Originally Posted by meter man:
Looking into command and see that the new ZW-L can be run from the hand held remote.
Dose this take the place of all the bricks and power masters [ 4 set ups ] ?
Thus be able to run 4 different track loops in conventional and command too ?
Thanks
Yes.
Out if the box, the transformer alone can operate 4 tracks conventionally (physically move the handles to vary voltage). Without a command base (either TMCC or Legacy), your new command engine will operate in conventional mode fine with the transformer.
One limitation with respect to conventional operation would be that there is no horn, bell or direction button for the 2 inner handles. Direction can be dealt with by just lowering the throttle to zero to cycle the e-unit, but horn and bell would require adding separate bell/horn buttons. Probably better to invest in a command set at that point.
If you add a command base, the engine will now run in command mode (it won't run in conventional whenever it can "see" a command signal), and the transformer can either be run conventionally, or with the remote from the command system. (there is a switch on the transformer to select it's mode of operation in this regard).
You can then run command engines on any of the 4 handles with the remote (all will be in command mode, since they "see" the signal) and you can run conventional engines if you set the transformer to command mode so the throttles can be adjusted via the remote. (using the remote to control the outputs gives you the horn/bell and direction control for the inner handles)
-Dave