Originally Posted by stan2004:
Originally Posted by suzukovich:
In the GN it was spiking at 8.1-9.9. this started about a day ago.
What do you mean by "spiking"?
Since you have a Z4000, you should be able to get a rough indication of power consumed by the same smoke unit between engines. Watts = Volts x Current. The power should go up maybe 5 Watts for an SD24 from smoke OFF to smoke ON. I already new that in fact it went up on average 3-4 increase in watts 1.3-4 normal operating range with Smoke off. Smoke on 1.7 to 2.0. In this case it started jumping to 2.9-3.5 Power was cut to all the sidings. except my test track, eliminating any other power draw. This also takes in account the battery recharging. The first thing I did was replace the battery with a fully charged one.
Yes, the numbers on the Z4000 display will bounce around a bit but watch it for a few seconds and you'll get useful numbers. I always can tell when one of the engines run over the tiny spiders that seam to like certain sections of my layout.
If you then transfer the smoke unit to another diesel it should consume the same power under similar conditions. This would test your hypothesis that the smoke drive electronics on the original board is the issue drawing too much power or delivering power to a phantom (unintended) load for whatever reason. This is how I knew the smoke units were working properly and not drawing more power to operate. Engine used was an upgraded Weaver C628 to PS3. The other engine I used was my Kit bashed ATSF SD45 running gear and electronics from a PS2 SD9, Frame, shell, fuel tank and the truck detail from a ATSF dummy unit.
If there's no smoke unit attached, the Z4000 indicated power should not change if you turn the smoke unit OFF and ON. No Comment
A diesel smoke unit at a given speed and output setting (low-med-high if using command) draws constant power. It should not be "spiking" unless there's an intermittent connection. Change in power draw is due to heater element. other factors can be a loose wires( engines, cabooses, passenger cars), track wiring, a switch with its own mine, environmental conditions on the layout, loose track connections, dust, dog hair, hair balls from the cat, etc....
GN SD24 is running fine again 1.3-1.5 as for the phantom power draw this did not show up in the engines used to test the smoke units. I plan on retesting my dead 5v board just to be sure it was not a smoke unit issue like GN SD24 after I get back from MacDill. The one thing I learned from G very early on with an issue a couple of years ago was to check for loose wires and bent pins in the plugs/connectors. That's the great thing about being on this forum. You learn from other peoples issues. forum members seam always willing to help and you have G, Gunrunner and Barry who are SMEs you cant go wrong. By the time I had posted this, the repairs had been completed. With all the current threads on the 5V boards I was curious if anybody else had this issue especially G or Gunrunner had come across this one since they have dissected the boards.
Thank you for you help.
Doug
