Tmc fan on smoke unit not working

Ron, I'm not familiar with that particular engine but if you want to swap out the smoke unit motor only, the preferred motors are MTH.  Those can be obtained through the MTH Parts website.  The part # is BE0000041.  Take a look at the picture on the MTH Parts site.  Your motor should look the same.  Good luck.

Thank you Mike I will check it out.

I had some wonky smoke motors in Legacy engines.  It was suggested here on OGR (by GRJ) to swap them out with the MTH motors.  I did so and they've been 100% reliable ever since.

Thank you mike

Ron, get back to us after you replace the motor. We need to know if in fact it is the motor.

I’ve taken a fan motor apart as there is 2 tabs on the top that bend back slightly to remove the top. What happened in my case is the fan was flooded with fluid. Dried off the 2 contacts and put it all back together. Worked fine after that.
Your engine is one of 2 UP dash 9’s that Lionel made.

Thank you everyone for all your help, appreciate it. Ron

You might consider pulling the plug for the smoke motor and checking the voltage output from the 5V supply on the smoke unit.  With no load, it should be within 10% of 5VDC.  It's pretty common for one of the three parts to fail, and they're all cheap and readily available parts.

Thanks Gunner

They even tell you what the components are https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ELEMENT-610-8057-200

Not saying buy the components from Lionel- just saying, good part numbers and details.

or just order the entire PCB if soldering and repair is not your thing.

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...UNIT-PCB-RECT-27-OHM

All that said, my other concern would be- given this is driven of the smoke TRIAC of the typical TMCC receiver (R2lC), might it be possible the wrong "feature code" was set? Again, depending on feature code, the output might not half wave rectify the full voltage- hence your low reading?

Thinking it should be 8

Programming the R2LC Receiver with the Cab-1

Thank you Vernon

@Ron Casamento posted:

Thank you Vernon

Just trying to cover something simple like a programming thing, that might fix it, before diving too deep into the electronics. I've seen plenty of engines set with the wrong feature code- you get a pulsing smoke unit- not "chuffing" if set to a flashing beacon mode. Or in some instances, the smoke output is reduced when idle not moving VS moving. All reasons why the fan would appear to not be working, but was not an electronic failure- just the wrong feature code.

Ron, another reason for the reading below 5v is the fan is stuck. That can happen if its hitting the case. Then the motor will draw its stall current which is likely more than the 100ma rating of the regulator. BTW LM78L05s are dirt cheap on Amazon and eBay. Much less than just the shipping from Lionel.

Pete

Thanks everyone, I will update down the road.

Gunner John, I did what you said . Pulled plug on fan motor and it does read within the 10% of the 5VDC, so pretty sure it’s the fan motor. Thanks John

@Ron Casamento posted:

Gunner John, I did what you said . Pulled plug on fan motor and it does read within the 10% of the 5VDC, so pretty sure it’s the fan motor. Thanks John

Ron, from what you describe I had a similar issue, and it was the motor as well. That test pretty much does confirms it. My usual troubleshooting is to replace the motor first and if that doesn't work back, I usually replace the board.

It is a useful skill; I can't tell you how many times I've been down the failed smoke unit road

-Matt

Thank you Matt.

Use an MTH motor, they're higher quality than the ones that Lionel uses.  The only time I use the Lionel motors is when I need the short motor for a tight space.

Thx John