Burning Switch Tower - Smoke Wiring

Another thought.  The Burning Switch Tower is new Lionel Plug and Play design with LEDs.  The internal wires appear color coded.  If they are then one of the smoke switch wires is likely to be ground since the units ground wire is Black and one of the smoke switch wires is Black.  The other smoke switch wire is yellow.  Does anyone know if the internal wiring is color coded ?

Learned a little more.  The switch wire I thought was yellow is actually white.  Also, when the smoke unit is "ON" the wires to the switch are open.   The smoke switch closes the the circuit to turn the smoke "OFF".  I removed the switch and extended the switch wires one foot.  Planning on using a relay to close the switch circuit eliminating long wire concerns and electrical hookup issues.  Using an OFF-ON-(ON) switch to control the tower.  When I turn the layout lights ON, the tower will light.  When I move the switch to ON the smoke will turn ON via the relay.  When I move the switch to (ON) the momentary switch action will turn the animation ON.

Stave,

I tried google  a wiring schematic. No luck. 

Question do you have one maybe ?

John 

Thanks for looking.  I have the external wiring schematic but not the internal.  There are several PC boards inside the tower with ICs, transistors and the like.  Externally, there are 3 wires: red, black and white.  The red is the hot wire.   Grounding the black wire turns the lights and smoke unit ON.  Grounding the white wire turns the animation ON.

Steve, 

mare you able to get a good picture of the internal boards. Seeing the components on the board may give an indication of what is happening on those boards. 

-Jonny

I have now replaced the smoke switch on the Burning Switch Tower with a relay.  Operation of the Tower is now as follows: 1) When power is applied to my layout lighting the Tower Illuminates, white light upstairs/blinking red lights downstairs. 2)  Flip the 3 position toggle switch on my control panel from OFF to the ON position and the smoke turns on via the relay.  3)  Move the same switch up to the momentary position and the animation starts (lights and smoke remain ON).  Only thing better would be to sync the blinking red lights with the smoke.

My supply voltage for the Burning Switch Tower is a nominal 14 VAC but in reality is slightly over 15 VAC with the current transformer loading.  The tower works great except at 15 VAC the animated fire fighters are racing.  The towers instructions recommend 12-14 VAC.   The animation draws about 100 ma.  I added a 30 ohm resister in series with the animation circuit which slowed the fire fighter to a more reasonable pace.

shorling posted:

 Only thing better would be to sync the blinking red lights with the smoke.

Did you happen to use a double-pole relay for the smoke?  If so it seems you could insert the spare relay pole in line with the wire going to the red lights.

Thanks for the input Stan2004.  I had actually considered your suggestion but it was a trickier modification (potted LEDs) and the SPDT relay was handy.