ROSS said:
Zerogee said:
Anyone got any hints or tips on installing one of these in an MTS-chipped loco?
Eg: what voltage the smoke unit actually needs, and can an LGB/Massoth decoder handle the power required without a relay being used?
Jon.
SEE post #1 above...send him a PM...he HAS done it.
As for Massoth handling. Mmm..have to suck it and see
A picture I saw of it - shows only two wire connections to power whilst one advertiser mentioned to connect to the four wires power supply (I assumed he was referring to a 2 motor tank). I believe the proportional type is much quiter than the non propo type.
Think I may buy one just to experiment with. Cheap enough.
Late edit. Bought one.
Ross et all - I have run Heng long and other similar units in RC Tanks
for 15 years or so, the word quiet is 'relative' both units can be
very noisy and also very quiet,
i have one unit you can hardly hear and it smokes well.
They tend to last only a few hours or forever, or even not at all
out of the bag.
it's a bit pot luck, quality control is not one of their strong points.
The heater element runs on a max of 7.4v, tends to burn out fairly
quickly if any higher, and burn out especially quick if it runs out of fluid,
(which they can be very fussy about) but will produce good smoke from
2.5-3v up wards.
The pulse motor (pump) is wired seperate and creates the exhaust
effect on acceleration, starts at around 1.2v, i have one that plods
happily on asingle 1.2v 1000ma AA rechargable - in a small Kubel wagon
we built.
The down side is the amount of fluid they hold, can run out in 6-7mins
at a full chat in a RC Tank.
We did find that the units tend to last a lot longer in stationary
display units, as opposed to vehicles moving around that vibrates a lot.
So may last a lot longer in a relativly smooth running Loco.
We tended to expect on 'average' to get one good unit per pair bought and one
really exceptional unit in 5 bought, but you can get lucky.
All in all they are cheap and simple and for the price well worth a bash,
if you don't mind the noise - perfect for diesels though especially shunting.
Have a dozen or so in a box some where may have a go haveing read this
thread if i can find them.
One bit of advice - run a short lenght of tube off the end of the unit,
as they tend to dribble fluid quite a bit, thanks probably to the pump
so the short pipe tilted up wards runs the unused fluid back in to the unit
or out the exhaust and not all over the inside of your model, be it tank.loco
or building.
