[steam5]

In another post I asked about the fan sucking the smoke back into the boiler of my K-27. The solution is turning the fan around.

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/14/tpage/1/view/topic/postid/69995/Default.aspx#70516

It appears this is a cooling fan and probably should be kept. When I re-wire the loco (I currently plan to remove most of the electronics) I will remove the smoke unit, should I still keep the fan installed for cooling?

When I install the DCC decoder, how have others wired the cooling fan up? Parallel with the motor, or power it from a DCC function output?

 

[steam5]

Greg, I agree about you point on paralleling the fan with the motor, it was just a simply nasty solution But I do think there would be more electrical issues with that solution, due to different current draws.


Stan, The noise does not bother me; I don’t think I will hear it over the phoenix sound board when I install it. Where would you get the power from to power the fan? If you leave all the Bachmann electronics how does the fan behave under DCC operation?

I guess ideally I would like the fan to come on automatically when the motor starts to turn. I don’t think this behaviour can be programmed to a DCC function output?

If (motorTurning = true){
Fan = ON}

Else{
Fan = OFF}

 

[steam5]

Happy New Year

Stan my reasoning for re wiring the loco is I find myself changing items and it has always been easier for me to just start from scratch. I use this philosophy for all my HO installations, and I carried it to my first large scale installation (Spectrum 2-8-0) and it worked, the K will be my second.

Please don’t be offended, as I do it to nearly all my locos. I feel bad when I re build things, as someone put a lot of effort into it.

Greg that’s exactly what I was thinking. If I map an output to F0 (head light) the fan will run whenever the head light on. Not exactly what I want but it’s a compromise, it will keep it compliant with the KISS method, a temperature controlled unit would be nice, but it’s not KISS.

The Lenz Maxi can handle 1A for the total of all function outputs. If I go over this limit I think I will use one of the switches present in the front of the boiler, some will be free as I plan to by pass some. And to power it I will just make a simply bridge rectifier to get DC and filter it with a regulator and capacitors, I may be able to utilise the Bachman circuit, but I won’t know until I see what it is.

 

[steam5]

Now all I have to do is wait for the Aussie dollar to become a bit better, order a few bits and set aside a weekend to perform the open heart surgery! I look forward to it!

Since becoming a member here I have read so much about the K, it almost put me of buying one. The guy I purchased her from discovered Accucraft so the K was left in the shed, but I’m going to give her a chance, and see what I can make of her.

I’ll be optimistic.

 

[steam5]

Just thought I’d tell people what I have done with the fan.

Over the weekend I re wired the entire locomotive; all the Bachmann circuitry was removed. It all went well and the K is back running with improved properties.

Currently the fan is powered from an output on the decoder which can be turned on and off with function 4. I need to finalise what outputs and functions do what later.

The next part will be to install the Phoenix sound board.