Joined
·
20,723 Posts
First, the disclaimer:
Contrary to what Aristo thinks (since they banned me from their site), I will not post anything negative about Aristo products, UNLESS they know about the problem, and have either IGNORED or DENIED the problem.
Aristo makes several smoke units, I am only going to discuss the one they call their "prime mover" one. It looks like this:
OK, so this post is to help people understand just how much fluid to use, since there is conflicting information provided with Aristo locos using this same smoke unit.
It is in most all of their newer locos, and some of the older units that have been updated. When running properly, it produces a good volume of smoke, and a long run time. It is about half the amount of the TAS or MTH units, which are the top units in my opinion, and about twice that of Bachmann or LGB.
There are several different problems reported by users, and the first one I will discuss is short run times.
The most common problem is not enough fluid.
The absolute first thing to know is how much fluid to use. The Aristo documentation is all over the map, with anything from 6-7 drops to 40-45 drops specified. Each loco comes with it's own instruction sheet, and, even though they are specifying the same smoke unit, the documentation does not agree.
First recommendation: DO NOT COUNT DROPS, measure the fluid in an inexpensive syringe. You can usually get these free at a drug store, or cheaply from many places. The problem is that different fluids and different containers will have a different ratio of "Drops" to "milliliters" or "cc".
The capacity of this unit is my opinion:
You can put 4.5 milliliters into it if it is bone dry, and you do not slosh it around, this is right up to the point where more fluid will come out the overflow "slots" internally.
I recommend 4 milliliters. (1 milliliter is 1 cc).
So, now you know the right way to fill the unit. If you have doubts as to if the unit is empty, run it and if it shuts off within 5 minutes it's either empty or defective.
See my site for more detailed analysis: Greg's Aristo smoke unit page[/b][/b]
Regards, Greg
Contrary to what Aristo thinks (since they banned me from their site), I will not post anything negative about Aristo products, UNLESS they know about the problem, and have either IGNORED or DENIED the problem.
Aristo makes several smoke units, I am only going to discuss the one they call their "prime mover" one. It looks like this:
OK, so this post is to help people understand just how much fluid to use, since there is conflicting information provided with Aristo locos using this same smoke unit.

It is in most all of their newer locos, and some of the older units that have been updated. When running properly, it produces a good volume of smoke, and a long run time. It is about half the amount of the TAS or MTH units, which are the top units in my opinion, and about twice that of Bachmann or LGB.
There are several different problems reported by users, and the first one I will discuss is short run times.
The most common problem is not enough fluid.
The absolute first thing to know is how much fluid to use. The Aristo documentation is all over the map, with anything from 6-7 drops to 40-45 drops specified. Each loco comes with it's own instruction sheet, and, even though they are specifying the same smoke unit, the documentation does not agree.
First recommendation: DO NOT COUNT DROPS, measure the fluid in an inexpensive syringe. You can usually get these free at a drug store, or cheaply from many places. The problem is that different fluids and different containers will have a different ratio of "Drops" to "milliliters" or "cc".
The capacity of this unit is my opinion:
You can put 4.5 milliliters into it if it is bone dry, and you do not slosh it around, this is right up to the point where more fluid will come out the overflow "slots" internally.
I recommend 4 milliliters. (1 milliliter is 1 cc).
So, now you know the right way to fill the unit. If you have doubts as to if the unit is empty, run it and if it shuts off within 5 minutes it's either empty or defective.
See my site for more detailed analysis: Greg's Aristo smoke unit page[/b][/b]
Regards, Greg