power for dz 1000

Any 12 vac wall wart would most likely do it...probably go for 1 amp.

BUT the schematic diagram on the DZ1000 instructions say 12-20 vac. The text says 9-14 vac.

I find the z stuff brand to be quite nice, but a bit quirky.

Do you mean this one on the Grainger site?

I would not call this "cost effective".  As Chuck says, it's odd that Z-Stuff would specify such a narrow voltage range (12-14V AC).  They've been making stuff for O-gauge for quite a while so should provide more guidance such as selling or recommending suitable power sources.

But if you don't mind some basic component level assembly, you could use the diode dropping method to lower your existing 18V AC to around 12V AC.  This would not require a wall-wart.  This would cost maybe $5-$10 and has been discussed in many OGR threads.  If this is of interest I can elaborate.

In talking to Dennis at Z-Stuff, one of the considerations for stuff like the DZ-2500 switch machines is that the tiny linear regulator may overheat at 18V input, although the switches will work with that voltage.  Given that fact, I power all of mine with 12VAC, they work great.

You can find a ton of 12VAC transformers to power this stuff for peanuts, no need to go to Granger.

AC to AC Wall Adapter 12V @ 1500 mA Straight 2.1 mm Female Plug, $14.76 shipped free.

I dug through a box in the basement and found a power supply to an old PC stereo speaker set.  It is an odd ball, 13 vac 2 amps, more than enough to power all of my switches. I don't know what amperage a dz1000 pulls but I would guess it would be less than 100 mA.

Yep, that little motor doesn't pull much power, I suspect that will power a ton of them.  Remember, they're not all switching at the same time, so you're really looking to switch a couple and light the LED's on the rest of them.

Thanks for the info the $14.76 option looks like a good way to go for me, I have done several searches for those but kept getting a lot of ac to dc items to come up - guess I didnt narrow the search enough.

$14.76 free shipping is now in the realm of "cost effective"!

Too bad it doesn't include a connector-adapter.  Obviously you can just cut the plug off and have bare-wire.

Some wall-wart adapters come with the connector-adapter - otherwise you seem to have to buy 10 or more.  Ignore that is says DC Connector - works just fine for the AC wall-wart.  Oh well.

As a completely unrelated comment, it's fascinating how you can get a 12V DC output adapter for a couple bucks but the 12V AC output adapter so expensive.  The electronics that goes into a modern regulated DC output adapter is quite sophisticated compared to an AC output adapter which is essentially no electronics and "just" wire and steel, - that is a bare-bones transformer!  Though I'd bet the ratio of 12V DC adapters sold vs. 12V AC adapters might be as much as a million to 1.

Production volume no doubt plays a major role, but does a typical AC wall wart have the same step-down transformer as a DC power supply?

I thought one advantage of switch-mode supplies was that you could use a smaller transformer, because you don't need to step down the AC voltage as much.

The switchers use a very small torroid as they switch at a much higher frequency.  I'm sure that the volume is a significant player, but think about the switching supplies you can buy for absolute peanuts.

Right, I was wondering if the transformer material is an expensive part, the small toroids might be part of the cost advantage compared to an AC supply that needs more 'iron'.