Lionel Diesel horn and bell works with MTH Z-1000 but not with MTH Z-4000

Any comments or suggestions???

I know this thead is four, almost five years old, but I have been liquidating some of my collection and have found that the electronic Horn on some Lionel diesels will not sound when the horn button is pushed on my Z4000.  Has anyone else experienced this?

I have a similar problem with my Z4000 not running some of my earlier PS1 MTH loco's.

They will run great on the Z1000, but just sit there and won't come out of the "reset" mode (air release sound then off into the forward direction) if I use the Z4000.

I am lead to believe the "chopped sine wave" is different (somehow) between these two MTH transformers, and this affects the way the circuit board in the loco reads the signal. Could be the same for the horn feature on some Lionel loco's.....the way the circuit board in the loco is reading the DC wave from the Z4000.

It's just one of "the mysteries of life" I have come across since branching out from my old fashioned Swiss Buco trains into the modern world of MTH motive power.

Peter......Buco Australia

There is a known issue with the compatibility of the Lionel "Conventional Classics" sound boards and the Z4000, I am not sure these boards were used anywhere else. They are hard to activate via the Z4000 buttons and (for want of a better term) "burp" when they do work.

@Buco posted:

I have a similar problem with my Z4000 not running some of my earlier PS1 MTH loco's.

They will run great on the Z1000, but just sit there and won't come out of the "reset" mode (air release sound then off into the forward direction) if I use the Z4000.

I am lead to believe the "chopped sine wave" is different (somehow) between these two MTH transformers, and this affects the way the circuit board in the loco reads the signal. Could be the same for the horn feature on some Lionel loco's.....the way the circuit board in the loco is reading the DC wave from the Z4000.

It's just one of "the mysteries of life" I have come across since branching out from my old fashioned Swiss Buco trains into the modern world of MTH motive power.

Peter......Buco Australia

Your problem is somehow backwards. Some MTH PS-1 locomotives won’t run on chopped-wave output, and that includes the inexpensive Z1000 transformer. The top-of-the-line Z4000 transformer isn’t chopped wave. I have never had any problem running a locomotive on a Z4000.

I have a Lionel 027 size 0-8-0.  Runs fine on a ZWC but the sounds act up on a Z4000.  I found that the transistor to enable the whistle sound had blown.  Happened twice.  Not a clue why!

Lou N