I replaced the smoke element, and the problem is gone. That is, the element does not glow. Weird. Thanks for all your help, guys.
OK. That gives me something to compare. Thanks.
The stock TMCC electronics appears to put about 12 volts out to the smoke units, at least the one I had open a couple of weeks ago did.
TrainLarry,
Thanks. Sounds like a good strategy. Unfortunately, I no longer have the original electronics.
rtraincollector I would unhook smoke unit till I could add more diode or something as glowing red is not a good thing ( I know I had one shoot 3" flame one time because of shorting out stright up threw the stack lol)
I would unhook smoke unit till I could add more diode or something as glowing red is not a good thing ( I know I had one shoot 3" flame one time because of shorting out stright up threw the stack lol)
Yep, will do. Thanks.
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On the advice of a fellow train guy (Dale), I put a diode (6 amp) on the power to the smoke unit. This seems to solve the problem. However, the smoke still glows very bright. And as gunrunnerjohn said, this does not seem normal. I checked a few of my other engines and did not one that did this.
What was the original problem with the TMCC board?
One rule of thumb here, guys. NEVER assume that one manufacturers' electronics will be a drop-in replacement for another manufacturers' unit. Motors, smoke units, and even light bulbs are rated at different voltages, and the wrong board can wipe out your loco in a heartbeat. NOTHING is standardized among manufacturers for the same reason you cannot interchange parts on different make automobiles. The manufacturers want you to stay with their parts. Only aftermarket parts specifically designed for a certain manufacturer should be trusted to work properly, as they will have been designed and tested for compatability. Electronics are nice, and have brought our hobby into new areas of enjoyment not envisioned 20 years ago, but electronics are also cold and unforgiving of errors. A momentary short, an overvoltage condition, or even a static electricity charge can wipe out a walletfull of electronics in the blink of an eye. Remember, electronic boards are designed around the accessories they have to operate, like motors, smoke units, bulbs, speakers and coil couplers, taking into consideration the voltage AND current requirements for them. These requirements are different amongst manufacturers, hence their boards will be incompatable. Unless you are an electronic technician, and have the various manufacturers' board specs at hand, it would be difficult to guess how to modify one board to work in another locomotive. In this instance, it would be ideal if you could replace the Lionel motor, bulbs, AND smoke unit with Williams' units if you wanted to use a Williams board. You would have no compatability issue, but you would have to modify the PARTS to mount into your Lionel engine....oh well, isn't model railroading fun???
Larry
If you took the TMCC board out, the unit was probably originally wired for TMCC control (limited constant voltage supply). Your symptoms sound just like what happened when the unit in mine burned up (twice). The resistor is probably different between the conventional Mikado Jr's and the TMCC ones. I bet the TMCC ones are made to run on less voltage through the TMCC board. Check the resistor out in the smoke unit, I'm sure that's where your problem is.
I saw over on OGR that someone said this thing required a regulator board. That may be different than some of the units I've worked with. I know that MTH has smoke units that have low voltage requirements, maybe this is one of those and it's cooking. The element actually becoming visibly lighted is a bad sign, I've never seen or even heard of that with a properly functioning smoke unit!
Rob,
I've got direct to track power. Thanks.
Some of the Lionel smaller locos had the smoke units wired through the reverse unit so they would not over heat in neutral. This put a lot of stress on the unit.
Just be sure the element is wired to track power and not through the reverse unit or to the motor in any way.
Rob
Yeah, gunrunner, its the smoke unit. It runs OK with it disconnect. Dang. Hopefully somebody will have already seen this problem and know a fix. I'm a smoke guy.
I hesitated to even open the thing back up again. The new reverse unit barely fits.
gunrunner,
Thanks. I suspect its smoke unit related too. Its a #247 Reverse Board. At least that's what the invoice says. I'm hoping somebody here has an explanation. And a fix. Like maybe you need some resistor or such.
What specific Williams reverse unit are you using? I've never seen a smoke element that emits any light, I'd be worried if I saw that!
Try disconnecting the smoke unit and see if it runs normally. I'm thinking that the smoke unit glowing is a bad sign!
I got tired of bringing my Lionel TMCC Mikado Jr back to the shop for repairs. So I removed everything except the motor and smoke unit. Then I installed a Williams reverse unit. It ran terrific and smoked better than before...for about 10 minutes. Then the engine gradually got slower and slower. I shut it down when it approached a crawl.
I'm not certain, but the smoke element seemed unusually bright also. I may have been over-scrutinizing it because of the way the engine was running. I'm not sure.
Can anyone tell me what is happening with this engine?
Thanks.
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