a good point to start adjusting the controller. You may have found that your normal controller is not always suitable on some tracks as you have to pull the throttle halfway in to get the car to move. The “Min Speed†dial allows you to get the car to the minimum track speed as soon as you start to pull the throttle in, giving a quicker response.

Next you can adjust the “Power Trim†to control the current supplied to the motor. This will hopefully tame the dreaded Ninco hop on those torquey long can motors.

The “Curve/Max†sets the voltage supplied to the track at 99% travel of the throttle when in “Linear†mode. This is useful when allowing beginners to drive those precious slot cars as you can lower the allowable voltage for them.

Brake

I will explain the brake in detail as it has a rather interesting setting I found quite useful for my twisty track.

When the brake dial is turned to the right the brake operation acts as most of us who use adjustable brakes expect. When you turn the adjuster from the “0†setting, which is zero brakes, the braking force gradually increases to “10â€Â, which is full brakes.

When turning the knob to the left we have a different style of braking procedure. When the car initially starts to brake, the braking force is full brakes. Over a time period entering the corner the braking force decreases. This time period is determined by the dial position to the left of the “0â€Â. The longest time period is 1.7 seconds and the shortest is 0.5 seconds. The benefit of this is to allow the car to be smoother entering a corner and when getting back on the throttle. Often you will find when using normal braking that the car is unstable when going from brakes to power, but this setting stops the issue. On a fast track with long straights and tight corners the standard setting would be more suitable.

There are two more ways to adjust the brake when being used in “analogue†but I found them cumbersome, not having driven on a digital track.

The up and down arrows on the side can be used to change braking settings at certain times as you require and the large red “hand brake†button can be used to grab full brakes should they be required. I found this difficult to master as you had to have full throttle on to get the “hand brake “ to operate and it was easy to lift off the brake and end up with the car spinning under full power once you release the brake.

Curve Mode

When switching the switch on the back of the controller to “CRV†you will find another setup tool. In this mode all controls do the same except for the “Curve/Max†dial along with the two dip switches on the top of the control. This is not easy to explain in simple terms, for a simple person anyway but I will give it a go.

You no longer have a flat power curve in this mode. When switching dip switch 1 to on and leaving dip switch 2 off the following can happen. With the “Curve/Max†dial at 10 the mid point of the power curve will be at 35% throttle. From here the power rises more sharply to the maximum at 100% throttle.

With dip switch 1 off and dip switch 2 on the mid point is 45% of throttle travel. This means power will be more gradual to the mid point and will come on more sharply past this point.

With both switches on the mid point is 55% and with both off the mid point is 65%. This setting may be more useful with a magnet car than a non magnet car where you have a lot of grip from magnetic down force, but I found it difficult on my track with no real straight sections. I did find it worked OK on Armchair Racers very fast Carrera circuit but would need to test more to know if it is useful.

I will not write about digital performance as I do not have a digital circuit and have not driven enough to give a fair opinion if I could test on one. I will however say that if it works as well on digital as it does with Analogue then there won’t be a better controller for home track use.

The control is limited to 5 Amps of current which limits its usage to home circuits at present but upgrades are on the way.

Another interesting feature for the future is telemetry. A piggyback mounted on the controller itself must be used to gather the data which can be viewed on a PC. Other features like lap and sector times will be possible with a track interface box.

Should you buy one please do read the instructions as like any electronic device misuse will result in a repair bill. There is information on diagnostics should you have a polarity error or a short circuit on the track as well as fuses for protection of the circuitry but nothing is foolproof if not used correctly.

I apologize now if not all I have written is easy to follow or 100% correct but this control really needs plenty of time to get familiar with. Now go and buy one, you won’t regret it.