smoke boost

Most TMCC locomotives have one smoke level output.  Are you talking about the boost when you hold the smoke key down on the remote?  You should not do that for any length of time over a few seconds.

john....yes.  I believe you could do so using the Cab-1.  Couldn't recall if there was a similar feature using the DCS remote.

I thought 15 seconds was the maximum for boosting smoke output upon start up for a TMCC-equipped locomotive.

I never use it unless the smoke unit fails to produce smoke. Usually, if there's no smoke it's because something is wrong with the smoke unit, not because insufficient power is being supplied. At least that's what I've found.

Correct, that's why I said only a few seconds.