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I bought 2 of the Lionel ZW's that were produced in the late 1990's. They were capable of handling 4 180 watt bricks, for a total wattage of 720 watts. They work, but not well. They apparently had plastic used in the controller arms instead of metal and Lionel (or an after market supplier) made a replacement part. That worked better, but they never had the feel of the postwar ZW.

 

I would check out this one carefully before buying it.

 

Gerry

From Lionel :

 

In order for the product to be ETL certified, Lionel was required to reduce the wattage to 620W. While this is less than we had wanted and previously advertised, the safety of our products and our customers must come first. We know many will be disappointed, but we can assure you the ZW-L Transformer remains a product that will deliver the power you need – and trust.

Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:

I bought analog meters, I find them easier to interpret at a quick glance.

 

Here's the guy with the meters, same vendor had the voltmeters: C:US:1123" target="_blank">AC 0-10A Analog Panel Ammeter

During the digital "craze" when the car manufacturers were going digital on the dashboard I felt that digital was a step backwards. Same for clocks. Reading digital gauges requires an extra line of code in the brain. It may be different for babies that grew up with digital.

Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:

I bought analog meters, I find them easier to interpret at a quick glance.

 

Here's the guy with the meters, same vendor had the voltmeters: C:US:1123" target="_blank">AC 0-10A Analog Panel Ammeter

Also, I am wondering if these meters read true rms. Seems like an iron vane type analog ac meter did. Obviously rectifier types do not.

BTW, the ZW meter (new style) does not read true rms by my measurements. Not bad, but not true.

Originally Posted by KOOLjock1:
Gentlemen,
   I know some of you guys are not going to like this, but I see no need to invest in a ZW-L, I run my DCS layout with the old ZW's/KW's and the new Z4K's, is there any reason I should invest in a new ZW-L when I can pick up the original ZW for resasonable money



Got a Fire Extinguisher handy Dave?

Jon

There are probably way more postwar ZWs in use then the modern ZWs and I have never heard of a single fire reported with them.  I am sure that if a forum member had a fire due to any piece of railroad equipment, it would be all over this forum.

 

Earl

Originally Posted by cbojanower:

From Lionel :

 

In order for the product to be ETL certified, Lionel was required to reduce the wattage to 620W. ...

 

Sadly, a lot of these organizations feel its their JOB to find something wrong with products... then "force" the designer to make appropriate adjustments so they could justify being involved in the process.  Giving products a blanket stamp of approval too often would give the appearance they're not justifying their worth to the process.  Frustrating, I'm sure. 

 

For the heck of it, I just checked our hairdrier rating, and sure enough... a whopping 1875 watts!    And it's UL listed, but I guess Conair gets the approval 'cause they're not marketing directly to "kids".  But I can only imagine the number of households where young kids use hairdriers everyday.    Silly that Lionel was required to reduce the new ZW's power output for the reason they stated.

 

Jon,

   As a matter of fact there is always a big fire extinguisher near the layout, however

even thou the transformer tables look crowded, everthing was safe and secure, not one wire out of place.  Never had a problem with my original ZW or KW transformers either.

Still have not heard one good reason why I should purchase a new ZW-L, instead of an original.  Might invest in a new Z4K with side receiver however, along with another original ZW. 

PCRR/Dave

I own the current production ZW which I purchased in 2000,it worked for 20 minutes and sent it back to Charles Ro who sent me another one that lasted about 30 minutes,sent it to Lionel,waited over two months,to this day it doesnt work right.I wont buy another Lionel transformer based on my experiences and several of my friends.

Mikey

Originally Posted by cjack:
Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:

I bought analog meters, I find them easier to interpret at a quick glance.

 

During the digital "craze" when the car manufacturers were going digital on the dashboard I felt that digital was a step backwards. Same for clocks. Reading digital gauges requires an extra line of code in the brain. It may be different for babies that grew up with digital.


It won't be different. I had occasion to do some research into this some years ago for a project involving aviation, looking into instrumentation  design. There's a huge body of research dealing with sizes, colors, shapes, etc. of instrumentation, even their texture, involving interaction of instrumentation with the human brain.

 

There's a reason analog gauges are used in aircraft and spacecraft - research has clearly shown that the human eye and brain can process data more quickly from analog gauges than from digital ones. It's an unalterable biological fact.

 

During that digital instrumentation craze in cars during the 90s, note that manufacturers like Ferrari, Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, etc. never used digital gauges. There was a reason for that.

I spend most of my working life designing and building avionics.  Even today, many of the instruments in the glass cockpit of a modern aircraft are still analog representations for that very reason.  Stuff that you don't have to digest instantly has moved to digital.  Note the trend to using an analog representation and having the digital value present as well.

 

 

Here's the T6 (JPATS Primary Trainer) that I personally worked on.

 

Another point of view:

 

Research aside (different studies of the SAME subject too often produce contradictory ressults!), I still prefer the DIGITAL meters on my Z-4000! I have been on hemodialysis for almost seven-years, and during that time frame, I have seen DIFFERENT data produced from studies on the SAME subject that resulted in a change of treatment modality protocols, with frequent reversals!  Therefore, I am a skeptic of "studies"! Often, and even with the best of intentions, bias on the part of the observer(s) is a factor in the results!

 

MY digital meters are VERY easy to "read" (and process) at a glance. Maybe I have been conditioned to them over the fourteen-years (since 1998) I have owned my two Z-4000's!

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