Looking for recommendations on how to do away with some of the issues I'm starting to experience on my 8x16 layout.
I started the layout a year ago and until now it has all been powered with a single Z-4000 unit. I have separate buss lines for the two main loops/throttles and a buss connected to the 14V post for lighting buildings. It's only been in recent weeks that I have been deciding on final placement of several buildings and as I have been wiring more of them to the 14V buss, that channel on the transformer has gone dead. No warnings. Just no power from the 14V posts. In all other respects, the Z-4000 main throttles are working fine, but the unit is out of warranty.
I have an CW-80 on hand from an old set (circa 2010) that I hauled out and connected the 14V buss line to and voila', problem solved. Until last night when I added a few more buildings, started getting a blinking light and the transformer eventually shut down. I should add that I never turned up the CW-80 to greater than 70 figuring that was about 14V. Through process of elimination, I realized that there was just one too many buildings wired, removed one and re-tried with success, although.....I noticed that if I'm not careful to avoid exceeding the 70 setting and accidentally clock it to 80, the CW-80 starts blinking again.
I have several thoughts. From the get-go, it's keeping accessories on their own separate transformer and perhaps investing in something a bit better than the CW-80, like perhaps a Z-1000. But this begs another question.......if I split the load of accessories into TWO buss lines and connect them to the separate posts on the same transformer, will that resolve things? Not certain if this is a load problem for the transformer on the whole or if it is related to everything being wired to just the one channel and overloading it.
Thoughts? And thanks in advance.
