# Little Smoke from LGB Locos



## melkatz (Mar 4, 2009)

I get little smoke from my LGB locos and I know that the smoke generators are working. What is the secret of getting a nice smoke flow? Thanks


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Welcome to MLS Melkatz! 

My understanding is there are different versions of the smoke unit, basically 5v and 18v. If you have an 18v version then it will not smoke much unless you are running your loco fast - or DCC. Are you running DC?


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## George Schreyer (Jan 16, 2009)

there are actually 3 versions used by LGB, 5 volts, 18 volts and 24 volts. The 5 volt units are driven from a regulator that varies from loco to loco. Some of them actually use 5 volts and the smoke is a little weak. Others have bumped the regulator to 6.4 volts and the 5 volt units smoke much better, about the same as an 18 volt unit that is really running at 18 volts. 

The units are actually made for LGB by Seuthe who offers even more types. 


What kind of loco is it? If it is regulated unit, then it should run pretty well at lower voltages. If it is one of the non-regulated units, you will have to get the loco moving right along to get any reasonable smoke.


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## melkatz (Mar 4, 2009)

Thanks. Yes I'm running DCC if LGB is.DCC.


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## melkatz (Mar 4, 2009)

I have several LGB locos: 21842, 22852, 20272, etc, etc, etc. Thanks for your reply.


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

What is the DCC supply voltage?

LGB MTS uses close to 24 volts and had 24 volt smoke units for locos that had the smoke units tied to track power.

If the smoke unit is in a dedicated stack, not an insert, then it is 18 volts and no other voltage was available. These were used in the split case motor blocks.


You can tell the voltage by the wire colors, white/black is 5 volts and smoke nicely at 6.4 volts. These are in the MTS and many locos with regulator boards (read more expensive locos).

Brown/yellow are 18 volts. Older engines with smoke tied to track power with the starter set power packs.

Not sure, but I think the 24 volt is white/white. These are for MTS with smoke tied to track power.


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## stevedenver (Jan 6, 2008)

i have more than a few lgb engines


i run analog and not DCC


the first thing is fill-not more tha 1/3 -1/2 -some do really well with just 4-5 drops 


 


here are my thoughts


there are variations in seuthe smoke units -some smoke better than others


 


what i think i notice is that old analoge PRE decoder ready engines seem to smoke better than decoder ready engines


 


the few LGB engines i have with decoders (i run analog) smoke well -and smoke when almost standing still -this i think is a function of programming the the voltage to the smoke unit-in my case my decoder engines are the porters-which i think shipped with 5v smoke units-not 18 or 24 v


so these may be getting direct track voltage -and whcih is why they smoke really well -and why older one had burned out before i figured this out-i now run porters at very low voltage 


 


the decoder ready engines seem to get less voltage to the smoke units via the cirucitry (only my guesstimate)  -i find that if i run at about 10-12 volts i get 'normal" smoke


yet on my Chinese  drg forney i have to run fast (10-12v) to get full ights and smoke-


on my Chinese wild west forneys (2) i can run about 7v and get bright light and great smoke-


my Chinese 2-4-0 and 0-4-0 US styles -both smoke great also at lower voltage


 


my german forneys with sound smoke profuseely-non deoder 


 


my decoder ready rack steam smokes politely at best -same with my green spremberger-yet my older black spremberger smoke profusely


 


so im guessing the decoder circuitry -when in ananlog mode -chokes the voltage to the smoke unit a bit-but it may be more because even at full voltage (18-24) they still have lesser output than what i would call normal-so maybe its a programming issue-5 volts not enough-nor 6 -maybe 7???maybe it varies with every unit


 


yet on my genesis (doecoder ready) to which i added a smoke unit - it smokes great


so it may be nothing - other than variations in seuthe production





running DCC it should smoke well if its proeprly programmed and getting full voltage


 


and it may well be that depending on when the engine was built -early 'transitionial' decoder models may not have been quite properly outfitted or programmed-i really cant tell-


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## George Schreyer (Jan 16, 2009)

you said that you were running DCC. In LGB-speak, this is MTS. Do you have MTS? 

MTS is DCC in an odd sort of a way. It uses the same kind of track signal and voltage as DCC, but MTS controls functions in an odd way. 

If you indeed have MTS, then there is lots of track voltage all the time. The units should smoke while standing. Do they?


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