I have a Z1000 brick running through a Z controller. A few weeks ago I tried hooking up a realtrax operating track section to the 14 aux output on a Z1000 so that the track would work without having to put the train in neutral and turning the power back up. When I threw the switch to the track nothing happened. When I checked the voltage from the hot side of the aux output to the common rail I only got 5 volts instead of 14. After getting some help from a forum member I tried reversing the wires from the Z controller to the track lock-on. This time I got the voltage I needed but only if the controller was turned up which defeated the purpose of using the aux power. The next step was to put the wires to the lock-on back the way they were and hooking up the common side of the aux to the operating track. Now it does work but I have 19 volts instead of 14. Is there something wrong with the brick or is it just the way the aux outputs are wired? As I'm typing this it occurred to me that if I wasn't running the power through the Z controller but instead sending all 18 volts to the track (my scenario of reversing the wires at the lock-on and turning the juice all the way up on the controller) the wiring would have worked as planned, though if I was running 18 volts at all times I wouldn't need to wire the operating track to a constant voltage.
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