Thomas White said: It appears Greg and you are about to say “replace it”! So, I’ll probably replace it with the Massoth pulsed smoke unit which I’ve installed in several LGB locomotives.
Tom
Good call …
So, the TSA unit is an OK unit as far as older designs go. It will have a pulsed input, but the amount of smoke it produces is pretty weak. The overall mechanical construction is good.
The piece of black tape is because when installed by USAT, the metal body of the smoke unit shorted against the metal chassis of the Hudson, and promptly killed the smoke unit’s electronics.
If the smoke unit still works, keep it, maybe for a less expensive project, or small loco that is on DC.
You might find the information I have on it useful: https://elmassian.com/index.php/large-scale-train-main-page/dcc-battery-rc-electronics/smoke-units
There are some tips and wiring instructions and warnings.
Greg Elmassian said:
So, the TSA unit is an OK unit as far as older designs go. It will have a pulsed input, but the amount of smoke it produces is pretty weak. The overall mechanical construction is good.
The piece of black tape is because when installed by USAT, the metal body of the smoke unit shorted against the metal chassis of the Hudson, and promptly killed the smoke unit’s electronics.
If the smoke unit still works, keep it, maybe for a less expensive project, or small loco that is on DC.
You might find the information I have on it useful: https://elmassian.com/index.php/large-scale-train-main-page/dcc-battery-rc-electronics/smoke-units
There are some tips and wiring instructions and warnings.
Okay, thanks, Greg. I’ll keep the UST smoker for possible use in some other loco application using DC power. I assume it will take the full bore 20 - 24 volts DC.
Tom
Ahh Grasshopper, you must read the web site!
Seriously, TAS indicates that you should specify the max voltage for the unit at time of ordering, so if you got one from a O scale loco, chances are it would be set for a lower voltage.
If I remember correctly, when I called them, they just put a resistor in the input to limit voltage (!!!) according to your track voltage.
So far, I have not had issues on ones from the Hudson running on 24v levels.
You might tag it so if you get one from an O scale loco, for example, you know which is which. If you don’t want it, I’d give you a few bucks to have it as a spare, even though I am not using any of them right now.
Greg