RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Until now , one of the way to boost the smoke output of a H.L. smoke unit was to replace the pumping system by a mini fan ....Even if it meant loosing the pulsating effect provided by the original system ....

Then It occurred to me : Why not simply add a mini fan on the top of the air cylinder to boost the output and restore a positive pressure inside the cylinder on the back stroke of the piston ....


The modification is quite simple and the results are stunning ....

In the following video , I am running 2 brand new smoke units together to show the difference ...

-The nichrome heater elements of both smokers have been measured at 15.5 Ohms .
-Both units are connected to the same power supply and the same RX-14 board ...
-Both units have been drained and refilled to the same level .

So the only variable in this video is the addition of the mini fan on one of the smokers ...

http://youtu.be/kVvpvXW8Xso

Excelent job Strmnd54.

I was about to cut up the smoke units in my two tigers this week to install a mini fan in place of the standard pump. Glad I saw this first.

Now all you need to do now is work on is replacing the noisy pump. and you have created the perfect smoke unit.

In the first video , the noise level seems higher because the 2 units are running at the same time ...

In this new video , I keep switching between the 2 units ...

Notice that the modified unit seems to be running smoother and quieter than the stock one ....

http://youtu.be/pDtDbRHaX_c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi. Could you please show how to do this is great Thanks Pete.

The mod. is quite simple , and since it was a prototype ; I didn't go fancy as to hold the mini fan ; I just used the hot glue gun ...
Here's a couple of pics to help ....

Genius

You Sir are a star, thanks so much I am building a tiger 1 based on a HL tank I say building as there is not much HL lift. So its off to the shed , Thanks again.Pete

great mod will try this on my tiger smoke unit

strmnd54 wrote:In the first video , the noise level seems higher because the 2 units are running at the same time ...

In this new video , I keep switching between the 2 units ...

Notice that the modified unit seems to be running smoother and quieter than the stock one ....

http://youtu.be/pDtDbRHaX_c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes very much quieter. I'm sure that noise will be quickly lost once in the tank with the sound effects and noise of gearbox and tracks.

Have you tried it with your resistorheating element and kevlar wick yet?

I was thinking before you posted this about pulsing the voltage to the fan (with mini fan not HL pump) but my limited electronics knowledge meant it never made it past an idea.

I plan to run with the idea , now that I know that the basic concept works ...
I'll replace the nichrome heater by a 14 Ohms 1 Watts Wire wound resistor with kevlar wick ,enlarge the air intake ( between the piston and smoke chamber) ; enlarge the exhaust ports ; and put a low level indicator refill probe ....

As for the idea of driving the mini fan with pulses ; I tried that before I design my " pulse regenerator " ...
It does'nt work because of the inertia of the fan ...The fan is too slow to reach it's maximum speed and doe'nt stop fast enough ....So you end up with an A.C. speed controller for the fan without the pulsing effect ...