Remote Control

One of the big problems with the Faller system as supplied is that you can only stop the vehicles at certain pre-defined locations (magnetic stops) and have no control over speed. Fortunately some enterprising modellers have been down this road (no pun intended) before and at least three Infra-Red remote control systems have made it to market.

HardSoft-Automation provide (or provided) a system based on a TV remote control handset which can control a number of vehicles but has limited development potential.

Infracar, can be operated either from a handset or can be interfaced to a computer, which opens up a whole range of possibilities.

Apart from the benefit of being able to control the speed of individual vehicles (and stop them when required) both these remote control systems also provide an emergency stop facility to stop all vehicles at a time of crisis.

Whilst the Infracar system has an auxiliary input for making the vehicle stop it doesn't have one for limited braking so the collision avoidance system would need to be connected between the remote control receiver and the motor.

The ultimate system (for the moment anyway) must be Claus Ichman’s DCCar system which uses coded infra-red not only for collision avoidance but also for DCC control of Faller vehicles. Not only can you use a DCC controller to drive your cars, but there are also dedicated function modules that can control all vehicles passing a certain point (e.g. stop, slow down, indicate left).