@R Whitley posted:It seems no matter what voltage I use the smoke output doesn't change.
What kind of transformer are you using to provide the variable voltage?
There is a quirky behavior when you drive this type of smoke unit with a so-called chopped-sine controller. It will put out more smoke than voltage measurements would suggest. There have been previous OGR discussions about this and we can go down that rabbit hole again if need be.
Or. The PS1 smoke units I've seen discussed most often on OGR is as below schematic. As GRJ says there is a rather curious heater regulator circuit. Skipping over circuit design details, one way to cut heater power in half at low-voltages (like the 7-8V that GRJ suggests) is to short component D2. This can be effected with a short piece of wire on the back of the board as shown.
I can see other ways to reduce heater power using additional/modified components but I asked myself, What would MacGyver do? 
