resister shorting against smoke unit

I had a resistor short to the metal side of a smoke unit in a Genset and it melted quite a bit of wiring. I don't think the resistor itself would typically over heat...depends a lot on the circuit and which end of the resistor shorted of course.

CJACK , I was trying to figure out what if anything i did wrong while replaceing a smoke fan motor & resister when it got so hot it melted the smoke funnel closed ,i put a new resister in & so far everything seems to be ok ,you can read my post on the three reel forum if you like for more details about what the problem was ,i may never know what was wrong ,i have checked it several times & as i said it is working fine right now ,but i wish i knew what had happened .

Except for electrical issues, I can only think of low or no fluid on the resistor.

I had just put fluid in when i replaced the fan motor & the wicking  perhaps i was running it to long & it used up all the fluid ,i will be checking to see if everything still works for a few more days .

  I bet the voltage regulator glitched. I've seen it plenty; a component "sticks" or forgets what to do. When electronics fail..(without burning)....let them sit for a day or two.and try again. It may never happen again, or it could be the first of a reoccurring issue, you never know. I would hit all the solder pads with an iron quickly  to ensure  a cold solder isn't at fault, shrug my shoulders and call it fixed till it wasn't again.

An inconsistency in the element's metallurgy could cause an overheat, bridging of the wire by debris, and a short too.

Adriatic ,Could you tell by looking at the picture where the voltage regulator is ?,this engine has no motor it is a dummy unit ,i don't see anything wrapped in shrink wrap either ,don't know where the regulator would be .

Can anyone show me what & where to look for the voltage regulator ?

The picture you posted is the newer Legacy RCMC electronics, the voltage regulation function is embedded in the main board, there is no separate voltage regulator.  For that board, ANY short of the smoke resistor to frame ground is a bad thing, so you need to be careful not to let that happen!

John ,I am not sure if i did unknowingly short the resister to the frame ground ,i do know that the resister did get very hot & when i opened it up again the wiching was stuck to the resister& it was burnt to a crisp & the wicking was bone dry & would not heat up again thats when i replaced the resister & so far it is working as it should . A question i have for you if you don't mind is if i should have trouble with the smoke unit as i just had would i have to replace the whole board ,or is there another part i could replace & is it possible for you to point out the part that would have to be replaced if necessary . Thanks for your help.

         One other thing the volt &amp meters you suggested i get have arrived thats the next project for me to work on,it will be fun to do & easier to.

Gerald, I suspect if you really cooked the RCMC, you'll probably have to buy the whole thing.  I don't know which part on that board is the smoke control driver, I haven't cooked one yet.  Lionel provides no documentation for component repairs, so I'd hope that it isn't the board.

I'd start by checking the resistance of the smoke resistor, should be in the 8 ohm range.  Trace the wires to the RCMC connector and see if there is full continuity.

Thanks John ,For now i will leave it alone because it is working fine right now  hopefully it will keep working ,as far as traceing the wires to see if  there is continuity that is something i haven't ever done before so i would need some instruction on how to use the meter that i have .