Smoke out!

[Hudson#685]

Thank you for sharing what you found the the outcome.

John

[Chochodriver]

Lionel Tech Support suggested checking the "hot" side of the smoke resistor, just in case it was touching the shell and was not completely insulated.  It's the black wire coming from the circuit board that meets up with another wire covered by a woven white fabric that goes into the top of the smoke outlet.  I pulled back the heat shrink from the fabric and the wire solder joint was broken.  I re-soldered the wires together, assembled the egine, and ran it.  Still no smoke and same blinking green light on my CW-80.  I knew that my other locos had a felt pad in between the loco body and the smoke unit top, which appears to be also metal.  This pad was missing on the newer engine and a small palstic washer was in its place.  Maybe it was insufficient in preventing a short.  So, I took a small square of electrical tape and put a hole in it so that it stretched over the exit hole and put the unit back together.  It's now smoking like a banshee!!  Bottom line, it may not be the CW-80 as some others have suggested.  The broken joint was causing a difference in engine function whether the body was on or off.  Check this wire to see if it's loose or broken and take it from there...

Thanks for all the fix suggestions!  Keep on chugging!!

[PhilaKnight]

Had simular problems with running TMCC on a CW80. But I powered up my ZW and everything worked fine. I just think the CW is not strong enough to run some engines.

[Black Diamond]

I had the same sort of problem but it was in the tender, I would get the blinking light on the cw-80 and everything would stop, I am not saying this is the cause to your problem, but when I replaced the battery I pinched a wire inbetween the frame and the top of the tender when I put the tender back together, causing a short.

Have you had your engine apart? Maybe while reassembling it you got a pinched wire for the smoke unit and when u supply power to it from the cab-1 you get a direct short...I dont know I am just guessing here...but thats what happend to me....

[8ntruck]

 Welcome to the forum.  

The blinking green light on your CW80 indicates a possible short or an overload condition on the CW80.

I have a Texas Special passenger train that has a Legacy, smoke, lighted cars, etc, etc.  When I tried to run that on a CW80, I had to make choices.   A) I could have the car lights on, and the smoke units running, but not move the train. B) I could move the train with the smoke units running, but no car lights,  C) I could move the train and have the car lights on but no smoke.  When I tried running everything, the train would stop and I'd get the blinking green light.

In my case, a larger transformer solved the problem. 

I'm not familiar with the Jr. Mikado to offer much help.  If you have an opportunity to run your locomotove on a layout with a larger transformer, take it and see if it helps.

Good luck. 

There are a good bunch of people here on the forum.  Somebody has probably seen, and solved a similar problem.

[Chochodriver]

I’ve got a Lionel TMCC-equipped PRR Mikado Jr. (6-38616) that will not make smoke.  The loco smoke switch is set to the ON position.  Using a CAB-1 controller, the engine starts normally but immediately stops when the SMOKE BOOST (function 9) is pressed.  Also, the loco headlight goes out and the Lionel CW-80 transformer light starts blinking, indicating a possible short.  The engine will start again when the SMOKE On/Off button (function 8) is pressed and transformer light goes out.  Pressing the SMOKE On/Off button by itself while the engine is running does not stop the loco.  Lots of smoke can be seen when the engine is ran with its body removed.  All other Command Control functions appear to be working as specified with either the body on or off.  I’ve done a Restore TMCC functions using code #34 multiple time to no effect.  Please advise me of any possible corrective action(s).  Thanks!