# Pulsed smoke with Airwire G3



## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

I purchased a Train-Li-USA ProLine Pulsed Smoke Unit. Following Jonathan's (Electric Steam Modelworks) comments I hooked up the smoke unit to the smoke module driver and the fan unit to the enhanced lite driver 4. Using a relay and changing the CV value to "Strobe Double Pulse" I was able to achieve a pulsed effect. It is not synchronized smoke, only pulsed. I like it.




Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

You will like it better if you insert a short brass tube.


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

nice work, what did you use for a relay? 
Dick


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Why the double pulse strobe? That cycles the relay twice for each pulse. 

My guess is the average of the on time gives you more smoke that a single pulse, but I wonder about relay life. Of course relays are cheap, so what, right? (be nice to find a way to do all solid state) 

Nice effect Tommy. 

Regards, Greg


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Brass tube is in and unit mounted in boiler.

Dick - Relay is a Radio Shack SPDT Micromini 12VDC Relay #275-0241.

Greg, - I liked the smoke output of the double pulse better. It takes less than 5 seconds to reprogram the unit from double to single.

Here's a single pulse



Here is the Double Pulse





Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I figured the double pulse just makes the output somewhat "longer". 

What voltage are you sending to the heating element, and what voltages does Train-Li say are ok for continuous operation? 

(I'm curious, since my understanding that the unit is a "gutted" Aristo unit that takes about 5 volts in stock configuration) 

Regards, Greg


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

You mean I'm supposed to measure stuff?









In a e-mail from Axel he states (the fan can only carry 5V and the smoke unit between 5 and maximum 6.5 V).
For the smoke unit The Train-Li User Guide - (5V is ideal. If not satisfactory adjust to 6V-7V).
My smoke unit is hooked up to the Airwire G3 smoke output module and it is outputting 6V- 9.75V randomly.

The voltage to the fan is 13V. Since it is pulsing mode the fan motor is turning off and on

The G3 smoke output will automatically turn off after 2 minutes and I still have to set my lite driver 4 to turn off at 2 minutes also.

In an e-mail from Jonathan regarding how to do this - his last comment was "No guarantees however"
I should have added a disclaimer in my first post

"This setup is a test - there are no guarantees it will not cause damage or last".

Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

Tommy 
I hooked up a small comp. fan direct to #8 on a G3 and it seams to work ok so far. 
dick 
This setup is a test - there are no guarantees it will not cause damage or last".


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Tommy, while the 13 volts is giving you impressive results, it will probably stress that fan and shorten it's life. How much? Well, hard to say, but you are sending almost 3 times the rated voltage to it. 

I'm glad that the specs supplied on the smoke unit match the real design parameters of the hardware. 

Good thinking on the auto off on the smoker and fan. 

Let us know how it holds up! 

Greg


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

Impressive Tommy! The voltage output from the G3 should be the same as your main battery,so I'm wondering about your voltage readings. Were they under load? I'm guessing you are using a 14.4 or 14.8v battery.


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## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

would it be possible to power the fan directly from the smoke output and run it through a reed switch on the axle to time it? I'm not sure if it's possible or not, just a thought. Aside from all that it's very cool. Thanks for sharing. 

Terry


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Reed switches don't do well with inductive loads, although some people claim to have found "industrial strength" ones. 

Also you would most likely want some circuitry to "stretch" the pulse length at higher speeds, but maybe that could be done with more magnets and placement. 

Greg


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Paul - Yeah, this project has been sitting on my bench for so long, my battery was low. Battery is a 14.8. (it's charging right now)

Terry - I thought the same thing. Tried it, it didn't work. Once the magnet triggered the reed switch, fan just kept running.
I wired up the fan using page 20 of the G3 Manual per Jonathan's suggestion.

I really don't understand this electronic stuff, except I got it to work.
Last week, I didn't even know what a relay was








I made harness's and wires change colors and I'm not sure which way is up now.
I tried to retest the volts, and now they are different from this morning, so I screwed up somewhere.

I do like the results, though.
I've made more smoke in the last 24 hours than I have in the last 2 years.









Hope it last

Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is a test run on the track. Video shot with an Ipad from 10 feet.



Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

Nice work Tommy 
Dick


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