BRENT,
Could be a couple of things with the smoke unit. Bad element, the heating element can be tested with a couple of leads and transformer. Place leads on each of the wires leading to the smoke unit apply some power and check if it gets hot. Or could be that the smoke unit element is ok and the fan in the unit is in reverse. Simply switch wires to smoke unit. CHIEF, wrote a thread about doing this a while ago.
Hope this helps?
laz57
I had a similar problem with the sound cutting out on my K-line semi-scale Hudson.
They sent me a couple of replacement tethers, which incidentally are quite easy to replace(they just plug into the circuit board in the tender), but didn't fix the problem. The problem, as it turned out, was a bad speaker. Once replaced, the sounds were fine.
If you can find a replacement tether, I'd suggest trying that first, as they are relatively easy to change. If that doesn't work, though, I'd suggest replacing the speaker. Since by that point my engine was out of warranty and K-line was gone, I used one of the nice plastic-cone speakers from Digital Dynamics, which is a huge improvement over the stock speaker.
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I opened up the Allegheny and her Tender last night. Seems the previous owner tried to do some repairs himself as ALL of the boards weren't seated properly. The teather to the tender is shot... hope I can get a new one. When I opened the Allegheny I heard a soft rattle. Then when the shell came off a little piece came out... it is black metal with a hole through it, with 3 little silver legs coming out the bottom.After removing the screws and putting the engine back on the track, I lifted the shell... this is what fell out:I removed the board:I think this is just a heat sink but I am not certain. The engine runs fine with this piece missing (not the board) except the smoke unit does not work.
The little black piece that fell out is the smoke unit triac on the R2LC.
If you want the smoke unit to work, you can get a replacement R2LC for $30. Alternatively, just hardwire the smoke unit to the center rail, bypassing the TMCC boards. This will mean that you can no longer turn if off from the CAB-1, and can no longer boost it from the CAB-1, but it will still work.
Brent I have the manual. Scan and email or copy and mail. Not a problem for a fellow B&O, C&O, Chessie fan.
Jason
B&O = Best & Only
Brent,
I sent you an email. Just wanted to make sure you got it.
Arrived home last night to find a package waiting for me from Brassuers! IMMEDIATELY went down stairs to the train room, opened the box and installed the R2LC and teather. Fired up the layout and BOY DID SHE SMOKE! HUGE full plumes. Then nothing.I fiddled around with resting the TMCC, turning on/off the smoke unit. Nothing. So I took her off the track and started working on the layout, figured I would give her a break and calm down. Then as I was setting some ceiling tiles I noticed a little black spot on the layout. Went over and sure enough it was the same voltage regulator that had fallen out of the original R2LC. So I thought 'Hey I thought I put this away...' So I pulled the R2LC off the Allegheny........... Sure enough it had come off the new R2LC!!!! I am so friggin bummed. What could be wrong with this? It didn't derail and I did not put the shell back on before it stopped smoking... Could there be a short? If so where should I start looking? I'm thinking it is a short due to smoke fluid as the inside of the engine appeared to be 'wet'... so if the inside is 'wet' do I just grab a hairdryer and go to town drying it off? Is there another way to remove the smoke fluid without damaging anything else?
From the looks of your earlier picture, that component overheated and unsoldered itself. Since it has happened twice, I see two possibilities:
It is overloaded. There could be an intermittent short circuit in the heater or the wires leading to it. However, from your comment "BOY DID SHE SMOKE!", I wouldn't be surprised if someone has removed some of the heater element in order to increase the smoke output and thus caused the heater to draw an unusually heavy current.
On the other hand, that type of package is designed to attach to a heat sink (although it wouldn't necessarily have one). Is there any metal in the locomotive next to where it was that it might have been intended to be fastened to?
It's possible that neither the component nor the rest of the board is not damaged and that it could be reinstalled. If you try that (and there's nothing to lose by trying), be sure you know which of the two possible orientations it should have.
But I wouldn't bother to fix or replace the assembly again until you find out why it got so hot. If you do discover a likely heat-sink attachment, it is entirely possible that the component needs to be attached using a mica insulator and silicone grease, not just screwed on.
Bob Nelson
I've never seen that particular componenent attached to a heatsink. That's not to say that it doesn't exist, but any kind of attachment in such a manner would make both the removal and installation of the R2LC awkward.
Otherwise, though, Bob's explanation seems likely. Working from memory, the resistance of the smoke unit heater should be in the neighborhood of 25-30 ohms. If it's significantly lower, it's likely shorted.
I don't know whether this particular engine has a fan driven smoke unit or a puffer unit, although I would suspect the latter(what most K-line steam engines have). If that's the case, one of the leads of the heater could be shorting against the metal smoke unit cap. When replacing one of these, I like to put a piece of shrink tubing around the heater leads to prevent this from happening.
I've always used replacement Lionel heaters in my K-line engines. They're pretty darn close, and may in fact be the same part number. They certainly look and work identical. The last time I bought some, I paid around $1.50 each for them. Smoke heaters don't last all that long in a command control environment, and are cheap enough that they are worth regarding as a consumable.
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