 Joined: 15/12/2015(UTC) Posts: 523 Location: Maryland, Baltimore
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Recently having a situation where I needed a Seuthe smoke unit that had two wires attached to it. The Märklin BR96 Mallet I working is designed in such a way that the boiler and cab casting is held on with stepped screws so that when they are tightened the two section chassis is still be able to pivot so that the loco can negotiate R1 curves. The problem arises that when adding a smoke unit the boiler casting doesn't have a good reliable ground for the smoke unit so you need to use a smoke unit that has two wires attached. Unfortunately, the only smoke units I had were several of the plug in style with the single contact on the bottom. I decided to see if I could add the wires to make the units I had work. Adding a wire to the center contact isn't a problem. You just need to carefully straighten the short wire contact and solder a wire to it. The issue arises in adding the ground wire to the unit. The complete outside brass case is the ground contact but if you solder a wire to the outside you then are unable to slide the unit down into the smokestack of the loco. When you look at a Seuthe unit, you notice that there's a type of hard (resin?) in the base that acts as an insulation material. My solution was take a small round Dremel Tool bit and carefully grind out a pocket in the base material of the smoke unit on the inside of the outer brass tube. I was then able to carefully solder a wire to this area to act as a reliable ground for the unit. Any excess solder that happened to get on the outside of the tube was then filed down and then buffed smooth with a wire wheel ensuring it was even with the outside of the unit. As you can see from the pics it worked just as planned. Hopefully this info will be of some use to fellow members. [img=  ]Unit after modification[/img] [img=  ]Testing applying 12v DC[/img] Edited by user 08 November 2018 18:56:05(UTC)
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 11 users liked this useful post by skeeterbuck
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mbarreto, ixldoc, dickinsonj, Crazy Harry, PJMärklin, GlennM, Minok, ktsolias, CTD81, analogmike, Danlake
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Joined: 10/02/2006(UTC) Posts: 3,997
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1 user liked this useful post by DaleSchultz
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 Joined: 08/04/2015(UTC) Posts: 303 Location: Vigo, Spain
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Nice solution.
One installed the ground wire, where´s it attached to?
My two BR 64 and my two BR 94 are poor smokers due to bad contact.
Thanks
Regards
Carlos |
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Joined: 15/12/2015(UTC) Posts: 523 Location: Maryland, Baltimore
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Originally Posted by: carlos.rivas.16752  Nice solution.
One installed the ground wire, where´s it attached to?
My two BR 64 and my two BR 94 are poor smokers due to bad contact.
Thanks
Regards
Carlos I have a BR64 and it smokes OK but not great. I don't think it has anything to do with the ground. I think it may have something to do with the amount of voltage that the decoder is sending to the smoke unit although I never checked it. If the ground was bad, it wouldn't smoke at all. Are you using a Seuthe #24 (16-22 operating voltage) which is the one designated for digital use? The analog version, Seuthe #20 (10-16 operating voltage) is the one I use and they will get hotter therefore producing more smoke. From my experience the smaller smokestack Seuthe units in general don't work as well and the larger #10 models. I needed to ground the smoke unit because I was adding it to a loco that didn't come from the factory with smoke. The design of the attachment of the boiler casting to the frame requires that the frame be able to pivot which doesn't provide a good electrical contact to ground.
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Joined: 08/04/2015(UTC) Posts: 303 Location: Vigo, Spain
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Originally Posted by: skeeterbuck Originally Posted by: carlos.rivas.16752 Nice solution.
One installed the ground wire, where´s it attached to?
My two BR 64 and my two BR 94 are poor smokers due to bad contact.
Thanks
Regards
Carlos I have a BR64 and it smokes OK but not great. I don't think it has anything to do with the ground. I think it may have something to do with the amount of voltage that the decoder is sending to the smoke unit although I never checked it. If the ground was bad, it wouldn't smoke at all. Are you using a Seuthe #24 (16-22 operating voltage) which is the one designated for digital use? The analog version, Seuthe #20 (10-16 operating voltage) is the one I use and they will get hotter therefore producing more smoke. From my experience the smaller smokestack Seuthe units in general don't work as well and the larger #10 models. I needed to ground the smoke unit because I was adding it to a loco that didn't come from the factory with smoke. The design of the attachment of the boiler casting to the frame requires that the frame be able to pivot which doesn't provide a good electrical contact to ground. I´m using Märklin 72270; think it´s the same Seuthe...but smoking issues with BR 64 are well-known. Regards Carlos |
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Joined: 15/12/2015(UTC) Posts: 523 Location: Maryland, Baltimore
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Does yours smoke as well as this?
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3 users liked this useful post by skeeterbuck
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Joined: 08/04/2015(UTC) Posts: 303 Location: Vigo, Spain
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Absolutely not...the smoke does not go out, it stays like fog over a swamp into the smoke generator. I tried with three different smoke units. |
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Joined: 15/12/2015(UTC) Posts: 523 Location: Maryland, Baltimore
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Originally Posted by: carlos.rivas.16752 Absolutely not...the smoke does not go out, it stays like fog over a swamp into the smoke generator. I tried with three different smoke units. I think what you describing is like the Brawa in this video. Check it out at approximately 1:30 in the video where it's leaving the roundhouse. My Brawa does the same thing. I think it my have to do with the fact that the smoke unit in positioned down into the engine's smokestack. When the "smoke" leaves the Seuthe unit it still has to travel a short distance until it exits the engine's smokestack. I think this may contribute to the "fog" effect that you describe. Unfortunately, I know of no solution to this problem. 
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1 user liked this useful post by skeeterbuck
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Joined: 08/04/2015(UTC) Posts: 303 Location: Vigo, Spain
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Originally Posted by: skeeterbuck Originally Posted by: carlos.rivas.16752 Absolutely not...the smoke does not go out, it stays like fog over a swamp into the smoke generator. I tried with three different smoke units. I think what you describing is like the Brawa in this video. Check it out at approximately 1:30 in the video where it's leaving the roundhouse. My Brawa does the same thing. I think it my have to do with the fact that the smoke unit in positioned down into the engine's smokestack. When the "smoke" leaves the Seuthe unit it still has to travel a short distance until it exits the engine's smokestack. I think this may contribute to the "fog" effect that you describe. Unfortunately, I know of no solution to this problem. Well, in my BR 64 the smoke doesn´t go out of the smokestack..it stays just there. Thanks a lot aanyway Regards Carlos |
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