LGB smoke unit to Massoth XLS

[Mike From Devon]

Hi folks,

Over the last 3 years I have fitted Massoth XLS decoders to 5 second hand LGB analogue locos. Why XLS? Cos I'm better with a screwdriver than a soldering iron. Three of the locos are fitted with smoke units that I did not connect them as I didn't know how to . One of this winter's projects is to remedy that but I still can't see in the XLS manual how to do it. Since in each case the lights are 5v I think that the safe option is to assume that the smoke units are the same.

Please can anybody out there explain what to do in terms that this simpleton can understand ( and which CV to set the voltage)?

TIA
Mike D

 

[PhilP]

Check your manual, as the CV's may have changed..

But you would 'traditionally' connect to Decoder + and A1.
You set the divider CV to 5 or 6, and would use F7 to switch smoke on/off (you will need to check if F7 is used for anything else, and adjust the value for the function key controlling the A1 output.

PhilP.

 

[Mike From Devon]

Very helpful. Thanks. A couple of subsidiaries, I'm afraid.
1. Is the smoke unit polarity sensitive or does it not matter which way round?
2. If I read the manual right, CV53 controls the dimming value (their wording) of A1 and A2, defaulting to 32, so presumably setting it to 5 or 6, like the lights would be OK. CV54 sets the command allocation to 7, which is Massoth's usual default Navigator button. That right?.CV55 refers to 'special function' and is set to 0 which is noted is continuous operation.
If all of that is correct I'm good to go and very grateful to you.
Confusious he say smoke from chimney good, smoke from underneath bad. I didn't know he was a garden railway guy.

As an aside my good Dutch friend and long term g-scaler is an ESU man through and through and a professional translator. Apparently he was so rude to Massoth about a Spanish version of a bit of their stuff they got him to rewrite it for them. He has also said that in the English pages of their manuals there is less info than in their translations than on the German pages. That's handy. It gives me an excuse for not understanding them.

 

[PhilP]

2. If I read the manual right, CV53 controls the dimming value (their wording) of A1 and A2, defaulting to 32, so presumably setting it to 5 or 6, like the lights would be OK.

That would be correct..
Note: The smoke unit will most-likely have black and white (possibly a little discoloured) wires. This will confirm it is a 5V unit.

The smoke unit is not polarity conscious. - Being a bit 'anal' about these things.. I wire white to Decoder +, and black to the A1 function output.

PhilP.

 

[Mike From Devon]

That would be correct..
Note: The smoke unit will most-likely have black and white (possibly a little discoloured) wires. This will confirm it is a 5V unit.

The smoke unit is not polarity conscious. - Being a bit 'anal' about these things.. I wire white to Decoder +, and black to the A1 function output.

PhilP.

Then I will do that too

 

[Mike From Devon]

Then I will do that too

One last thought: it would make sense for me to test to see if the smoke unit was OK before I connect it. Will metering it work and if so what reading should I expect?

 

[PhilP]

One last thought: it would make sense for me to test to see if the smoke unit was OK before I connect it. Will metering it work and if so what reading should I expect?

It is basically a wire-wound resistor..
If they fail, they burn-out, so go open circuit.

PhilP.

 

[Mike From Devon]

One last thought: it would make sense for me to test to see if the smoke unit was OK before I connect it. Will metering it work and if so what reading should I expect?

Problem solved. All done and reassembled. Your help made it happen