Lionchief+ B&O Smoke Unit Fixed

I'll have to send my LC+ Mikado in after the fan croaked. I've heard good things about Lionel's service department and I hope my experience is just as good. 

Before I ordered mine, I had read somewhere that the smoke units had issues; but, I took a shot anyway.

It took 2 calls to customer service first.

On the first call, the rep asked me to see the Lionel video 'Smoke Refill 101'.  I did and followed that video's suggestions.  Still no smoke.

On the 2nd call, another rep gave me an RA number and sent me an RA email.

You have to return the loco, tender, remote, a copy of your sales receipt for warranty service, a letter stating the problem, and include your return address, the RA number, and print the RA number on the sides of the shipping box.

I had to pay shipping there.

The Trainworld outer box that I sent it in was on its last legs; so Lionel sent it back in a new outer box - nice touch.

The Lionel tech did no damage to the loco - just as pristine as when I sent it.

RickM46

Rick

Sounds like Lionel Service is effective and timely!!  and a good result. thanks for posting

I have made the following discovery regarding smoke production in my Lionchief+ B&O locomotive.

After its repair, it did produce smoke but a bit meager; but, that was using the supplied wall power supply.

Today, I connected its track to the ZW-L and ran it.

Big differences:

It used to take about 4 minutes to get some whisps of smoke; but now, less than a minute.

When I throttled up, smoke production decreased and you only got some smoke when at a slow speed; but now, she produces nice smoke at moderate speed.

So the ZW-L is supplying the necessary amperage for the smoke unit.

Happy Camper

I run my LC+ loco (the B&O Pacific) with my postwar ZW and it definitely needs a little "warm up" time. But once it's going I'm very satisfied with the smoke output. Another one of the pleasant surprises with the LC+ line of locos.

Btw -- I exclusively use Mega Steam products and think they're terrific.

Mega Steam is what I use also; very good smoke; no harsh chemical smell.

I have made another significant discovery regarding smoke production in my LC+ B&O:

First, I was starving the unit of fluid by using the MegaSteam needle dispenser; the drops of fluid out of it are micro drops - you have to at least double the number of drops (good dispenser though, great for getting fluid down the stack).  However, as soon as I began using the Lionel pipette and putting 1 line of drops in the stack, smoke production went from anemic to almost as good as my Big Boy.

Second, I was being conservative with my ZW-L and only supplying about 16 volts to the track.  Today, I increased that to 17.96 (all the way up on the ZW-L lever), and the smoke unit came to life almost immediately with Big Boy like smoke production - well darn close.

RickM46

I have a LC+ Hudson, use Mega Steam, and use a MRC Dual Power transformer.  I get much better smoke production if I run the engine using maximum throttle.  

Yep, I believe getting enough fluid into the stack and enough voltage on the track makes a big difference.  You just got to make sure you don't let the unit run dry. 16 volts does not get it.

Due to my senior moments, I have been keeping a log for each loco of when I last added fluid (MegaSteam) and the quantity.

RickM46

There tends to be a pretty large knee on smoke production with fairly small changes in track power.  My test bench just has an old 1033 transformer, that one tops out at 16 volts.  When testing smoke, I often find that the production is fairly anemic, but put it on the track with 18V, and smoke is much better.

Rick 

Thanks for the insight on the LC+ smoke units I am having the same issues.

I use a ZW-80 each for our outer 2 lines and I just bought a MTH 1000 to replace the old "Big Boy" ZW I was using for the 3rd inner line after I had read on this Forum that I could "burn up" engines and sound systems. I'll now use the Old ZW for the accessories.

To be sure my ZW-L was not putting out over 18v, I got access to a true RMS digital multi-meter and made sure that when I turned the ZW-L all the way up to 20v on its lever, there was not more than 18v coming out of its hot post.  My meter said it was putting out 17.96v while at 20v on the lever.  That 17.96v made a dramatic change to smoke production in the B&O.  I read somewhere that the ZW-L is capped at 18v which it is.  Also read somewhere or maybe a Lionel video that accessories and their lights last longer at ~15v (maybe 14v)??.  That same place said that the light housings on switches tend to melt at too high a voltage.

RickM46

Thanks Rick for the speedy reply!!

Because of this Forum I discovered "Megasteam" and the smoke production is awesome and the smells are great!!