Train America Studios Smoke unit

Nope, just take out the thermistor and old smoke resistor and do what you suggested.  Make sure that none of the electronics is still connected to the smoke resistor connections and you're all set.

I have that unit in my New Haven I-5 Hudson.  I was able to squeeze in two 16 OHM heaters and wire it to the MTH PS-3 board the same you would do with any other MTH smoke unit.  What you want to do works.

I have converted them and left the 10 ohm in and it works fine.  G

I used one as-is on this build. 

it can clear the room pretty quick. 

Thanks,

Mario

George, the 10 ohm smokes but when I converted my I-5  using  two 16 ohm heaters, it is now much better.   The 10 as is does smoke.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Nope, just take out the thermistor and old smoke resistor and do what you suggested.  Make sure that none of the electronics is still connected to the smoke resistor connections and you're all set.

Why not leave the protection circuitry in place to prevent the charring of the wicking?  That's one of the great things about the turbo smoke unit.   I would leave the single resistor as these units smoke just fine.

superwarp1 posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Nope, just take out the thermistor and old smoke resistor and do what you suggested.  Make sure that none of the electronics is still connected to the smoke resistor connections and you're all set.

Why not leave the protection circuitry in place to prevent the charring of the wicking?  That's one of the great things about the turbo smoke unit.   I would leave the single resistor as these units smoke just fine.

You can't leave the protection circuit in place as you're driving it with electronics that expects a plain resistor.  I seriously doubt the protection circuit would work as intended, and i suspect the smoke unit wouldn't work at all with PWM DC on it instead of the AC it expects.

Gary, my New Haven I-5 was converted to PS3.  I needed all the room I could find as the TAS smoke bowl, it is not as big as the Lionel or MTH unit.  It has to be an exact fit to prevent the heaters from touching the metal casing.  Before the upgrade, the engine did smoke good with the TAS electronics.  

When I first did the upgrade, I used just the 10 ohm heater with the MTH board.  It did smoke but not as good as the two 16 ohm MTH heaters.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

superwarp1 posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Nope, just take out the thermistor and old smoke resistor and do what you suggested.  Make sure that none of the electronics is still connected to the smoke resistor connections and you're all set.

Why not leave the protection circuitry in place to prevent the charring of the wicking?  That's one of the great things about the turbo smoke unit.   I would leave the single resistor as these units smoke just fine.

You can't leave the protection circuit in place as you're driving it with electronics that expects a plain resistor.  I seriously doubt the protection circuit would work as intended, and i suspect the smoke unit wouldn't work at all with PWM DC on it instead of the AC it expects.

Ok, I get it the output from the PS3 board is DC.  didn't know that.  Guess you would have to gut it then.

You do not have to gut it, the TAS Smoke unit still uses a 10 ohm resistor, and a 5V DC fan motor.  Yes the TAS electronics are disconnected and that is what the thermistor is talking too.

Marty, yes adding extra resistor would drive total ohms down to 8 and it will generate more heat from the current, but I did not see a noticeable difference when I converted one.  Just made sure I had good wick and embedded resistor in it.

Certainly a pinched wick between two elements is a much better design. G

George, my locomotive smoke output was stronger with the two resistors.  It did smoke with the 10 ohm but not enough to make me happy.  I will throw out a video clip later today.