Smoker: Yay or Nay

[43rdRecceReg]

The latest HL offerings are proportional, fan-driven, and make far fewer annoying mechanical chugging sounds than the originals.
This is the one I fitted to the Panther. It's aimed at V6-0 Heng Long systems, and works like a dream, for me, anyway. It's also at abrgain price from Forgebear. Then again, it could be a nightmare for some when, and if it fails after fitting :

[Jay-Em]

I dó use smokers. The kid in me just lòves that.. Buuut.. for rivet-counters they are a no-go, me thinks... unless You want to simulate a tank that’s leaking coolant into the cylinders, blew its gaskets ànd accidentally pumped 2-stroke mix in its fuel.. Maybe only “ acceptable” when using the new-fangled barrel-smoke function that some more expensive systems offer.

(And, no, ‘smokeless gunpowder/propellant’ is NOT a thing. It always smokes a bit, even with modern tanks. Have seen enough live firing at the German ranges to state that they dó smoke, despite sturdy smoke extraction units on the barrel. Not Napoleonic cannonball-smoke-like, true, but still... .. Hmm.. come to think of it : making big clouds of smoke from únder a tank when fired, would be cool.. the amount of dùst that’s thrown-up on a dry day by the shockwave when firing.. wow.. The poor little VW van we were confined to, having to regulate traffic from-and to the range, also shook like someone hit it with a rather large hammer wit every shot.. éven at the distance we were from the actual firing..)

However, on the next-gen smokers : be forewarned. They smoke really ridiculous on a 6.0. On a 6.0-S it’s more ‘normal’. Which leads me to the conclusion that the voltage for the heating wire in the “S” is a tad lower. (consequently the wire may burn premature on that 7.2/7.4v. I only got about 20 minutes of runtime yet on the 6.0 with the new smoker, so, no idea how sturdy it is)

I do not want to take both T72’s apart agàin to check the Cn11 voltage, but I feel the 6.0 has the full 7,2/7,4v and the 6.0-S a volt-down to 6v, but with a circuit that can withstand higher amps.

By the by. Small -tiny even -improvement on the reservoir : the crimped heating-wire connectors are on the óutside of the reservoir. Wáy easier to replace a lead when it breaks.

[Will01Capri]

i think smokers for models are cool, so Yay for me

[LordPanzer]

Personally for me the 1st tank I got was a Taigen Tiger 1 which had a smoker. It was cool. But seemed to stop working shortly there after I got the tank. Then I started changing boards and adding speakers and with no room left I got ride of it. I've heard the aftermarket ones work much better obviously then the stock henglong and Taigen set ups. But for me now with 8 tanks in my Panzer Depot none of them have smoker's.

I will say I did see a barrel smoker kit that seems cool when fired although I wonder how that affects IR battle singles. And I think if i ever get my hands on a T-72 I will try to keep or upgrade the smoker unit in that one.

Cheers!

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[EAO]

I really like the smokers. Appeals to the kid in me. FIRE, FIRE, SMOKE, SMOKE, FIRE, BURN, BURN, BURNNNN! Sorry, slipping back into my Beavis and Butthead days. My original Tiagen smoker was pretty lame. Lots of noise and not much smoke. Suddenly out of nowhere it started working great. That lasted about half a day then nothing.

First upgrade I did to my Taigen was switching to a U.S. G.I. Tank Smokers Baroness 2 unit. Jeff is great, excellent communication, knowledge, shipping and service. It worked perfectly with the Taigen V3 board. I don't think I ever ran it dry, but I did overfill it twice. After about a year of use it stopped smoking but the fan still operated. I purchased a replacement wick from him complete with instructions on how to repair it for very little money. Worked like a champ after words. About two months later it quit again with fan not running this time though. I sent it back to him for service and he reworked the entire unit for FREE! This included shipping. He said the unit got too hot and burned all the interior wiring up (it still looked pristine from the exterior). He wasn't sure why it happened, over voltage, not enough airflow, or run too dry. At any rate, I'm sure I was the problem. If it can be screwed up, I'll likely manage to do it.

By the way, having seen the innards of one of there units I was very impressed by their robust, simple, design. For me, running one of these tanks with no smoke is no fun what so ever. Everyone who sees it, is all most always most interested it seems by the "exhaust' smoke.

Cheers,
Eric.

[ronnie42]

Nay Have 2 of the Tarr ones, but only 1 fitted . Lost interest after a while and they leak if you forget to screw the plug in.

[Jimster]

GI smoker failure. My fault. It wasn’t the smoker’s fault at all.
So here’s what I think happened. I keep the unit topped off with fluid at every battery change. Then I drove it through some seriously steep grades and deep ish water during the creek video maneuvers. I believe I slopped oil into the fan motor which eventually stopped the fan. This probably led to overheating of the element and burned components. GI Smoker replaced the damaged parts and I ordered a second unit for an upcoming project. Lesson learned for me. I gotta quit driving it like a rock crawler!



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[Will01Capri]

also looks like you were lucky for it not to go on fire! That matting looks burnt as it must have run dry around the element!

I have to say i do give my tanks alot of abuse, so i would maybe need to think of a different style of smoker.

[ronnie42]

Jimster Thats one issue with them, you don't really know what level of oil is in the unit. Perhaps someone will offer one with a section of clear plastic/glass to be able to check oil level.

[Jimster]

That’s the beauty of the GI smoker. It has a clear fill tube that is inserted down on the side at the full line. So if it’s overfilled it runs back out the the tube. You can actually see it in the photo. I always topped it off when the battery needed changing. Unfortunately I filled it up and then immediately put the poor tank through some rather steep maneuvers not to mention carrying it through the woods and steep paths to get from my Jeep to the creek.
Bottom line is I need to be more attentive to the task at hand and carry my Tiger level. I need to create a nice carrying box with a handle to transport my Tiger. I’ve seen some cool wooden examples online.