power question

The old ZWs can put out considerably more than 10 amps, probably 20-30 amps, on an intermittent basis - for short durations.  Their continuous rating is each about the same as one brick once warmed up.

The 180 bricks and the direct connects will shut down at the slightest over capacity amperage draw.  This is what you are experiencing.

i meant to mention that my smoke operation and general running are better with the bricks (as it was suggested they would be).

"The old ZWs can put out considerably more than 10 amps, probably 20-30 amps"

what does the ZW-L do?

The ZW-L is, like the bricks, limited to 10 amps absolutely per channel.  It will fold back, and then shut down if you try to draw more, the 10 amps cannot be exceeded even momentarily.

Crud.

thanks

If your passenger coaches are using incandescent lighting, have you considered altering these to use LED's? This might reduce your current draw quite considerably with 10+ coach trains.

First, I'll chime in by saying I really like the 10 amp limit on ZW-Ls (and Z4000s) as compared to some older units that would feed quite a lot more current for a brief period.  I'd rather have a unit with a strict current limit, if perhaps with a tiny delay like my Z4000 had (it would feed 11-11.5 amps for about two seconds before its breaker would trip).  However, a 10-amp is a lot easier to live with when the unit has the "fold back" feature like the ZW-L and some others, that will reduce voltage for a time to limit current to 10 amps when "an excessive demand" is experienced: I have one train that always kicks the fold back into operation on my ZW-L as it starts out (ATSF Anniversay passenger set from 2000: four Pullmo motors and seven incand. lighted cars) - it draws 9 amps at 16 volts when running hard but wants 10+ amps for a second or two starting out unitl its AC-field motors whirl up to speed: the ZW-L folds back voltage for about three seconds and gets it started nicely.  When using my Z4000, if I was not really judicious with the throttle, it would trip the breakers before the train got rolling. 

Fully half of the electric load of this particular train is incandescent lighting for the cars.  In any other circumstances, I would do what N.Q.D.Y. recommends and replace the incandescent lighting with LEDS - it would cut the demand of this train to only around 5-6 amps.  I don't do it in this case because the ATSF anniversay set is an iconic classic - some say the best passenger set ever made by Lionel, and I want to leave it "as delivered."  If something like that is not an issue, I'd recommend replacing the lighting with LEDS - its not expensive and its easy to do, too.

Lee,

Why not replace the incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs that have been mentioned in other threads.  There is no permanent change to the Anniversary set and you get the benefit of the reduced amperage draw.

Joe

where are those bulbs found?

i can't seem to locate where they are mentioned in the forum.

FJ,

Sometimes you can find them at large train shows, but Town and Country Hobbies has direct replacements and they advertise in Classic Toy Trains.  Here's their site:

http://stores.towncountryhobbi...-LEDs/Categories.bok


Jerry

town and country do not recommend their bulbs for passenger cars because they do not spread the light enough.  they are intended for signals and switches.