Did any of YUZ GIZ ever put the Turbo Smoke units in that TAS has. I sent them my LIONEL MOHAWK and they installed one for me works great. But I don’t want to send another one cause of the turn around time. Is this a tough thing to install?
Thanks,
laz57
Wouldn’t think so. Especially with your knowledge. Took one apart and it had what looked like a blonde wig for a wick. [:O] Added some pink and it smoked better.
CHIEF, is that just regular pink insulation?
laz57
Laz,
I installed one in a Williams Berkshire. I had to get a length of brass pipe to run up to the stack on the loco smokebox and fabricated a small bracket out of sheet metal. I basically made a compressed U shape. You need to be careful to make sure everything lines up OK - the pipe and the stack, etc. That was the trickest part - I took off the smoke box door and worked with needle nose pliers.
If I recall correctly, electrically it was pretty simple - they provided instruction for mechanical driven off the wheels and electronic driven by TMCC, etc.
I estimate 3 - 4 hours from start to fininsh?
Take a look at the one you had installed to make sure it will fit in your new application.
Thanks LUTHER, I am going to take the one apart and check it out. The GIZ at train America Studios are at YORK and I will also ask them about it. I don’t think it will be that hard to do being it is going into another Lionel Mohawk. I just don’t want to send it out and have about a 8 week wait til it returns. They did a great job on my other engine with the smoke unit and EOB unit.
THANKS again.
laz57
Took apart the Lionel Mohawk that TAS worked on , last nite. Interesting how they had epoxied the unit into the top of the shell. They kinda made a harness out of plastic the epoxied it to the shell to hold it in place.
While at YORK on friday I will pick up another unit and do the same. They really put out the smoke. Chuga chuga woo woo!
laz57
Hi Laz 57
I’ve been looking into doing a similar project with a Lionel Hudson. Hope you can give us and update and maybe some pictures when you complete the job. In my case I know just from looking at the dimensions of the unit that it would be a tight fit and would probably mean coming up with a new way to get the headlight mounted. Good luck
Ole
I’ll let you know when I start OLE1. I’m getting the unit hopfully on friday at YORK.
laz57
I put in a new turbo smoke unit in my Lionel Mohawk last nite that I purchased from TAS. It wasn’t to bad to put in hooked up all the wires and tested it, wouldn’t work in forward, so changed wire leads around and now it won’t work in reverse. Got to call the TAS GIZ today and ask why it will only work in one direction? There really isn’t that much to hooking the smoke unit up, 3 wires, one hot one ground and one that goes to the cherry switch. Maybe those GIZ will tell me whats going on?
Otherwise the most difficult thing was making a harness to hold the smoke unit in place. Not a big deal with ZAP a Pak instant glue it was a breeze that stuff works great. Its super glue with an excellerator that you spray on the glue and hardens instantly.
I’ll let you know what the TAS GIZ say?
laz57
LAZ, double up the wires. The wire that is making it run in forward [hot] put the other wire [hot] to it too. That is how I have powered up the added smoke units that I have done. Both “hots” need to be powered. Not sure what power source you are using. Remember, direct track power in command [18V] is too much for most smoke units. Will smoke up a storm but might burn out faster. These units might be designed to take 18V. If running in conventional, the variable voltage should be OK. Just weak smoke at lower voltages.
CHIEF, I only have the three wires. I don’t follow you on the double up part. Please explain further.
CHIEF this is made to run in command off of 18 v.
Thanks,
laz57
Well I called DA GIZ from TAS yesterday about my turbo smoke unit and they told me that it won’t work with the existing board that is in the Mohawk. But that I could work it off the pickup rollers and to put a switch in it to shut of the smoke when on a siding. Did the hook up and all works great, LOTS O SMOKE. Going to get another one in April at YORK.
CHIEF you were right about running it off the track power.
laz57
Hope it does not burn up element too quick. The GIZ should know. If it gets too hot, you can build a bridge rectifier and reduce voltage. That is what I did for a unit I put in a dummy. Also, it was diesel so you don’t want lots of smoke or it looks like you need a rebuild.
CHIEF what do I need to build the bridge rectifier? Do I get it at radio shack? Thanks for the tip.
laz57
The bridge rectifier is a way to get 4 diodes in a single package to put in series with the load to reduce the voltage. It is not actually used as a rectifier in this case.
Connect the + and - pins together. Then use the other two pins to wire the rectifier module in series with the load. You can use multiple rectifier modules in series to get the voltage as low as you need. Radio Shack’s 276-1152 1.4-ampere 100-volt part for $1.49 is a good choice for a smoke unit.
If you find that you need finer adjustment, you can use half of a rectifier module by connecting to the (wired together) + and - pins and either or both of the other two pins.
Bob (lionelsoni),
So this will give you a 1.2V drop (0.6v x 2) per rectifier, correct? At 17V you are looking at 7% drop. With the amount of “modified bridge rectifiers” needed to drop down to say 10 volts, would it not be more economical, in both cost and space to use some 1W resistors and create a simple voltage divider?
Thanks BOB,
Can I just get a 4 ohm resistor and wire it in series to reduce the voltage by 4 volts?
laz57
Soldered together
In series
Hooked to smoke unit and tested [see the two “hot” wires connected together]
As it ended up, only needed three to reduce the voltage for diesel. If you want more smoke, take one away, less smoke, add one. Hope this helps.
Yes, you can use a resistor; and, for a case like this where the load current is constant, a resistor is practical. The resistance will depend on the current that the load draws at the reduced voltage; so you can’t count on 4 volts for 4 ohms unless you know that the current will be 1 ampere.
Aside from trial and error, a way to calculate the resistance needed is to put some known resistance, say 1 ohm, in series with the smoke unit and then power it from an adjustable (sine-wave, not CW80) transformer, set for the smoke performance that you want. Measure the voltage across this test resistor, divide that by the resistance, and you have the current. Then measure the voltage across the smoke unit and subtract that from the track voltage to get the voltage drop needed. Divide the voltage drop by the current that you already calculated, and that is the resistance that you need to use.
To get the power rating for the dropping resistor, multiply the voltage drop by the current. Then get a resistor with about double that rating, so that it will run cooler.
Thanks BOB and CHIEF.
I’ll do calculations tonite and let YUZ GIZ know what resistor I need. Seems to be the easier way to go with this one being I just want to drop it 4 volts.
Thanks again.
laz57