Hi fellows, I am wondering what might be the easiest and most productive way to increase smoke output from my Lionchief + steamers. Would it be easy to install an MTH smoke unit, or is there another unit that would work without having a lot of modifications. I have 4 steamers I’d like to upgrade. The units already have a fairly large breather hole, and the resister does not have a sleeve on it. Could I drill that breather hole larger, it is stock right now. Thanks in advance.
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I have never found a need to increase the smoke output of my LionChief Plus steam engine. Put in enough smoke fluid (20 plus drops), and it will smoke with the best that MTH has to offer.
Don't try to change the smoke unit, you can't just drop in the wrong smoke unit and hope it works better. You should be able to get plenty of smoke from the fan driven smoke unit on the LC+ steamers. I have used those smoke units in TMCC upgrades when the MTH smoke unit wouldn't fit, no problems at all.
I open up both the stack and the intake hole as much as possible, and also make sure the wick is firmly in contact with the resistor and NOT totally buried in the wick. Finally, make sure air flows from the fan chamber over the resistor that's setting in the wick and then on to the stack.
Ok thanks guys, I appreciate your input. I’m going to open it up and take a closer look. Two of them smoke pretty good, but two of them are pretty weak. That’s why the question.
What is your power source?
Good point Marty, when I did my battery power for the LC+ Camelback, it wouldn't smoke with 9.6 volts, but when I doubled up the battery packs and had 19 volts, it smokes great. The LC+ smoke and electrocouplers won't work properly under around 16 volts on the track.
Z-4000’s run at 18volts
Actually, the Z-4000 puts out in excess of 20 volts at full throttle, at least mine did.
Mine too GRJ, that’s why I set them at 18v.