Electronics and DCC

I would like some information on how to install a smoke generator in a DCC loco

without it shorting out.

 

Not worth the effort, in my opinion.  Smoke generators draw a lot of current and will burn out decoders.  The smoke fluid is oil based and leaves a film on everything that can cause poor locomotive performance due to dirty track and dirty wheels.

If you must use a smoke generator, you're going to need a heavy duty decoder with at least 2 Amps capacity or more on the function outputs and such a decoder is going to cost more than the smoke generator itself, is possibly going to be too large to fit into your model, and is going to be very hard to find.  Usually, only an O or G scale decoder will have enough current output and will be too large to fit into HO, if that's your scale.

cacole wrote:

Not worth the effort, in my opinion.  Smoke generators draw a lot of current and will burn out decoders.  The smoke fluid is oil based and leaves a film on everything that can cause poor locomotive performance due to dirty track and dirty wheels. If you must use a smoke generator, you're going to need a heavy duty decoder with at least 2 Amps capacity or more on the function outputs and such a decoder is going to cost more than the smoke generator itself, is possibly going to be too large to fit into your model, and is going to be very hard to find.  Usually, only an O or G scale decoder will have enough current output and will be too large to fit into HO, if that's your scale.

 Where can you by a smoke generator?  Are there 110V?  I am interested in using one or 2 for an HO scale refinery.  Sorry DGA, not trying to hijack your thread... just wondering about a smoke generator, DCC operated or DC powered.

Rob,

Check Micro-Mark catalog number 82602 for the smoke generator.  http://www.micromark.com

 

Thanks for the link!

cacole wrote:

...Smoke generators draw a lot of current and will burn out decoders...

Depends on the smoke generator. Here is a list of the Seuthe smoke generators and their current draws:http://www.modelrailcraft.com/Articles.asp?ID=133(the chart is in German, but the column labeled mA is the current draw). As you can see, there is one that only draws 50 mA, well within the capabilities of most decoders, and there are several that draw 120 mA or less, which is still within the capabiliites of many decoders out there. You would wire one of these in just like you would a 12 volt light bulb, one wire to the blue, or + common, lead and one wire to the function lead. Just make sure the decoder function output is rated for the mA draw of the smoke generator you are wnting to use. You can purchase Seuthe smoke generators here:http://www.modelrailcraft.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=71(I have no affiliation with this site, and have never ordered from them, that is just one of the first ones I found when searching for Seuthe smoke generator current draw).

If you want to use a smoke generator that highs a higher current draw than the decoder that you are using, if you have room, you can add another decoder and run the smoke generator off of the motor outputs. This also gives you the ability to adjust the amount of smoke. One thing to watch for, if you use one that has a fan(like the one from Micro-Mark), it probably is polarity dependent, so if you run it off of the motor outputs of a decoder, you would want to add a diode bridge so that you can not feed it reverse polarity.

I use LGB smoke generators in G scale and they are similar to Seuthe units.  But even in the larger scale, the smoke is never really that effective or realistic looking.  Fan driven units are better, and some high end O scale loco smoke units can produce a large amount of smoke. 

However the only color of "model" smoke is white.  So it actually is better suited for steam heating then diesel or steam exhaust.  This is why I'm somewhat interested in the new Rapido steam heat car and how the steam effect will look.

I've installed a Seuthe smoke unit into my shay. With much blood and water!

 The smoke stack has 6 mm diameter and the smoke unit 5 mm !! I worked with a reamer.

 

Decoder is from Lenz. I've no problems with current. You have to look at the current for each part and add it. 

It's fun!

Wolfgang

dga wrote:

I would like some information on how to install a smoke generator in a DCC loco without it shorting out.

If one doesn't want to control the smoke (with DCC), the smoke generator could be connected directly to the track pickups.  If that produces too much smoke an appropriate sized resistor could be included.