I have a KCS SD70 Legacy loco I purchased in January or Feb. It is my first Legacy loco and I can see what all the “fuss” is about regarding Legacy. My question is in regard to smoke. Lately it doesn’t smoke very well . It takes far too long to smoke and you can hardly see the smoke at all. It used to smoke heavily. I didn’t run it on high much because I didn’t want to burn it out. I took the shell off and checked the element-ohmed it-it’s not broken;however, I can’t say I know what the reading should be. I put in some more packing and I have the smoke coil unit sitting on top of the packing-is this correct? Is the packind supposed to be wrapped around the element? While running I can feel the heat rising from the stack, there’s just not much smoke. I did not physically see if the smoke fan runs while the loco is running and the smoke is commanded on. The fan did move freely when I inspected it on the bench. Thanks for any input.
Since your description did not include adding smoke fluid…[%-)]…Did you add fluid?
Fan-driven units require at least ONE FULL DROPPER full of JT’s MegaSteam PER OPERATING SESSION. Any less and you’ll dry it out and burn it out. Also: be sure to use the smoke boost feature on your CAB-2.
Jon [8D]
Yes, smoke fluid has been added and element is not burned out. I also now know the fan IS running for the smoke unit. I’ve always figured an element is either “good” or “bad” meaning I can’t see one just being weak. The manual on this loco says the smoke unit is an improved model. Thanks for the input. I also do use the smoke control on the remote-low-medium-high. As stated above, I didn’t run it on high all that much due to fear of burning it out;however, it worked very well on all three settings.
amos,
Have you tried gently blowing into the stack to eliminate any air bubbles?
Happens a lot. Also, you added packing and you sound as if you know your “smoke”. Most Lionel units, fan turns clockwise. Will find a lot of them turning wrong. Fan is not suppose to be “cupping” the smoke but “pushing” it. I also remove the “sock” from the element. Usually when mine get to low smoke, the element has charred the wicking. In your case??? If it is “loaded” with too much fluid [usually not the case as most don’t add enough], blow down the stack and fluid will blow back out on your mouth [so don’t get too close] and the engine. BTW: I find the new engines from Lionel smoke better without Mega Steam fluid. Use Lionel fluid. Only thing next is the radio board is not sending the command to increase the smoke unit heat when given a command to go to medium or high. Keep us posted.
amos,
I don’t know about the smoke units to help you, I just want to compliment you, with your beautiful KCS SD70 engine. The colors and markings look great and as you mention you now know what all of the fuss is about regarding Legacy.
Enjoy and Good Luck!
Ralph
Amos,
Are you running TMCC with your legacy locomotive? If you are there is a way to adjust the smoke output…if not then I have seen the same locomotive put different outputs of smoke on the same track. could be a number of factors but I believe it is the variation in the heater element. The higher the ohm reading in the nichrome wire the hotter it gets during operation, thus more smoke…
Amos,
Two things,
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Blow into the stack (that almost always works for me).
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Can you hear the buzz of the fan? I recently had to replace the fan on one of my engines because it stopped working.
BTW: no two engines smoke alike. I have two SD40-2’s. Both Legacy. Only difference is one shell is NS and the other is CN. On low, NS only smokes a very little while the CN smokes a lot more. On high, CN will run you out of the room while the NS smokes good.
Thanks for the replies. I have found the two screws(with nuts)which bolt the smoke element to the board are loose which is causing the signak to be erratic. I’ll clean and tighten and test it out. What do you folks use for packing? Do you just lay thrw element on top of the packing? Thanks. I am setting the element on top of the packing because I have found it that way on my old post war steamers.
For any particular voltage across a nichrome heater, the higher the resistance, the less heat. The electrical power (in watts) consumed and converted to heat is equal to the square of the voltage divided by the resistance (in ohms).
I got it figured out. I went back in and tightened the element to the board to no avail. I tested for voltage on command for low,medium, and high and got increased voltage with each upward command so I knew all was good there. I tested fan operation. I then bent the heater(smoke) element to sit “deeper” in the “box.” I put the SD70 on the track and tested it between each test I did. After sitting the element deeper into the smoke box this thing smokes wonderfully. I mean it really puts it out. It smokes better than when it was brand new. The channel between the fan chamber where the air from the fan comes must be unobsturcted also as well as the smoke hole itself. No point in putting packing above ther element. After all this, I don’t think what brand of fluid I use has much to do with smoke output. I believe I can get good smoke out of nearly any brand that is for this purpose, Thanks for all replies.