I love it when questions are answered before I get here. 
Good morning, I put the smoke unit back in and it works with the chuffs but at idle it puffs and the motor is running very slow. Also I can not turn the smoke feature off with remote. Do I possibly not have the wire to pin 9, smoke power wired correctly ? I tied it to the smoke switch as pictured.
Jim
Attachments
Videos (1)
That is the classic symptoms of the smoke motor drawing to much current, time for a replacement motor. When the fan is slowed down for the idle smoke, if the smoke motor needs too much current, it'll stall.
Thank you
I replaced the motor and that did not do it. It started to puff at idle. If you turned the smoke switch off a couple times it would start smoking good at idle. Also I’m not able to turn off the smoke unit with the remote. I think there is a wiring issue but I don’t know where. Can you tell me where pin 9 is supposed to be connected to? I had it wire to the smoke switch. I think that was wrong. Should it be connected to the smoke feature? I’m about ready to give up.
Jim
Attachments
Videos (1)
Pin-9 is connected to the heating element hot side of the smoke unit. That can be at the smoke switch on the switched side or anywhere beyond that. However, since it's chuffing normally, clearly it's running the fan.
Are you sure you're programmed correctly? For steam the engine type should be AUX1 & "4". It's acting like you have it programmed for a strobe.
It seems that is not running the fan as strong as it should and I have not changed the original programming. I will do a reprogramming and see it that works.
Thanks
Ok, an update on the 6-38055 Sante Fe Northern with smart smoke unit. I installed the Supper Chuffer and Smoke Generator and was having problems with smoke volumn and no smoke at idle. Found one thing with some help from someone at the Wichita Roy Train club. The serial wire from the smoke regulator was hooked up to center roller from the factory. That fixed turning off the smoke with the remote but still had the other problems. We noticed at idle the LED on the smoke generator was dimly flashing. I decided to take the smoke generator out of the picture and just run the Super Chuffer. I hooked back up the cherry switch also. Smoke volumn was great and it smokes at idle great unless it stops between a chuff. You can roll the motor by hand and when the cherry switch is closed it will smoke at idle. Is that how it’s supposed to work? What am I missing? Also I think I have a bad smoke generator board. I may need to have it tested.
Jim
I don't see how the smoke regulator or anything else connected to the serial data survived with it connected to track power! Sorry, that makes no sense!
I'm guessing you have wiring issues, but it's hard to tell from this end of the keyboard. If you're talking about the LED on the Chuff-Generator is flashing when you're not moving, something has toasted that board, that's NOT normal!
Question on the operation of the smoke at idle. I installed the Super Chuffer using the existing cherry switch on my 6-38055 Sante Fe Nothern. My AC regulated was giving me issues so I removed it and installed a 27 ohm resistor. I picked up smoke power to the switch off smoke hot #1 pin off the motherboard as described in earlier discussions. Everything works great except if it doesn’t quite land on the close of the cherry switch the smoke at idle just puffs a bit. When it lands on the close smoke at idle works fine. Is that how it’s supposed to work. I haven’t installed the Chuff Generator yet.
thanks
Nope, never seen anything like that behavior. The chuff being open or closed should have no effect on the smoke at idle, if that's happening, I'd be looking at what else the chuff switch is connected to. It sounds like when the switch is open, some electrical noise is fooling the Super-Chuffer into thinking chuffs are coming in.
As an experiment, add a 2.2K resistor from the chuff input on the Super-Chuffer to pin-10, the 5VDC. See if that makes it behave.
Hello, I have been having some issues with the Super Chuffer install. My engine is a 6-38055 Northern with the semi smart smoke unit. I installed the first Super Chuffer and Smoke Generator and was having issues so ordered another figuring I did something to it. I installed that one last evening and still have the same issue. The chuffs work fine but no smoke at idle except for a puff. I removed the AC regulator since it was acting up, and installed an 27 ohm resistor. Run the smoke power from the smoke hot of the mother board pin#1 to the smoke switch. The rest wires per the instructions. I picked up power from one of the black track hot and chassis plugs on the motherboard. still having the same issue. Also when at idle the chuff generator dimly flashes with the weak chuffs. I attached a short video.
Attachments
Videos (1)
Top suspect is a smoke motor that's drawing too much power.
I did replace it with a new stock one first time I had the issue. Could the new motor be bad also? Another thing, at idle when it’s puffing if you turn the smoke unit off and on it will blow just fine at idle until you start and stop it again.
thanks
Jim
@James Jones posted:I did replace it with a new stock one first time I had the issue. Could the new motor be bad also? Another thing, at idle when it’s puffing if you turn the smoke unit off and on it will blow just fine at idle until you start and stop it again.
Well, you could measure the 5V coming out of the Super-Chuffer on pin-10 to ground. See if it ever dips below 5VDC. Did you make sure you programmed the engine for a steamer with smoke? After you set the engine ID, while still in PGM mode, key AUX1 and then 4. Then switch back to RUN and see if it still happens.
You didn't happen to power the cab light from the 5VDC from the Super-Chuffer, did you?
I have not did anything with lighting. I just want the 4 chuffs and smoke at idle. I checked the voltage at the smoke switch when it was puffing at idle and it was 8 volts. I will check at pin 10. Also I will reprogram the engine.
thanks
Jim
I was talking about checking the voltage on the Super-Chuffer board on pin-10, the +5VDC output to frame ground. If that's not +5VDC +/- 5%, something is probably wrong.
Yes I know, I was just giving you a little more information. I will let you know what I find out.
Jim
Tested the voltage between frame ground and pin 10. It’s bouncing between 3 and 4 vdc. Between pin 10 and the frame ground at the motor 1volt vdc.
Jim
There's the problem, something is dragging down the 5V from the Super-Chuffer. That supply should be able to put out three times what the motor and other circuitry needs, something else is camped on the 5V output.
As far as I know just the Chuff Generator. But I will recheck the wiring. Maybe change my supply. I’m just plug into where the AC regulator got its power. It’s putting out 18 volts AC.
Make sure the connection is directly to the track power. The current draw is very low, but the input power voltage needs to be good.
I went ahead and picked up power directly from the roller wire and frame ground and reprogrammed the engine to steam AUX 1 and 4. No change. I measured the voltage from pin 10 to frame ground and it was 3 volts without the fan running. What else would drag it down? The only other thing connected is the Chuff Generator. It there a way to bench test the Super Chuffer?
thanks
Jim
@James Jones posted:I went ahead and picked up power directly from the roller wire and frame ground and reprogrammed the engine to steam AUX 1 and 4. No change. I measured the voltage from pin 10 to frame ground and it was 3 volts without the fan running. What else would drag it down? The only other thing connected is the Chuff Generator. It there a way to bench test the Super Chuffer?
thanks
Jim
Well, I test them on my test set.
Try unsoldering the wire from pin 10 (+5VDC out) on the S-C and see what the 5VDC measures there without anything connected. If it's not close to 5VDC then, something is wrong with the S-C.
