Here is my TMCC Scale J upgraded to 4 chuffs using Gunrunner Johns latest invention.
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Lookin' good Bob! 
Sounds good too.
Wow great looking smoke and sound.
So a lionel lionmaster or most older tmcc steam locos can use this superchuffer? I have some lionemaster steam with odyssey 1 that thanks to legacy dont lurch as with the old cab 1. They run smooth, but the smoke and chuff rate are not up to par. May have to get this upgrade done to them when funds allow.
zwbob posted:Here is my TMCC Scale J upgraded to 4 chuffs using Gunrunner Johns latest invention.
Very nice video - thanks for sharing..........
Nice job! I'm gonna have to do that to my TMCC 3751.
Lionelzwl2012 posted:Wow great looking smoke and sound.
So a lionel lionmaster or most older tmcc steam locos can use this superchuffer? I have some lionemaster steam with odyssey 1 that thanks to legacy dont lurch as with the old cab 1. They run smooth, but the smoke and chuff rate are not up to par. May have to get this upgrade done to them when funds allow.
The Super-Chuffer is specifically designed to enhance TMCC locomotives. They can be either stock Lionel TMCC or the ERR Upgrades, it works equally well with either option. I have done a number of TMCC upgrades of Lionmaster and scale TMCC. You could even use this in early Legacy stuff that didn't have idle smoke and Rule-17 lighting to enhance the operation.
Laidoffsick posted:Nice job! I'm gonna have to do that to my TMCC 3751.
Doug, I know you've seen this upgrade in operation! 
Laidoffsick posted:Nice job! I'm gonna have to do that to my TMCC 3751.
I have a 3751 with the superchuffer installed. I bought it like that, but I would have had it upgraded anyway. It is a big improvement over the original.
Yes it (my 3751) definitely needs a chuff generator as well as my TMCC GS 2. They are are both screaming at me for upgrades.... they just wanna sound and smoke as good as my Sunset 2-10-4 that John upgraded for me. Oh and my JLC Challenger says dont for get me.
If you haven't seen John's handy work and products performing on my Sunset 2-10-4 you can see it here:
Well you all got me to dive in. John is gonna get sick of my emails with questions now.
If the emails get too heavy, I charge a $5 tech fee before I answer. 
Bob your video and a few others inspired me to upgraded my own TMCC engine. Not to mention, John already upgraded my Sunset 2-10-4 for me so I have seen it in action. I debated for a long time whether or not just to buy the Legacy version of 3751 just to have the 4 chuffs. The 2 chuffs just sound ridiculous to me. The TMCC 3751 was the 1st steam engine I ever bought (actually my wife claims to own it) so I didn't really want to get rid of it. So I just gave it a few hi performance upgrades.
The 1st part of the video (boiler off) you can really hear/see the 2 chuff just don't sound right. There is no smoke while sitting at idle with factory TMCC either, so that is a huge change once the Super Chuffer was wired in. Once it was finished and the boiler installed, you can also see the cab light now goes out when the engine is moving. I can't stand driving with the dome light on 
I didn't swap the head light to an LED, just because the headlight still works... maybe in the next engine upgrade.
This engine came with 2 full size Lionel Fat Boy speakers in it, but no enclosure (baffle). I used a stock Lionel Fat Boy short enclosure to seal up one of the speakers, because I only had 1 left. You can hear the bass tone change from the 1st part of the video with the boiler off, to the completed engine. I may pick up a dual fat boy enclosure and seal them both up, but for now this is a much improved 12 year old engine, and a lot cheaper than buying the Legacy model. The upgrades cost me roughly $100.
If I can do these upgrades, pretty much anyone on this forum can do them.
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Nice job Doug 
Wow, great job. Sounds as cool as a drumbeat with smoke rings too! Well done LOS and GRJ.
Well it finally happened. After numerous years in the hobby. Never really had any issues with electronics. My K-Line Berkshire went up in smoke. Installing the ERR Cruise was not a big deal. I had long ago converted to selectable chuffs with the K-Line cruise. Thanks to John's hard work getting the 4 chuffs back was do able. I'm really not interested in smoke so I wasn't going to spring for an upgraded smoke unit or a Super Chuffer. I did need a source for the 5v power for the Chuff Generator. I followed John's diagram from a previous post and ordered what I hoped were the correct parts. Initial test showed a 5v output. Figured I was good to go. When the Chuff Generator arrived I read the instructions a few times and proceeded to solder it up. I'm pretty good at soldering but this was someting I had no experience in. The hard part wasn't so much the soldering. It was seeing what I was doing. Got it all hooked up and programmed and silence. No chuff. Figured the worst. Looked at the instructions again. I had cut power to the engine. Then removed the jumper wire. Had the steps backwards. Re did it and it worked like a charm. I've upgraded engines before but this was a little different. Building the 5v board and soldering to a small board. I was sort of out of my comfort zone. If your hesitant about doing one of these. Give it a try. It's a great feeling when you see what you've done work.
I'd like to thank John for a great product and all the info he provides here on the Forum.
I've received my first request for a "canned" solution. I had the motor shipped to me with the desired position of the Chuff-Generator marked. I mounted it, soldered the wires to it, and did a test calibration to insure all was well. If I knew the exact gear ratio of the locomotive, I could probably calibrate it for 4-chuffs on the bench.
One thing that works out well for some folks is to solder a loop of wire about 3" total between the calibration pins. After the C-G is mounted, power up and calibrate it. When you're ready to "remove" the jumper, just cut the wire. If you need to calibrate again, you just strip the ends of the jumper and connect them for an additional calibration. Once you're done, just insulate the wire ends and tuck them away.
Thats exactly how I jumpered the calibration pins. I found it much easier to solder the loop of wire at the bench (I soldered all the wires to the board at the bench), calibrate, and then cut the loop. After I confirmed everything worked properly, I touched those pins with the soldering iron and removed the wires. I debated whether to remove or leave them, but I didn't think (or hoping) it wouldn't need to be calibrated again.
I find that sometimes the calibration is a bit off, and if I'm trying to get exactly 1/4 rev for each chuff, I have to calibrate a couple of times to get it exact.
