Large Scale Central

LGB Smoke Unit Install into Soundtraxx Tsunmai2 Decoder

Problem Solving
#21

Dan Pierce said:

Looking at the pictures, LGB uses the yellow/brown wired smoke unit and the seuthe rating is 11 to 16 volts. 140 ma rating.

LGB 24 volt unit is 2 white wires and the seuthe unit is 16 to 22 volts and 100ma (this should be the hot rating, just a guess).

LGB 5 volt unit with black/white wired smoke unit and the seuthe rating is 4.8 to 6 volts and 260ma.

Interesting that the Seuthe colored wires is much the same as to what LGB is using.

Not really. I would bet that LGB buys its smoke generators from Seuthe in bulk.

#22

Greg - My customer says his NCE DCC system puts out 14 volts to the track…he called his dealer to confirm it. Sound low to me, but guess he’s right.

Tom

#23

I can see that for an HO NCE system, but large scale???

#24

Sorry, LDO is “low dropout”… it allows a regulation output voltage closer to the input voltage… helps when the desired output voltage is close to the input voltage.

You can go way smaller with a 3 terminal regulator, see the LM7800 series…

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm7800.pdf

Greg

#25

Greg - Thanks much for the three pin regulator data and website…I’ll get some of those smaller units.

Tom

#26

Yeah, they have been around forever, are cheap, and are fixed voltage… I am not a fan of using an adjustable regulator when not necessary, if they go out of adjustment, you can easily destroy stuff.

Be aware of the heat it can generate, but in your app, it should be minimal.

Greg

#27

When buying LM series regulators, check the spec closely. I got some that were 1/2 amp, not 1 amp. And for current under 100ma there is the 100ma version and these are very small.

#28

Yep, but to achieve their max current, they need a heat sink, so for a couple hundred ma, a 500 ma unit would be good… much over that, just the standard TO-220 1.5 amp unit… then no heat dissipation worries.

If you read the datasheet carefully, you will see the derating as the temperature goes up. These are series regulators, and the “excess voltage” is dissipated as heat. The small adjustable “regulators” are actually adjustable switching power supplies, or a DC to DC inverter. They are more efficient and don’t heat up.

So, if the priority is size (which was stated several times) then the larger 1.5 amp regulator is cheap, and smaller than the adjustable switching units.

Greg

#29

Status Report

I tested the 18 volt LGB smoke unit that arrived today with 13 - 14 volts DCC, my customer’s NCE DCC systems layout output, and it smoked like a champ. So I installed it in the Chloe directly to track power. Not worrying about regulators or resistors for this install!

#30

kiss is best… congrats