MTH smoke unit

No. The smoke motor runs on low voltage DC. Unless you have a rectifier & regulator on the board you can't do it. Vic.

One of the MTH gurus can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure what you want is the PS1 smoke circuit board.  The PS1 smoke board runs directly from AC as you want (albeit no puffing).  As shown in the above directions for the PS1 to PS2 conversion kit, the normal course of events is to modify the PS1 circuit board to disconnect the rectifier/regular that subway vic mentions (and directly drive the fan/heater from the PS2 board).  I'd think you might be able to find someone doing a PS1 to PS2 upgrade and trade them smoke units.

How about more details of exactly what engine you have in mind?

The Heat element can be driven off AC, but it is an 8 ohm effective resistance so you want AC voltage down around 5-6VAC.  Not track voltage.

The fan as stated is DC so a small 4-5V DC regulator.

I do have a PS-1 smoke board (PCB Top) that you can replace your board with, but as Stan's picture shows, it will over hang some additional distance.  Other wise plug and play.  Plug you motor into the board and feed it with track AC and your good to go.  G

Hi

GGG I'd be interested in the PS-1 smoke board but first I need to know the length overall to see if it would fit.

thanks

Interesting!! i'm currently working on a MTH 20-2189-1 GE Genesis from 1989. PS1 i believe as the main board says QSI. The wires from the smoke unit were disconnected, but it appears the black went directly to chassis ground while the red appeared to be connected to a direct lead from the center rail (hot). Markings on the smoke unit are: SD114 with the numbers 98,1,20 underneath it. Am i correct in assuming the red goes directly to the hot (center rail)?

jackson

If the overhang is too much you could cut the board and place the AC electronics elsewhere.  Photo shows example where the AC electronics was cut off and thrown away (never thought to need it!) to convert engine to PS2.  So if you have space elsewhere for the AC electronics, I think you could run 4 wires shown in pink to re-connect the 2 separated board pieces.  This would involve scraping away the green coating (so-called soldermask) to attach wires and of course taking care to locate the board where it won't short out against the chassis or whatever.

You are correct, that smoke unit connects directly to track power.

neverfinished, here's a shot of the size.

For GGG

How can I get in contact with you about the board?

E-mail in profile.  G