Is there any way to date older Z4000s when looking at previously owned ones? I know our club had one form the late '90s and when it died parts were no longer available. At what point did the current version become available?
Pete
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Interesting, I thought all the Z-4000's were the same internally. Are you thinking of the Lionel ZW-C?
I thought they were the same too until we tried to get our old one fixed and were told the boards were no longer available. Makes a good door stop though.
I am now hesitant to buy a used one without knowing how old it is.
Pete
Look at the serial number. The first two digits indicate the month it was built and the next two after that indicate which year it was built.
This particular Z4000 was built in March 1998. This would be the oldest Z4000 one could own. The next run was 1198 (Nov. 1998). This one was update with more power available on each handle as well as the accessory outputs.
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Thank you very much. Thats the kind of thing I was hoping to see. I will have to check our old one but was told it too was from around 98 or 99.
Pete
No modification to power or accessories. But they did revise board circuits and they were not backward compatible unless you swapped both, which was expensive. G
I have another one of the club's Z4000s and just noticed this too was made in March of 1998. This one is working though.
Pete
GGG posted:No modification to power or accessories. But they did revise board circuits and they were not backward compatible unless you swapped both, which was expensive. G
Thanks George. More expensive than a new one?
When you first power up your Z4K, look at the AMP window. The window on the left will have a number 1 in it. If it is an early transformer, the window on the right will show number 23. If it is a later transformer, the window on the right will show number 24. When ordering boards for your transformer you must give the serial number of your unit.
