@Ted Bertiger posted:What component are you shorting or bypassing with the jumper wire? And with the added wire, what is it doing to the actual unit?
The jumper wire shorts a Zener diode. Refer to schematic in my earlier post. The circuit has a simple heater regulator that behaves as shown above in black. Starting at low track voltage, as you increase track voltage heater power (and smoke volume) increases. Then, at some threshold voltage (determined by the Zener diode), heater power is cut and the curve "restarts."
The jumper wire effectively moves the threshold voltage down to 0 which means the cut back is always in place. Hence the heater power at low voltages will look like the orange segment.
So for lower track voltages, heater power will be lower. For higher track voltages, the heater power will be what it was...following the black curve segment on the right.
These curves are representative and are purposely drawn without "scale" as it is affected by whether you are using a pure sine or a chopped-sine power supply and the discussion just becomes tedious.
I suggested this method because it is simple and "additive." By additive I mean you don't need to cut, splice, remove, exchange components, etc.
Since it appears you have the ability to adjust the AC track voltage, this should be suitable to reduce smoke volume while still maintaining enough voltage to operate the DC fan motor.
Separately, if by fan mis-behaving you mean it is squealing or hiccuping in speed then that's a different issue than simply slowing down from lack of voltage. A drop of oil strategically "dripped" down the motor shaft can often eliminate the squeal albeit you should be on the lookout for a replacement.
