Best smoke resistor to get the most smoke out of a conventional puffer?

Brian-

You can try any 18-20 ohm wirewound resistor rated for 3 watts. Lionel has one under part number 691RS18OHM for about $4.00, but most electronic parts sources (Digi-Key, Allied, Mouser, etc.) should have the same part for about $.50 or less.

When installing the new resistor be sure to insulate the leads with heat shrink tubing to prevent unintentional grounding (this shortens the life of the resistor).

-John

Brasseur's has your specific element under their K-Line parts.  If you liked it before it burned out, go back to the original.

The K-Line smoke elements I have seen are thicker than MTH or Lionel's equivalent resistance.  So I do think they had a higher wattage rating.

The bottom line is the lower in resistance you go the hotter the element gets for a given voltage.  The hotter element results in more smoke, but risk burning wick and shorter life.  Hence there is no correct answer.

Typical puffer units would be using a resistance between 20 and 30 ohms depending on manufacture and specific model.  Something that could run on 10-12v nicely might use the lower one, and a engine that needed more voltage to run normally, such as 12-15V would use a higher resistance.

Your really into the trial and error, unless you though the original smoke was just right.  G

Try this 20 ohm from Digikey, I used this in a Dockside locomotive that runs conventional, and it really improved the smoke over the 30 ohm unit that came in it.  The customer complained that the smoke unit didn't work when he got the locomotive, it just didn't smoke enough to notice, now it does.  If you want the smoke to start right away, use a Dremel wire brush and remove the powdered ceramic coating covering the nichrome wire.  The wire brush doesn't affect the wire if you don't get carried away.  At 12 volts this will dissipate 7.2 watts, about right for nice smoke.