New set but poor smoke

There is a huge amount of info on Lionel smoke units on this forum.  If you use the Search feature, you will get no end to info on smoke units.  You should look in the owners manual to see how many drops of smoke fluid to add to your unit.  If you put too much, you could overflow it onto the circuit boards; if you put too little, the resistor will burn the wick.  Some folks swear by Mega Steam, some by Lionel Premium. 

Looks like you just joined the forum, welcome!!  Those Lionel starter sets are not the best smokers, whereas the MTH units will smoke you out of the house. I've changed resistors to improve the smoke output in some of my engines, but I would not be the one to tell you what the best size is to put in yours should you choose to do so.

Hopefully more will chime in.

Good Luck!!

If it was a brand new Locomotive, I would highly recommend taking the loco shell off of the train, then remove the smoke unit "lid", that's the piece that holds the heating element on the underside.  Check your wicking and make sure it's not burnt or charred already.  The issue I have with the setup instructions with Lionel engines is that if you just add 20 drops of fluid down the smokestack, more times than not, it's not enough to prime the wick.  I burnt out my wick the first time I ran it as I put 20 drops in, and it wasn't enough to saturate the wick.  Then the wick burnt out after about 2 minutes of operation.   Really sucks to have to buy a new wick right after buying a $500 locomotive. It sounds like this may have happened to you. 

When I replace my wicks, I saturate them with fluid (usually about 25 to 30 drops) directly onto the wick.  After I started doing this, the smoke output went up tremendously.  The only thing to be mindful of is that you can put a bit extra, but just make sure that if a little bit pools up in the reservoir, do not tip the locomotive upside down!  If the fluid flows out of the reservoir, it can damage your electronics. 

Lionel locos don't smoke like MTH locos, but brand new, it should produce a decent amount of smoke for you. 

Hope this helps.

Also, check the smoke piston:

https://ogrforum.com/...witcher-smoke-piston

Good luck! 

Mitch 

Trainmanmcgee: he has a mechanical puffer unit running on variable track voltage... not a fan driven unit at 18v!  Your advice would spill fluid all over the engine, track and roadbed.

Jon  

Hate to say it but those puffer units are not going to preform well.Yes at full track voltage you may get some smoke.If you are watching you tube videos you are getting a false idea of what yours is going to do.Just my 2 cents Nick

Jveneziano posted:

Hey guys, I am new to the Lionel world. I picked up a new UP overland flyer set this weekend at my local train store and I have been having a lot of fun with it. But I was a little disappointed with the smoke, it only works when the train is running full speed and even then you really have to watch it closely to see the smoke. The locomotive is a 0-8-0 and uses a puffer style smoke unit, with a 30 ohm resistor. Can I get better performance by soldering a different resistor in? Or can I upgrade it to a fan type unit? There looks to be an exact engine (6-83204) with all the good parts in it. 

Yes a lower ohm resistor .

 if it were me, I would try an 18 Ohm resistor.

Sometimes you can get results by holding the engine slightly off the track and then turn the power up. Let it run till it starts smoking good. I usually turn the smoke off, it's nice but after awhile it smells up the entire house if the furnace blower is running.

Jim 1939 posted:

I usually turn the smoke off, it's nice but after awhile it smells up the entire house if the furnace blower is running.

LOL..  me too!  I have both types and never saw the appeal of smoke billowing out like a blast furnace.  Less problems with mechanical units too in my opinion.  

@jim1939 had a good suggestion, I have a Lionel switcher that I was disappointed with the smoke output, and the guy at my local LHS when I brought it in did that on his demo layout, basically that kind of unit will not produce huge amounts of smoke, and it often takes running it under full load to get it to produce much at all. In theory running the engine pulling a heavy load might allow it to smoke a bit more , but likely being a starter set engine it likely will never produce all that  much IME. I don't particularly like the smoke and I turn it off on my engines. 

I have the same starter set that you have. Mine didn't smoke either, I sent the engine to Lionel for repair, when it came back it smoked very well for quite a while. Once it stopped smoking and I opened it up they had replaced the resistor with a much lower Ohm one. I couldn't say what they put in there but I changed that one out with a 8 Ohm wire wound resister. I'm not saying you should do that but that's what I did and mine still smokes great. Also note that I run this engine slowly and get lots of smoke.

Thanks for all the reply's and tips guys. Well I ordered some 10Ohm 3watt resistors and soldered one in. It was working great at slow speeds with plenty of smoke. But when I gave the train full power after about 45sec the resistor popped. So maybe I will try some 20ohm ones and see if i have better luck with them.

Why not call Lionel and see what resister they recommend. Just guessing may destroy the electronic board.

I used one of these, ( 18 ohm element P/N 691RS18OHM ), when I upgraded my puffer unit in my Chessie Steam Special before I put a fan driven unit in it. But, I would like to know if the smoke unit is wired to a PCB or directly to track power.  I would recommend a 20 ohm resistor from Digi-key P/N PPC3D20.0CT. I also very carefully  remove the ceramic coating with a wire wheel to expose the wire of the resistor. That way its not burned off. I also recheck the resistance when I get done stripping it.