Z4000 with Legacy?

I know that lots of people do run TMCC and Legacy with the Z4000 going by posts I see here.

  Mikes video Demonstrates the difference between a sine wave type and a modified sine wave type.

  With conventional operation you would probably get better smoke with the modified sine wave but with Legacy and TMCC I'm not sure it matters.

  The only thing I recall seeing that may be of concern is if the Z4000 protects the engine if there is a problem. ( short crk, voltage spikes) Don

Legacy will run fine with the Z4000, ask Ben at the NJ Hi-Railers, they have a bunch of Z4000 transformers.

Thanks RickO for the video. I had not seen this before and it was very enlightening. Am I correct in understanding that the Z4000 only puts 8 amps to the track?  Is that to each track (loop) on a multi line layout such as ours was?

I'm remembering that our earlier fan driven Lionel smokers didn't come alive until I pushed 19-21 volts with the Z4K which I was admonished NOT to do with TMCC engines. What Mike Reagan says here about the chopped wave makes sense.

Are there any drawbacks t the chopped sine wave units?

I run 18 volts from two PowerHouse 180's here, and I have no problems at all with Lionel or MTH smoke units.

We run a Z4000 on our layout, primarily Legacy, with TMCC and DCS. No issues at all...just set the handles to 18 volts and you're good to go Sam.

The Z4K does fine.  I can live with smoke starting a few seconds after power up.  The new ZW is a super product for operators.  I am glad Lionel came out with that new transformer.  The old underpowered ZW transformer was top dog in it's day but time has passed it by with newer products.

I run Legacy with a Z 4000  ,zero problems

Am thinking I heard Mike Reagan state that the Z4K only outputs 8 amps to the track?

Am assuming that's 8 amps per throttle?

Can some one please clarify..

The Z-4000 claims 180 watts on each variable output, and a 21 volt maximum.  That would be about 8.5 amps at the full 21 volts.  I don't have one, so I can't look to see what the breakers for the variable outputs are rated at.

Sam,

Am thinking I heard Mike Reagan state that the Z4K only outputs 8 amps to the track?

Regardless of what you may had heard, the Z4000 provides 10 amps per throttle.

And I suspect Barry actually has one to look at.

Guys, anyone can say what they want.  When you want accurate information, read what Barry has in his book.  I like many others run passenger trains with many cars.  I like the MTH Z4000 because you can push the power up past 18 volts if needed.  The Lionel transformer is a great item and I do like it, but it only can muster 18 volts.  That is all you get boys and girls, 18 volts.

I've run a lot of Legacy locos with both a Z4K and ZW-L and a CW-80.  I'd pick the Z4K anyday over the CW80.  My Z4K would put out exactly 10 amps to the track - any more than that and the breaker would operate and open.  But it would hold that 10 amps all the way to 18 volts, at which point if I ramped up the voltage further, it started to struggle against its power limit per circuit, but the amps would only start to fade slightly as/if I upped the voltage more, to, say, 20 volts, at which point I'd get only 9.5 amps or so.

But different power supplies aren't equivalent exactly, as to voltage.  The ZW-L, for example, only puts out 18 volts, but it puts it out all the time and chops the power, and it will put out a full 10 amps at full throttle - 180 watts of a tad more.  More important, since it chops the power at 18 V at low throttle, for any Legacy loco I have, it runs them as well at high speeds as the Z4K ever did, and slower and much smoother at lower power levels than the Z4K did.  it is, for Legacy and Lionel conventional locos, the better choice from the standpoint of low speed control and linearity of throttle.

That said, the Z4K did fine with all my Lionel: postwar, conventional, Legacy, and ran the few TMCC locos I have okay, if not great.  The only difference with the ZW-L is that it runs Legacy locos slightly slower, much smoother, than the Z4K.