Lione; KCS 6-28287 Smoke trouble

https://ogrforum.com/...2#168247930509728522

To summarize- no, last year just around the time people were getting ready for the parts sale, Lionel pulled major TMCC electronic components from inventory. At first it was thought to just be for the sale, later it was clearly not the case, and then this year, people began noticing "obsolete" wording in many of the parts listings. And, this goes far beyond just TMCC, it just bit me on a local repair job for a conventional train- the Electronic E-units of different models have been pulled. Smoke regulators are part of the TMCC electronics now completely unavailable and no direct substitutions.

#1 no you probably are not buying a new regulator as by now, this lack of parts has been going on for a little while.

#2 you most likely are going to move to an unregulated smoke unit- and that requires rewiring and the correct resistor for the higher power level coming directly from the typical smoke output TRIAC.

#3 Even my own attempts- when smoke regulators fail, there is not a good rate of repairing them. This is because if the TRIAC gate shorts to the AC as the TRIAC fails, then it cooks the microprocessor. Even if you replaced all components, you cannot get the code on the microprocessor, so basically dead and a big time waste trying.

Side bar- wondering when this is really going to catch steam, people are going to figure this out, and the value of items is going to drop like flies because you cannot get parts or parts are so insane and upgrades are just so costly. Granted, the smoke unit is not the breaking point, you can still run the train, still work around the problem, but then it's not factory correct and full function at resale time. Again, just sitting and watching as this slowly sinks in, affects more and more people with common repairs. Like I said, it just started creeping into conventional units- not just TMCC.......

Thanks for your reply even though the news is bad.  The idea that Lionel no longer supplies critical electronic parts for these locomotives certainly makes me re-think things going forward. That move by Lionel is just rotten.

I have a total of 5 Legacy Locos. I have two of these KCS SD 70'S  and one NS SD 70. The other two are AC 6000'S. It's important to me to that these SD 70'S be able to produce smoke. Neither KCS has a working smoke unit as the AC Reg is faulty in both. For me, smoke is a most satisfying feature of these locomotives. I read the provided links in my post and it seems there is no "workaround" for my problem. I sincerely hope something develops regarding my issue. Heck, I wish I could find two of the AC Regs from a parts house or repairman that was willing to part with them or someone that repaired the failed Regulators.This is frustrating to say the least. Thanks.

@amos posted:

I have a total of 5 Legacy Locos. I have two of these KCS SD 70'S  and one NS SD 70. The other two are AC 6000'S. It's important to me to that these SD 70'S be able to produce smoke. Neither KCS has a working smoke unit as the AC Reg is faulty in both. For me, smoke is a most satisfying feature of these locomotives. I read the provided links in my post and it seems there is no "workaround" for my problem.

There is no work-around for early Legacy locomotive electronic parts, they are gone!  I bought Legacy regulators shortly before the carnage in the parts department, and all of them don't work correctly!  To say I'm not happy would not be putting to fine a point on it!

I see none of the boards are available either. these loco's are basically  reduced to being disposable at this rate. This truly has me wondering what brand to go to from here.

Can the smoke unit be wired directly from the switch(on/off) with an in-line resistor?  No smoke control from the Cab2 but at least you'd have smoke. I'm just thinking here.....

@amos posted:

Can the smoke unit be wired directly from the switch(on/off) with an in-line resistor?  No smoke control from the Cab2 but at least you'd have smoke. I'm just thinking here.....

You have to change the smoke resistor to around 40 ohms if you want to run it directly from 18 VAC track power.  A better way might be to add an adjustable AC->DC switching module so you could tune the smoke output.

I'm afraid I'm not at that level of electrical knowledge to even know what to buy!  Part of me wishes  I could find one of the AC Regulators for this thing but I do understand that getting rid of it would be the better move, Thanks.