Hello, a question regarding a Lionel ZWC: can all 4 handles of a ZWC be powered by 1 Powerhouse (brick) with the jumpers installed in the 3 open input jacks ? Thinking one 135 or 180w brick would be fine for the ZWC to power accessories. Thanks
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You need a minimum of 2 bricks. The jumpers only connect the A&B and C&D controls. There is no way to connect to B&C.
Straight from the manual (emphasis mine):
The ZW Controller and PowerHouse Power Supplies are made to operate on 120-volt 60-cycle alternating current, the normal house power used in the United States. With four 180-watt PowerHouse Power Supplies, the maximum wattage rating of the ZW Controller is reached — 760 watts. The ZW Controller can be powered by any combination of up to four 180-watt PowerHouse Power Supplies. The PowerHouse Power Supplies are available in both 135-watt and 180-watt versions. The ZW Controller comes with two 180-watt PowerHouse Power Supplies. If more power is needed, up to two additional PowerHouse Power Supplies can be added to the system.
One PowerHouse Power Supply must be plugged into the input jack next to the A terminal. Placing a jumper plug into an input jack allows that set of terminals to share power with the terminals to its left.
https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ents/72-2982-250.pdf
Looks like you are on the right path in theory, but since the ZW-C was supplied with two bricks, I'm not sure how common or tested single brick operation would be. It doesn't seem it would hurt to test it out as long as you stayed within the powerhouse capabilities.
Fellows, thinking I will err on the side of safety and power 2 posts initially and add another 135 or 180 later. Thank you each for your advice. CMac