Another power question... Possibly replacing a PW ZW.

Take a look at the Lionel GW-180, it's a similar controller to the CW-80, but it's powered with a 180 watt brick.  It'll have the same chopped waveform that seems to agree with your environment.

Oh, I really don't like the CW-80.

Never mind.

LOL! Thanks John...

In my limited knowledge I'm accustomed to a one piece transformer, ie: ZW or CW-80.

Could someone explain the use of the secondary piece??

It's literally just the transformer core in one box and the rest of the transformer controls in the other box.  It's the same as the ZW-C, which is shaped like a ZW and had four controls, but is powered by up to four 180W supplies.

I suspect that Lionel was just leveraging the manufacturing of the PowerHouse 180 to expand to another product by adding the control box.

Like GRJ just posted about, the GW-180 is a "mid-power" (10 amps!) transformer between the CW80 and the new ZW-L. This mimics Lionel Postwar when they had various "starter' units like the RW/LW/TW then stepped up to the KW and then the mighty ZW.

I just bought a new GW-180 from a fellow Forumite to use on a Postwar retro Super"O" layout. It works great in my testing and has all the newer circuit protection -(the circuit breaker on the Powerhouse 180 is lightening quick). It also has the bell/whistle diode circuits built in just like the CW-80. Try it - you might just like it!

It's horribly overpriced though at the OEM point of sale for what you get. For the price of one, you can buy 4, almost 5 CW-80's at street prices.

Jeff T,

    hay you do not have to stay with Lionel to get a good transformer, the Z-1000

is a great little power supply and it run everything very nicely.

PCRR/Dave

Dave, he has 80 watts, going to 100 watts isn't much of a step up, I think he may be thinking a bit larger.

True, would a ZW-C be a good choice?

Jeff T,

I'm confused.....Am I missing something? Did you not say that you already have a PW/ZW?  Why not give it a rebuild or have a trusted shop or friend do so for you? By doing so it should last you the rest of your life at a cost far below that of a new ZW. I'll go back to my corner now.

God Bless,

"Pappy" 

Pappy, don't be confused and come out of that corner!!!

It all has to do with the modern engines running/smoking better with the chopped sine signal provided by the newer Lionel transformers.

If all I ran was conventional the PW ZW would be great, but I'm migrating rapidly towards all TMCC/Legacy locos!

Ray - I've got Legacy now!

Jeff, it seems that your in this for the long haul, your mostly interested in Lionel, and you love your ZW. Despite the cost, I wouldn't hesitate in investing into a ZW L, they're fantastic with the added benefit of being done, at least until you need a second or third, or fourth. If you shop some of our sponsors, you will find many are offering discounts at 10-16% off with free shipping to boot. It's worth considering.  

I might be confused, too.  If you're running command control (TMCC or Legacy), do you need handles at all?  Can't you just hook up 1-2 PH180 bricks and be done with it?

George

I think he wants to run conventional also, thus I mentioned the Powermasters.

Ray

Another option is a CAB-1 and a PM-1 PowerMaster powered by either an already owned conventional transformer or a PowerHouse Brick(135 or 180 watts). Even this is cheaper than the GW-180, and gives you wireless remote.

This is where my lack of knowledge regarding "bricks" and such come in to play. Like I mentioned, I'd like to go newer to get the chopped sine signal.

Appreciate your cost concerns ADCX Rob; with a little patience and some shopping around, you do not have to pay manufacturer's list price for any of these. This brings the cost down more in line with the "rule of thumb" of late of paying around a $1.00/watt.

I paid less than that and have a new unit with 10 amps available with chopped sine wave performance and a circuit breaker that actually protects circuit boards instead of the transformer core which is what Postwar ones actually did.

Jeff,

The bricks are the 180 watt power houses mentioned here, I went that way myself replacing my old American Flyer transformers. I did it also for the reason you mentioned better operation of the TMCC/Legacy features.

I do want to apologize for my misunderstanding, I did not see in your post that you already had the Legacy system. As D&H 65 mentioned yes do shop for what you need.

Ray 

Consider an ALL-IN-ONE MTH Z-4000 - NO cumbersome bricks.

He's specifically looking for the chopped power waveform from an electronic supply.  While the Z4000 is indeed an electronically controlled supply, they went the extra mile to synthesize a real sine wave output and likely doesn't meet his requirements.

I've never paid anywhere near list, I buy bricks(I have 12-15) at 33 cents per watt. Add in a PM-1 and that brings me up to ~ 60 cents per watt.

A CW-80 is about ~ $40 on the street for a set break-up. or  50 cents per watt... for about the going price of one GW-180 you get 20 amps, 4 train controls w/ whistle & bell, & 4 programmable fixed voltage taps.

I'm still confused......Art, Welcome to the club. LMAO I'm too old for this "new" high-tech stuff. Give me my Std Gauge and my Lionel Z.

Jeff T,

As long as you know where you are.

"Pappy"

Plus, when he's running command control, he would have to take the handles back to zero and then to the specified voltage level.  The Z-4000 does not come back to a specified voltage level if you leave the handles up; it starts at zero.  And there's the added cost over PH180s.

George

Let me ask this one more time!

Would a ZW-C be a suitable replacement??

Would a ZW-C be a better option than a GW-180?

Thank You! 

The ZW-C is only available on the used market.  OTOH, for the price of a GW180, I'd probably lean to the ZW-C.  You can expand that to all the power you need by adding bricks, and it also is command capable so it acts like four PowerMasters if you program it.

Thank You John!

Secondary market is fine for me!!