Weak Lionel fan-driven smoke unit/Fan totally off?

Well, the first thing would probably be to see if it's actually functioning properly.  Is the fan running?  Did you check the wick to see if it's charred and in need of replacement?

 

Running conventional sometimes is problematic for smoke units primarily designed for command operation and constant voltages.  I don't run any of my Legacy stuff conventional to have a real point of reference.

 

Thomas will it smoke in neutral? Might have to stop and go several times to catch it in 'smoke mode' at neutral but perhaps you can run up the voltage to 18v or so and see if it produces normally then. 

There have also been discussions on Lionel smoke units responding differently to the different output types (pure sine wave vs chopped). May be a mute point at higher voltages however...

When I got my Legacy Southern Crescent limited engine it smoked poorly as well with very liitle to no smoke at all.  The smoke unit made loud scetching noise too.  However, I do run mine with Legacy.  I sent mine back to Lionel and they replaced the fan unit motor.  Now it smokes as good as my MTH engines but I have to add smoke fluid more often.

I opened up the smoke unit, only the surface of the very moist fiberglass wick looked charred. In fact, I applied power to the engine with the shell off, and I can't even hear or see the unit making the small whine sound, so I don't think the motor's even working.

 

It's weird because on my friend's Command-equipped layout it worked fine until a dead spot in part of the track turned the engine off momentarily and it wouldn't do a thing after.

 

Does it have something to do when the engine's cab light constantly flickers on and off?

The cab light is likely blinking  a diagnostic code, theres a diagnostic code list in the back of the owners manual.

 

Number of Blinks Diagnostic Code Description
1 Main drive motor stalled.
2 Smoke 1 element problem.
3 Smoke 1 fan problem.
4 Smoke 2 element problem.
5 Smoke 2 fan problem

 

If it blinks three times, pauses and blinks three times........ this indicates a bad(smoke 1) "stack" fan motor. Smoke 2 is the whistle steam.

 

It can be reset by pushing the reset R button on the remote, if the smoke unit stops again you have two more resets before it shuts down.

 

Removing power for several minutes will get you another three resets, having said that, the loco tests the smoke unit the instant the loco is powered up. If it senses too much fan draw the cab light will begin blinking.**I just noticed your running conventionally so removing power may be your only choice for a reset.**

 

Lionel had a "rash" of defective smoke unit fan motors in the last couple of loco releases. I had the same problem with my legacy k4 fan. It was noisy out of the box I tried oiling it first and it lasted several weeks until it quit working at all and i got the three cab light blinks. I replaced the fan and its been fine ever since.

 

The diagnostic can be a bit of a nuisance, but its nice when it directs you to the problem.

Thank you for the advice Rick. My owner's manual for some reason came without those diagnostics.

 

I guess I'll have to take it to a friend or my local Lionel dealer to fix the problem.

It depends if it's "flickering" or blinking out a code.  Flickering cab light with no discernible pattern is usually a weak TMCC signal.  A blinking pattern is usually an error code.

 

 

 

Hi,

 

 

He's running conventionally.

Nicole,

 

The weird thing is that page in my manual was left blank, totally blank. Not even a page number beneath it....

this would have been a better conversation if the 6-number was provided!

Well, then he sure has no signal!   I guess that leaves an error code...

 

Hey guys-

 

So I'm experiencing a similar issue on my Lionel UP SD90MAC.  I just unpacked it from storage after two years, and am running it in conventional mode on my Xmas tree oval.  It would appear that when in neutral, the control board is sending pulses to the fan and heating element.  When the locomotive is moving in forward or reverse, it sounds like the fan begins spinning at a constant rate (as it should).

 

I pulled out the voltmeter and sure enough when in neutral, small pulses are being sent to the motor (<5vDC).  I can't measure it while the locomotive is moving (for obvious reasons).

 

I tested the smoke unit motor using a 9v battery and it works with no issues.

 

Has anyone else seen similar behavior?

 

I think my plan is to also unpack the old TMCC command system next time I'm at my parents place and bring it back here and give it a go.  I'll post with results, I'm just curios if anyone else has seen similar issues.  To be fair, this locomotive has almost always run via TMCC, so perhaps this is just normal when operating in conventional mode?

 

As an aside, this is the third modern locomotive that I've unpacked and has had some sort of issue after being in storage for 2 years :-/

Are you sure that's not how it's supposed to run?  I'd expect it to run the smoke at a lower setting when idle, perhaps that's how they accomplish it.

 

One issue with all of this stuff is the smart smoke unit and AC regulator are not well documented, so unless you're "in the know", it's hard to know exactly what they're supposed to be doing in a given situation.

 

Bottom line, I'm not sure there's anything wrong here.

 

I think the smoke logic on some of these newer engines can get locked up. So that features may not work in conventional.

 

Thomas you may want to go back to your friends layout and reset your engine with TMCC.  Then make sure smoke is turned on.  Then test again in conventional.  G

I actually found the problem not too long ago.

 

Some of the wires to the smoke unit somehow got pinched, and they had to be fixed. Now the engine smokes perfectly.