Pretty sure I have a bad ac regulator in my Pennsy 4-8-2 cab #6759. (Already replaced smoke unit with no change, no smoke.)
As many of you know, the replacement part is listed as unavailable from Lionel. My engine is not a legacy unit but runs well with TMCC. Any thoughts of a suitable replacement part?
You should repost this in the Classic Toy Trains Forum where it will be seen by someone who can help you.
Rich
1 Like
Since this is a TMCC locomotive, it’s not that difficult to bypass the smoke voltage regulator and run the smoke unit using the R2LC smoke output.
Change the smoke resistor in the smoke unit from the 8 ohm resistor to a smoke resistor in the 20 to 27 ohm range. 27 ohm is the Lionel “stock” TMCC resistor value, but you can go as low as 20 ohms for more smoke. Do not go lower than 20 ohms or you’ll kill the smoke triac on the R2LC.
Next, you remove the smoke regulator and wire directly from the R2LC smoke output on the motherboard, through the smoke switch, and on to the smoke unit heater connection. You can leave the smoke fan powered from the smoke heater connection as it is now.
1 Like
John,
Couple quick questions: I have the engine torn apart and removed the reg board.
I’m a degreed Elec. Eng. so I have an excuse for the need of more clarification, please.
There is a wire (black) from the reg to the smoke unit board. And there is a green wire from the smoke on/off switch to the smoke unit board. Does the green wire go to the smoke unit hot#1 and just cut the black wire? Please help…
Bill Moore
I think I got it. Black wire out of smoke unit (was tied to reg) now tied to green wire back through on/off switch then from switch to “smoke unit Hot” . Make sense? Switch on now sends "smoke unit hot’ voltage to smoke unit.
Thanks again,
Bill Moore
Actually, the black & brown striped wire out of the regulator is the smoke element hot, the pure black wires are frame ground. There are one or two plain black wires, for reasons known only to Lionel, they thought they needed two ground wires. The red wire is track power, and typically it’s the wire that goes through the switch, and the all brown wire is serial data, do NOT connect that to anything!
Well the removal surgery was successful and the voltage regulator is in regulator heaven
The 6759 Pennsylvania 4 8 2 is Smokin like crazy
Thanks for all the support
Bill
PS
Used 27 ohm resistor without sleeve
I love a success story. You see how easy it is with TMCC to revive the smoke without the regulator. I’ve done several dozen of these when the regulator fails.
I have good news and bad news.
I’m pretty sure the ac regulator is regulating properly. It delivers (as measured with a Fluke 87 multimeter) 7.3 volts ac to the 8 ohm resistor which smokes.
Bad news, the fan is good (as tested using a 9 volt battery) ,but the smoke board is not suppling 5 volts dc for the fan to operate when connected. I assume the engine I have runs continuous smoke and not pulsed.
Sooooo I believe the full wave rectifier chip (kind of an over kill) on the smoke board must be bad. Now what??? Help…
Bill
Sorry, the engine is a linonel 6-38091 4-6-6-4 engine
Bill
The fan is run by the power supply on the smoke unit, so you need to figure out why it’s not producing power. The Semi-Smart Smoke Unit triggers the synchronized smoke using the chuff input.
Gunrunnerjohn,
Question
What’s the best way (on post war 2025) to reduce motor voltage but keep smoke unit voltage at track voltage to increase smoke output (original pellet unit. Smokes great at higher engine running voltage)
The classic way is to use several diode pairs connected in reverse polarity in series with the motor lead to drop voltage to the motor. That allows more voltage to the smoke unit to create more smoke.
1 Like