Advice on K Line Starlight Diner

I have the Super Chief diner which I believe is the same as the Starlight. They have basically three features, lighted sign and interior, smoking chimney and a music loop. I like the rock and roll music it just plays for a short loop and then you have to push button to replay. The smoke unit is not that great and I prefer to leave it off. The lights and sign are a nice touch and I have not any trouble with mine so I cannot say if they are easy to fix.  Here is a link to the k-line site for more info.

Starlight

The biggest issue with used ones of these if that if the wires were ever hooked up wrong they fry the sound board.

The way it works is that the sound is triggered by closing the contact between 2 terminals (with the button provided.  No power ever goes to those 2 terminals and K-Line in later production actually put a sticker on it with a warning to make sure no power is applied to those terminals (which I see in your pics).

If the sound board is fried there are no replacements available.

The smoke unit on K-Line accessories (I have the colonial house and the starlight diner) put out tons of smoke if they get enough voltage.

The seller should be able to power it up and test it.  55.00 is a good price if it all works.  They usually run near 100.00 for new in box ones.  I bought a used one to try and save money and it was fried.  So I ended having to buy a second one (New in box).

I agree with Sandjam.  I have one and the sound board is fried (very easy to do that, by the way). No parts availability for that.

Roger

I have one. Nice looking piece. If you apply too much voltage you'll burn out the LED sign. Had to replace mine.  The fan-driven smoke unit looks like a blast furnace coming out of a diner. Didn't like it at all. Replaced it with a seuthe. Much more realistic.  

And my experience and others that I have talked to is- The sound will go off sometimes intermittently  all distorted on its own.  

Train Nut posted:

I have one. Nice looking piece. If you apply too much voltage you'll burn out the LED sign. Had to replace mine.  The fan-driven smoke unit looks like a blast furnace coming out of a diner. Didn't like it at all. Replaced it with a seuthe. Much more realistic.  

And my experience and others that I have talked to is- The sound will go off sometimes intermittently  all distorted on its own.  

Is there a replacement LED sign or did you repair it somehow? 

How much is too much voltage? I have a CW-80, if i crank it all the way up will it fry something in the diner?

I was applying approximately 16 volts to it. Now I run it around 12v.  I got a replacement sign from one of the parts dealers online. That was less than a year ago.   Right now I can't remember which dealer.  Small grain of wheat type bulbs. Wired in series. Six or seven bulb's burnt out. Wasn't worth trying to fix in my opinion.  If you have it running off of track voltage I would think a cw80 cranked all the way up would not be beneficial to the diner. The accessory side of a CW has adjustable voltage.  I would adjust the voltage from 12v-14v max, and run it off the accessory side.

Just an update...I received the diner and the good news is that the music still played and lights worked, that most important for me.

But the smoke unit did not so I replaced the heating element along with a new wick and it smokes again. Although it does smoke like crazy so I can't see myself using it much except just to show people that want to see it work. I bought a 27ohm heading element which was skinnier and longer than what was in there so maybe that has something to do with it.

I have to say the diner is much bigger than I thought but it is a real nice piece and adds play value for the kids with the music and smoke buttons.

I'm not sure this is normal, it's like a fog machine. I wonder if I disconnect the fan will it work a bit better?

I bought one used and the fan wasn't working.  After turning on the smoke switch, it takes about two minutes and then a gentle curl of smoke starts wafting up from the stove pipe.   Mr. Muffin sent me a gift bottle of JT's Mega Steam bacon scent fluid; so bacon is always on the gridle.  Given the low output, it seldom has to be refilled.

Babajaga posted:

I'm not sure this is normal, it's like a fog machine. I wonder if I disconnect the fan will it work a bit better?

It is normal.  The K-Line accessories like the Diner and Colonial House (I have both) pour out smoke like they are on fire and fills the room with smoke in 2 minutes.  Only ones that have been altered in some way don't smoke like that.

I like the disconnect fan idea,  With all the smoke it produces, it would probably still look good without the fan.  Let us know if that works.

BabaJaga,

Glad that everything is working, even if "normal" means that the kids will get to play with scale firetrucks and firemen! :-).

For those with fried sound boards, I sometimes wonder about getting one of those recordable chips that you see (or used to) inside greeting cards.  With a battery and on/off switch added perhaps you could record a short segment of music?    Other than engine sounds, constant music might become annoying on a layout over time.

By the way, can you probide the rough dimensions of the diner building?  Compared to the Lionel track, it looks pretty scale to me.  I'm just curious, so only if you have time and inclination.

UPDATE:  Upon looking at the Starlite link with a close-up, I see that the model is a dining car "restaurant", and therefore scale.  Question answered.

Congrats on a successful purchase.  I love the bacon smoke idea. :-)

Tomlinson Run Railroad 

TomlinsonRunRR posted:

BabaJaga,

Glad that everything is working, even if "normal" means that the kids will get to play with scale firetrucks and firemen! :-).

For those with fried sound boards, I sometimes wonder about getting one of those recordable chips that you see (or used to) inside greeting cards.  With a battery and on/off switch added perhaps you could record a short segment of music?    Other than engine sounds, constant music might become annoying on a layout over time.

By the way, can you probide the rough dimensions of the diner building?  Compared to the Lionel track, it looks pretty scale to me.  I'm just curious, so only if you have time and inclination.

UPDATE:  Upon looking at the Starlite link with a close-up, I see that the model is a dining car "restaurant", and therefore scale.  Question answered.

Congrats on a successful purchase.  I love the bacon smoke idea. :-)

Tomlinson Run Railroad 

I definitely like the size, I'm just wondering how it will look next to the Menards City center building as that itself is almost as long as the diner. I've only had HO accessories in they past so I'm definitely blown away by how big o gauge stuff is.

Funny you mentioned the greeting card idea because that's exactly what I was thinking too if it had a blown sound board. 

Here is a pic of how it looks embedded in a scene.  The scale is perfect.

Sean

Woodshire Bill posted:

I bought one used and the fan wasn't working.  After turning on the smoke switch, it takes about two minutes and then a gentle curl of smoke starts wafting up from the stove pipe.   Mr. Muffin sent me a gift bottle of JT's Mega Steam bacon scent fluid; so bacon is always on the gridle.  Given the low output, it seldom has to be refilled.

How does the bacon fluid smell, like actual bacon or burnt bacon? 

I have Lionel premium sugar cookie and hot chocolate and they both just smell burnt to me. Should I turn down the voltage lower than 12v maybe im burning the oil at too high of temps?

Although at this voltage it is the sweet spot for amount off smoke. Any less power and there isn't much smoke at all.

Train Nut posted:

I was applying approximately 16 volts to it. Now I run it around 12v.  I got a replacement sign from one of the parts dealers online. That was less than a year ago.   Right now I can't remember which dealer.  Small grain of wheat type bulbs. Wired in series. Six or seven bulb's burnt out. Wasn't worth trying to fix in my opinion.  If you have it running off of track voltage I would think a cw80 cranked all the way up would not be beneficial to the diner. The accessory side of a CW has adjustable voltage.  I would adjust the voltage from 12v-14v max, and run it off the accessory side.

Do you run your diner at 12v DC? Just curious because I have a 12v 2.0 amp power pack in the basement I would like to use because my accessory side of my cw-80 doesn't work. Thanks

I run all my accessories off ZWs, 12v  AC.  It would run fine with DC as well....

Train Nut posted:

I run all my accessories off ZWs, 12v  AC.  It would run fine with DC as well....

Ok thank you. My accessory side is broken so I'm going to run the diner off of a small 2 amp DC power pack. It only does about 12v but I think that's the sweet spot for smoke production. Any more voltage and it pumps out smoke like a fog machine.