Super Chuffer II Install Problems and Death of a Chuff Generator - Now with Video!

Your pictures are not showing up. You need to leave the attachments at the bottom alone. If you delete the attachments, the pictures go away for the rest of us. But they will still show up on your computer. Been there. Done that.

What did gunrunnerjohn have to say about your issues?  

Suggestion:  Get GRJ's email address from his profile and contact him directly.  Be patient since he will probably be at York.

You can hide attachments below a message, but Leo is certainly right, if you delete them, they do go away!

I'm confused about the "timing error", the Super-Chuffer just reacts to a chuff switch input and does the chuff process for the smoke unit.  If you're hearing the chuff issue as well, it has nothing to do with the Super-Chuffer.

Gunrunnerjohn,

Without the Super Chuffer connected to the chuff switch, I get 1 chuff each time the switch closes.

With the Super Chuffer connected to the chuf switch, I get multiple chiffs each time the switch closes.

Do my video links show-up and can you play them?

Consolidated Leo,

Have edited the original post and re-attached photos.  Do they show-up now?

Rob: We've got 4 photos but no video.

Where does the chuff switch connect to the motherboard?  All the addition of the SC-II should do is add a very small load to the chuff circuit.  If you ring it out, does the chuff switch connect to the R2LC pin-17?  Does one side of the chuff switch go to frame ground with a good connection?  The indications are that you don't have a good ground on the chuff switch and the 4.7k pull-up on the SC-II is enough to compromise the chuff switch indications to the R2LC.

GRJ,

Good answer, good guidence, I'll check the pinout, condition of the wire and the frame ground and come back with my findings

Really, really appreciate your advice.

That's what we're here for.  I obviously want everyone to be successful with these installs.   I haven't seen this symptom, and it's never been reported to me, so I figure it has to be something somewhat unique about your particular locomotive.  The trick is, to figure out what it is.

My top suspect is the ground, that could explain things.  Also, with the SC-II connected, have you manually operated the switch with your finger to see if it does the same thing.  The reason I ask is, the Railsounds card will ignore chuff pulses if they come too fast, but if the bounce in the switch is more than 50ms, the SC-II will think it's a separate chuff.  It could be simply a defective switch.

GRJ,

I have not been able to replicate the fault manually activating the switch.  Before reassembly, my first testing was done manually with the switch outside of the frame.  The fault became appearent after buttoning up the switch side of the project and installing the Chuff Generator.  I pull the Chuff Genertor and replicated the fault using the switch.  Here is the sequence of events that lead to the fault discovery:

1.  wired in the Super Chuffer (SC)

2. tested the SC, using the existing switch, with the switch removed from the locomotive frame by hand - chuffs where generated and the SC operated as expected.  No chuff faults detected

3. installed Chuff Generator (CG) and calibrated per direction

4. tested CG and SC in tandom by rotating the flywheel by hand - no fault detected

4. tested install by test run of lomotive - fault detected

4a. destroyed the SC off locomotive with soldering iron (off locomotive and disconnected from wiring - believe I cooked the board)

5. repeated run test using the switch to generate the chuff signal - fault detected

6. reached out to the community

I'm assuming that you had the chuff switch totally out of the picture when you were using the Chuff-Generator, right?  I can't imagine what is going on, the Chuff-Generator generates a clean signal that has never been an issue like this.

Yes sir,  chuff switch was in the bag with the old smoke unit and drive assembly.  Was so confident that I had it right and everything would work, I had put the box away.

There must be something a bit different about how the chuff is handled down the line, I can't imagine how the CG could do the double chuff.