I remember reading on this forum a while ago that the Lionel 6 Ohm smoke units are pretty much destined to fail. Is there anything that can be done to prevent failure on a perfectly operating one? Would changing the resistor to an 8 Ohm hurt the smoke production or the circuitry, or is it not worth doing anything and to leave it as a ticking time bomb.
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Best change the resistor to 8 ohms. Thats what Lionel did on the later engines and what they did when these were sent in for repair. The 6 ohm resistor will take out the AC regulator which is NLA.
Pete
@Norton posted:Best change the resistor to 8 ohms. Thats what Lionel did on the later engines and what they did when these were sent in for repair. The 6 ohm resistor will take out the AC regulator which is NLA.
Pete
Thank you, that’s kind of what I figured but I wanted to be sure before I went through with it.
There was a service bulletin on the resistor change, but I can't find it now.
Will this resistor work as a replacement for the 6 Ohm? Obviously I’d crack it out of the ceramic.
Attachments
It should. Crack it and see if the proper size/shape resistor pops out. I did find some of the Chinese 5W resistors weren't suitable.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:It should. Crack it and see if the proper size/shape resistor pops out. I did find some of the Chinese 5W resistors weren't suitable.
John do you happen to have any pictures of these unsuitable resistors? Curious.
They were just too long to fit comfortably inside the bowel and I was concerned about shorts to the case. I didn't keep them as I didn't have any other use for them.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:It should. Crack it and see if the proper size/shape resistor pops out. I did find some of the Chinese 5W resistors weren't suitable.
I cracked it open and it looks just like an original Lionel one, I also checked the Ohms and it came in right at 8.3. I just wanted to make sure all of the other writing on it checked out or is it only the Ohms that matters?
Should be fine. As long as it's roughly the right size, the wattage takes care of itself once you crack the ceramic shell. I use similar resistors for all my 8 ohm, 20 ohm, and 27 ohm smoke resistors, I have for years.
John, thank you for the explanation about the longer resistors. Makes sense not using those.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Should be fine. As long as it's roughly the right size, the wattage takes care of itself once you crack the ceramic shell. I use similar resistors for all my 8 ohm, 20 ohm, and 27 ohm smoke resistors, I have for years.
Alright cool, I’ll slap her in the F12e Ten Wheeler tomorrow. What was even the point of the 6 Ohm resistor anyway, more smoke? The Hot Box seems to smoke amazingly with the 8 Ohm in it so why even bother with a 6 to begin with?