Speaking of ZWs. ZW-L that is.

120 volts is in the input. 18 volts is the output.  More or less. I believe the outputs are independent, so you cannot get 34.4 amps from any one output.  But like yourself,  I'm no expert .

And to answer your question, no problem with using a 15-20 amp wall outlet  for this transformer.

The outputs "share" the total load.  So if one is maxed, it draws from the others therefore reducing available power from the other output terminals.  BUT the chances of you ever reaching that point are really, really low.

I run the trains and the switches, and all accessories from a ZW-L.  The rated power available from each output on a ZW-L supports about 8.5 amps. Two of my engines, pulling trains of 12-15 cars, draw less than 3 amps in total.  So- that means I could more than double the load before the ZW-L would need to "borrow" capacity from another output.  And I only use two of the outputs- 1 for the track power, and 1 for the switches.

I run the lighting for the buildings, streetlights, etc. from a couple of old ZWs that I had before I bought the ZW-L.  But no doubt the ZW-L would do all of it.

And since most of my lighting uses LEDs,  I try to always run the lighting output from the old ZWs through AC-DC buck converters, so they run on DC.  (LEDs prefer DC for longer life I hear.)  Also (for example) I can control (reduce) the brightness of the lighting in my Menard's buildings to lower, more realistic levels.

The York Hotel by itself - on the recommended 4.5 volts- will run you out of the room! I run it with my other buildings at about 3.5 volts.

@GVDobler posted:

Am I right to assume there are four 10-amp channels/circuits contained in one unit? Can you use the average 15 or 20 amp outlet in a bedroom? If this was any other electrical equipment I would think it would take a 50-amp breaker of it's own. I realize the voltage is not the same. I just don't see any referrence in the manual. If you divide the total available of 620 Watts by 120v, you get 5.16 amps. If you divide 620w by 18v you get 34.4 amps, so I'm missing something. Keep in mind I'm someone that thinks I've accomplished something if I get the left and right speakers hooked up correctly.

In residential electricity. Everything in a circuit is considered de rated. if you go to your main panel and add all the circuit breakers, you will see you will far out strip the main breaker. Your Lionel transformer is rated the same way, you have 4 10 amp breakers. But the cord you plug into the wall will only carry 15 amps 20 at max, so as you see you are at the very least 20 amps short. Lionel knows that and the electrical certification organizations know you will never have a full max amp draw, so they allow the rating to be 10x4=40 de rated to 15.

There is only one transformer winding in it (I assume zw-l is like the zw) so 620 watts is your limit. here is a YouTube video of the inside

https://youtu.be/qPZNaASE_lw?si=0Uvze6sLzhd-iYz6

The ZW-L, like all modern toy train transformers are rated in output wattage. The 620W is the output, if we assume the efficiency is between 75% and 80%, the input wattage is about 800W. Postwar transformers like the ZW are rated in input wattage. The ZW-L will draw about 6.7A maximum from the 120V line if the output is fully loaded to 620W.

@AmFlyer posted:

The ZW-L, like all modern toy train transformers are rated in output wattage. The 620W is the output, if we assume the efficiency is between 75% and 80%, the input wattage is about 800W. Postwar transformers like the ZW are rated in input wattage. The ZW-L will draw about 6.7A maximum from the 120V line if the output is fully loaded to 620W.

In my old notes from 2012/2013 on the ZW-L, someone measured 7.5 amps at the house wall plug when the ZW-L is putting out it's maximum of 620W at 18VAC (34amps).  That works out to 900 watts input.  Talk about serious heat loss within the transformer.

Each of the four throttles can put out a maximum of 180 watts with a maximm 620 watts for the transformer.  This is an "electronic transformer and it senses automatically how much wattage each channel is using up to the max of 180 watts.  So if 3 of the channels are using the max of 180 you are left with 80 watts for the last channel. Or if you are using 180 watts on 2 of the channels that would leave you 260 watts that can be used for the last 2 channels."  Did not write down who wrote that.