I'm kinda tired of the "cheap" ones John, let us know when you find some "good" ones

Kidding aside, let us know how those work out. With the free shipping you could throw 2 of them away and still be ahead of buying 1 from Lionel.

Hi JOHN,

  Sent you an e mail.

I just spun up a "genuine" MTH fan motor at 6V and the no-load speed was just over 17,000 RPM.  You may be on to something

John, the 6V=????  Let us know.  I have tested motors rated at 3V and they do not last.  The motor in the picture is probably made by the same people who are making the crap we have available today.  Please keep us posted.  MTH spins the motor at 5V.

John, here is the Mabuchi FF-n20PA.

Hey Marty; Hey John;  some comments for you.

When doing the TAS smoke unit we came across a motor company called Hing Lung. They make unmarked motors that exactly resemble Mabuchi.  Would seriously suggest you stick with Mabuchi regardless of price and minimum order.  No need to elaborate. 

Lou N

I ordered three of these more out of curiosity than anything else.  My routine replacement is MTH motors direct from MTH as I've had good luck with them.

I do intend to put one or two in my own stuff when I need them and see how they do.  As far as size and power consumption, they match up against the MTH supplied motors pretty exactly with one difference, the shafts are about 5mm longer.

Lou my friend,  it is lways great to hear from you.  I always ask big Mike how you are doing.  Thank you for your comments on the motors.  You would be the guy to know.  You are my most respected source of information in the hobby.  When Mike presented me with his company sign, I still need you to sign it.  Hopefully this summer.

Seems like there are a lot of companies making motors to the Mabuchi marking standards.  I would be hesitant to put these on Command Controlled smoke (Legacy PS-2 or 3).  But conventional fan units and PS-1 not an issue.  G

Knock on wood I've only had one motor fail and I have so many junk smoke units with many spare parts. 

Lou N and George (GGG) said it all.  

Gary, you are very lucky.  I wish I could say that.

Hello Marty,

Thanks for the kind words.  I think I've found a way to get your sign "signed"!

But back to the motors; Its always good to share experiences.  Don't want anyone to follow in a bad path.


I am always available for questions.

Regards,

Lou N

I ordered 3 just because if we all get together and buy these and they are the really bad motors then we can as a group eliminate the bad motors from Lionel's supply chain. Now is that the customer helping out the manufacturer or what?

   Myself, I would not use that motor.  I do wish you luck and hope it does work for you.

I commend grj for finding and testing these inexpensive motors in HIS equipment; no customer will be short-changed by his endeavor.

By the way, what's an MTH motor cost purchased by a civilian from MTH?

$6.00 MTH and $7.50 Lionel.  If you go to your LHS you save on the shipping.  G

I'll say it again, just so the peanut gallery doesn't take any more shots.  I only put OEM motors in any repair! 

I just bought these because I was curious what I would get, and I'm going to try them in a couple of my locomotives to see how they act.  They are obviously not Mabuchi, not that they haven't had some issues as well.

I always like to have something to experiment with and I understand that these are not the approved OEM correct motors, etc.  I also wanted to play a little and since Lionel is completely out of smoke motors until at least mid-April I have something for me to play with.

Now, please let the witch hunt and burning me at the stake begin!

Thank you very much! Did you remember the marshmallows?

The company who makes a good motor will get rich.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-X-Ma...%26sd%3D130467334714

would these work?

Those are the motors I mentioned early in this post.  They are 3 volts and do not last.  I would not tell anyone to buy them.   Smoke fan motors are being kicked around a lot recently like smoke wicking and traction tires.  Like John has stated he uses the right equipment for the job.  No repair person would put one of these motors in anyone's locomotive.  I do the Legacy/TMCC/DCS repairs for Charles Ro.  Good bad or otherwise, the correct parts must be used. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-...;hash=item3a9e87e36d

Ok  sorry these  are Mabuchi and 6v and are 1 buck each !

that link just sold out or something.

but this one says almost the same thing.

motors

That last one is 10 pieces that have the same measurements and shaft length as MTH motors. 

makes one wonder if any of the same manufactures that make the motors for mth or lionel could be the ones selling these?

Lionel's motors are 12mm in length, the MTH motors are 15mm in length.  I'm not sure where Lionel gets their motors, and I suspect the supplier has changed recently.

I hope so!

Yea i bought those 10 .. Really  what do i have to loose.. Its 10 bucks  The numbers on the mth motors are 1 letter off the ones that he listed... Now i am gonna try and find the 12 mm ones. The ones in the bigboy are 15 mm

What's the noise level of these motors compared to the stock Lionel and MTH motors?

The three I bought were similar, don't know about the batch of 10, but since they're actually Mabuchi motors with the same exact dimensions as the MTH ones, I'm assuming they're going to be very similar.

Yes, but you should get points for taking the chance and buying these just to explore.  that is the only way we learn and improve.  I'm going to order some, too, just, well, for the same reason as you.  

From their own drawing, a "genuine" Mabuchi is embossed in a circular indentation with the squiggly M logo.  Obviously markings can be counterfeited but it's probably safe to say that if it doesn't have this logo then it is not Mabuchi.  The motor on the bottom has identical physical characteristics but no squiggly M.

As to whether Mabuchi owns/deserves the cachet (and price premium) as the only acceptable DC can motor manufacturer for toy-train smoke-fans is a question above my pay grade.

Lee, I have boxes full of electronic goodies I pick up just to see how they perform and if they'll fit into a given void.  Some I never use in an actual project, others turn out to be very useful.

GRJ,

Have you ever measured or do you know:

1) voltage and power draw for an operating fan motor?

2) fan airflow performance?

3) voltage and power draw for the smoke unit resistor?

Especially interested in Legacy, PS2's and 3's.

Thanks, S

I've measured many a motor on the bench, most working motors are in the 40ma range with an impeller mounted.

I don't really have any way to measure airflow performance, other than my calibrated Mark I eyeballs.

The voltage on the smoke resistor is dependent on which system is driving it, and where you have the smoke intensity.  I have never actually tried to measure it as there are a ton of variables.  If you have more labor, you get more smoke intensity with many locomotives, and of course that changes when you change the smoke level setting.  Also, for Legacy, you can see six and eight ohm resistors and matching regulators, each of those would have different voltages for the same smoke output.