My New Super Chuffer Board Demo

That looks and sounds really good!

 

Art

Thanks, I'm hoping there is a demand for the boards once I get them built.

 

That Chuffer Board is SUPER!  Great work!

Looks like you have a sure winner.

John,

 

Your board is great; nice work!  I'm sure there is a demand for these so be ready to order more.

 

I'm not sure how you trigger the chuffs; will it be able to get the same synchronized sound and smoke chuff with 4-chuffs/revolution? 

 

Ron

I don't think that will be a problem John. Nice job. Have you tested these with TAS EOB yet which use a logic level vs switch contacts to trigger their smoke units?

 

Pete

Well done.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

 

Ron, the chuffs are synchronized to the input switch, so if it does four chuffs, that's what you will get.  It'll work fine.  I was going to put another magnet on the wheel of the Camelback to get four chuffs, just didn't get to it.

 

Pete, the input chuff goes to an input pin on the PIC with a 100 ohm resistor, a .1uf cap to ground and a 2.2k pullup.  It should handle the logic input from a TAS board fine, but I didn't have one handy to test.  I was testing it on the bench with a function generator with a logic output.

 

Great news. You should have all the bases covered.

 

Pete

Looks and sounds great! I like it!

Amazing.

Hi John,

 

Absolutely fantastic. I will be your best customer, I'm in need of four right now, bring them on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks,

Alex

John, fantastic work; I'm in!

Mack

Good Morning John!

 

I have a working TAS system on the bench, if you need it for testing let me know.  E-Mail in profile.

John- I note that ERR is emphatic in cautioning that their puffer board will work only with their cruise commander (i.e. not with AC or DC Commanders). Will your board function without any cruise/Odyssey speed control? If so, that is another HUGE advantage over the ERR board.

thanks,

Mack

I'd be up for a kit, SMD is no problem for me...when you get everything in place.

Oh wow! That is good!  Are you going to manufacture and sell them?

John, how did you get the fireman to pop out of the cab window.  Thanx Jim r

I've got a MTH Camelback that I'm planning on upgrading to TMCC after I get a new motor for it.  Now I want to do this to it too.  And LED lighting, and the firebox flicker. Maybe you could add the firebox flicker to it too in the future.

Ejection seat.

 

 

The Firebox flicker is just a flickering LED with DC power.  In a fashion, I've already included it.  Since there is a nice 5V DC power supply, adding a 100 ohm resistor and the flickering LED gives you the flickering firebox feature.

Very good video of the sound and smoke.

Will it be able to install in my Reading 4-8-4 Lionel # 2100?

If yes, I would love to have this upgrade.

Bob 

Works great!

Hi John,

 

As I mentioned when we last spoke - I'm in for at least 2 of your boards but now that the cat is out of the bag so to speak.....  

 

I'd like mine to have that ejection seat option please !!!!!!!

 

Best,

Dave

The only requirement is fan driven smoke, TMCC, and something generating the chuffs.  Obviously, you can add a reed switch and magnet if it's one that doesn't have it.  This is the 1989 model, right?  Was it upgraded to TMCC?

 

 

The ejection seat is optional at extra cost!

 

The PC boards came in today, so I'm going to assemble a couple and see if there are any issues with the PCB layout.  Once that's done, I'll post a thread in the Buy/Sale forum.  For the initial run of 10, I'm going to allocate them one to a user so more people can be exposed, and to find out from varied folks if there are any issues that I haven't seen.  I'm going to keep a couple of the initial ones for my stuff as well!

 

 

*Officially Impressed*

Gunny, I have one of the Lionel 1st run 2-10-4 Pennsy's. It has all of the bells and whistles that Lionel offered back when it was made. I assume one of your boards can be used on this Loco, now where does this thing install, in the tender or engine?

Another thing, can the head light be changed very readily, to "LED", and do you sell them as well?...................Thanks in advance........................... Brandy    

Yes it was upgraded to TMCC, it has a switch hooked to the tender axle.
You recently fixed the smoke unit.

Best regards

Bob

Sent from my iPad

> On Jun 9, 2014, at 4:41 PM, O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum wrote:
>

That  is awesome, beautiful, and well done.  Envy your ability!

 

I'll be needing a few of these also. 

Is this an entire new board or a part that plugs into existing boards?

It's all about cost. 

Looks like a neat upgrade.

 

Just out of curiosity (since I stare at the top of a smokestack all day at work when firing steam locomotives), is there a way to keep the fan running at a lower speed and accelerate it for each chuff?

 

I'll have to watch closely tomorrow to make sure I'm not imagining things, but the smoke from the fire is constantly "flowing" out of the stack, the exhaust steam from the cylinders just puffs through it (creating a draft through the fire at the same time).  

 

If you're simulating a clean fire with just the exhaust steam then it looks like you have it covered  

No reason I can think of that it couldn't be used.  It would install in the locomotive.  The LED's are standard LED's, I can certainly get all you need.

 

 

Right Bob.  I see a lot of engines, so it's hard to keep track of which specific ones I've seen.   It should work fine in that one.

 

 

I'll be ready in a few weeks at most to supply all you need.

 

 

It's a totally new board, but it works in conjunction with the existing TMCC electronics, it does not replace any of it.

 

 

I can't run the motor slow enough to really simulate that effectively, and I'd also probably have to have control of the heater to do it properly.  Maybe in another version.  FWIW, the fan kinda' does that by default, it doesn't stop instantly, so it coasts to a stop.

gunrunnerjohn,  GREAT STUFF.  all the best.     Steve

I have a few of the chuff boards that Ed from Digital Dynamics made many, many years ago still installed in a few steamers with fan driven units. Only issue is they do not smoke in idle unless you stop the engine at the time when the crank closes the cherry switch and it will emit a steady stream of smoke. If not, the fan is off but the resistor is still on. I believe those boards just needed a resistor of some type to keep the circuit closed.

Regardless, I'm in for a few boards. Have a few Lionel fan driven units that could a chuffing smoke unit.

Good job John! And also a good job in the capacitor board for my 3 volt board Jets engine. Thanks.

Looks great John!

John

 

That's pretty cool.  Looking forward to seeing one in person.

Right Bob.  I see a lot of engines, so it's hard to keep track of which specific ones I've seen.   It should work fine in that one.

 

John, I will send you a e-mail later. I just won another Lionel Reading 4-8-4 # 2100 from Dash. Nobody else bid I got it for $191.00. So this one will need full upgrade.

Thanks for the good words.

 

I should have a real production sample today, I have all the parts and boards.  Just have to assemble one and do some testing.

 

GRJ,

 

I saw your video on YouTube, looks like a great board to use!  I'll have to get more info from you as the need arises for me to look into one!

 

Thanks, and keep up the great work.

 

- Mario