Run smoke from decoder


Hutch said:
Bah, I can't fit this stuff in the loco. I'll have to run it in the tender or just hook up the switch and be done with it.
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OK, gonna ask, why are you making this so complicated, can't you fit the decoder in the tender and run a 6 pin micro connector to the motor, smoke generator and headlight ?
 
Since I only work on this at work during lunch break, this will be all until Monday afternoon. I think it's going to be nice in the end and work as I would like it to.

BackToSquareOne.jpg

Smudge617 said:
OK, gonna ask, why are you making this so complicated, can't you fit the decoder in the tender and run a 6 pin micro connector to the motor, smoke generator and headlight ?
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That's why I'm posting every step. I'm getting great feedback. I thought 6 wires would be to stiff.
 
Smudge617 said:
Micro connectors


No, it's standard, normally you would run the Smoke Generator from one of your aux wires, which are Green or Purple, you don't need a current limiter, the generator will take the extra milliamp assuming your using a Seuth Generator, and controlling it via your decoder.

Micro connectors like this are what you want to look at, pre wired and usually long enough to reach. I don't know where your looking but these are around $2.00 a set.

View attachment 163957
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I don't know what the generator is but I do know it draws 130mA which is outside of Tsunami's spec of 100mA. It's an expensive item mess up.
Where can I find micro connectors like that?
 
Hutch said:
Since I only work on this at work during lunch break, this will be all until Monday afternoon. I think it's going to be nice in the end and work as I would like it to.

View attachment 163953

That's why I'm posting every step. I'm getting great feedback. I thought 6 wires would be to stiff.
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Unless your running on very tight curves it shouldn't be a problem, normally you would fix either the plug or socket into the tender itself so it doesn't move. When you have time pop into you LHS see if they have any or just order one set online and see for yourself.
Wiring looks a lot better, it's always a problem with older loco's, but your doing a great job.
 
Hutch said:
I don't know what the generator is but I do know it draws 130mA which is outside of Tsunami's spec of 100mA. It's an expensive item mess up.
Where can I find micro connectors like that?
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Just Google Micro Connectors, shed load will pop up for you to chose from.
 
Hutch said:
No it's the TSU1100
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If you want to do this to another Loco at some point in the future you may want to look at the TSU4400, that will give you 400mA for each output, but I admit they are unfortunately quite expensive.
 
Being this is TSU100, should the smoke unit get it's power from the tracks or the motor? I think it will work either way but I haven't tried it. If the motor, I hear that the amount of smoke increases with speed which makes sense. I don't know if that's good or bad.
 
Hutch said:
Being this is TSU100, should the smoke unit get it's power from the tracks or the motor? I think it will work either way but I haven't tried it. If the motor, I hear that the amount of smoke increases with speed which makes sense. I don't know if that's good or bad.
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If your going to run it from the track or motor, it would solve the decoder issue, but you'll need to fit a resistor to limit the power going to the smoke unit, as you say, the smoke will increase with speed, and if your not very careful probably burn the generator out, but it would also mean reinstalling the on/off switch in the cab.
 
Finally got around to working on this again. I tried running all of the wires through the cab to keep the decoder in the tender. I had 7 wires and it's just too much in my opinion for this little engine. So, I'm going back to installing in the loco. I'm going to do a little carving on the frame to get the decoder to sit flat.
 
you will -probably- have to use a small relay controlled by the function input and the smoke unit will run directly off track power [through a bridge rectifier] .. unfortunately this is an on/off situation, not adjustable for smoke/power levels
 
I keep forgetting that the track voltage is constantly switching requiring the bridge rectifier. Oh well, there's plenty of room in the cab for these things. I may have to shade the windows. Prototypical I'm not.
 
Hutch said:
I keep forgetting that the track voltage is constantly switching requiring the bridge rectifier. Oh well, there's plenty of room in the cab for these things. I may have to shade the windows. Prototypical I'm not.
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I'm getting confused, maybe I'm just not getting what your trying to do here.

Let me get this straight, your installing a Smoke Generator which will use track power, but your also fitting DCC decoder, correct?
 
Hutch said:
Yes but the smoke generator is already there and was controlled by a manual switch.
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You can do this one of two ways, either run the generator via the decoder, which is honestly the best option for you, or from your track, which seems is your intention, but your not re-installing the manual switch, you intend to use a relay operated by the decoder to toggle it on and off while still using power from the track to run the generator itself, very ingenious I admit, but also very complicated.

I assume you've hooked the relay up and tested that the decoder will operate it ?
 
This is a low current 100mA Tsunami decoder. The smoke unit needs much more, I don't remember what I measured but the relay is definitely needed with this decoder. I haven't tested the circuit yet but I have tested the smoke unit. The relay operates ~20mA.
 
Hutch said:
This is a low current 100mA Tsunami decoder. The smoke unit needs much more, I don't remember what I measured but the relay is definitely needed with this decoder. I haven't tested the circuit yet but I have tested the smoke unit. The relay operates ~20mA.
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Have you thought of perhaps replacing this smoke generator with a new more efficient one.
 
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