# Accucraft K-36 chuff timer.



## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

I am converting a K-36 tobattery R/C and fitting it with Phoenix. 

I am having trouble locating the chuff timer. 
The wiring seems to be fitted in the tender although the supplied wiring diagram bears little resemblance to the wiring that is actually in the tender. 
For example. 
There are no motor or smoke switches in the tender as shown in the diagram. 
The front and rear headlights all work just fine but the wiring is not colour coded as shown. 

Does the K-36 have a chuff timer? 
If so, where is it? A pic would help. 
What two wires in the tender are connected to it? 

Thanks.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

After I posted the above question it dawned on me to call Jon Bliese who has done more vthan a few K-36's. 

The Accucraft K-36 does not have a chuff timer. 
Neither does it have the two switches shown in the manual. 

So the question has been answered thank you.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Guess it's back to the old tried-and-true reed switch and magnets eh?  Maybe you could get TOC to send you the optical chuff circuitry he's ripped out of a Bachmann K-27! hehehe /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue2.gif /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif


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## Madstang (Jan 4, 2008)

I have 4 magnets glued to one of the drivers.....then I used the wires that were meant for track power pickups that lead to the tender....spliced in a reed switch at the bracket in the loco....attached the reed one of the 2 brackets that held the track power pick ups with a small zip cord and wired it into the Phoenix board I placed inside the tender..works like a dream...so it uses the injerant wiring that goes to the tender via the plug in the back of the loco that the tender plugs into. 

Just takes a little tracing to do so..the chuff sound super with 4 hits...better then trying to time with voltage that I could never get timed correct. 

Buba


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Buba. 

That is a neat idea. 
The wiring changes have been made and I am in the process of mounting the reed switch right now. 

If it works as I expect it should I will take a pic when finished to show others.


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

As promised here is how I used the the track pick up bracket to hold a reed switch for a chuff timer on the K-36. 
Front pick ups. 
I removed the plastic caps off of the bracket so I could remove the plungers and isolate the pick ups from the wheels.  I replaced the plastic caps and left the wiring as is. 
Rear pick ups. 
I removed the plungers and plastic caps off of the bracket as well as the wiring rings. 
I then cut off the rings and soldered the wire ends to the wires coming from the reed switch I had mounted in a small square styrene tube. 
I simply glued a small piece of styrene to the Accucraft pick up bracket and glued the reed switch tube to the styrene. 
In order that the chuffs be accurately timed I drew a disc with a cross and a centre ring 8mm in diameter and an outer ring 40 mm in diameter in Corel Draw. I printed it out on white paper and cut out the centre hole and around the perimeter. 
The paper disc fitted snugly over the axle and gave me accurate positioning for the magnets. 








Then I removed the paper disc. 








The chuff works perfectly on a test rig. I am sure it will function correctly when I get the sound installed as soon as Phoenix supply me the P5 + P5T combo I have been waiting weeks for.


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