OK my fellow O gauge railroad engineers....I will answer everyone's questions (to the best of my ability) one at a time.
Mallard4468: Stout Auctions were very good when it came to shipping them to Australia. I asked if they could send them in separate boxes, so they wouldn't "fight" on the way over. The second reason for separate boxes was to get around our crazy customs tax....if the value of the goods is less than $1,000.00 (Aus), there is no duty!!
The cost of both Z4000's was $820.00 (US) combined, which threw it over our $1,000 threshold (crap exchange rate with the US dollar at the moment - 70 cents (US) for one Australian dollar). Anyway, even with two shipping boxes, Stouts only charged me $112.00 (US) all up to get them to me.....they used DHL International, and it only took them7 days to get here.....I was stoked, and one of them even arrived on a Sunday morning....yeh, a Sunday delivery, something unheard of here!!
As suggested, I will try the two voltmeters and will get back to you, but it may have to wait till Thursday, as the "life thing" is getting in the way again. And yes.....this crazy thing is happening whatever lever or side of the Z4000 I use. And no.....I am not sending the power through a TIU (I am not that technologically advanced where I use DCS to run my railroad....my kids call me a Dinosaur....and for a very good reason).
Transman: Thanks for the info.....and yes, that is exactly the same way I start-up all of my MTH PS1 & PS2 loco's that have BCR's, but for some strange reason these 3 PS1 diesel loco's and one steam loco just won't respond as I slowly lower the throttle back to zero and then slowly back up again to get the loco moving. The circuit board thinks I am putting it into "reset" every time I lower the throttle, no matter how slowly I do it.
I will try your suggestion in starting the loco at around 14V for the BCR to charge, and then only bring the throttle down to about 9V, I will listen for the air release (whoosh sound), followed by the single bell "dink", and then I will hit the direction button and see what happens. Stay tuned, but you may not hear from me for a couple of days.....life and all that.
hokie71: You maybe onto something here with a "flaky" BCR. I will swap it out for a new BCR (I have a "few" new ones in my stock of spare parts). I'll let you know what happens.
In the matter of the power supply to the Z4000......yes we convicts run 240V AC to all of our houses, and it will kill you in a heart beat!!!! For that very reason I purchased a "step-down" transformer built here in Australia to drop our 240V to 110V specifically to run these famous American trains.
I don't believe the difference between the Hz rating has much (if anything) to do with it, because all of my other PS1, PS2, and PS3 loco's run fantastic from the Z4000, and ALL of my MTH loco's run fantastic with the Z1000 transformer......same Hz feeding both transformers. Thank you for the link to the Z4000 instruction sheet and the SD 90 MAC manual.....but I have both of these documents, and have poured over them endlessly trying to figure out what could be going on.
GGG: It doesn't matter how slow I reduce the power, I don't hear the full "air release" sound I normally hear when I throttle down the other PS1 loco's. For some reason it just doesn't seem to recognize that the reset mode should be exited and the forward motion should commence.
Yes I have tried pushing the "direction" button at all sorts of different times and.....NOTHING!!! If I move the throttle back up and then back to zero it starts making the "clinks and clangs" sound that indicate it is trying to access the different features. I usually give up at that stage.
Joe Allen: Good suggestion.....I am putting that on my "list" of things to try, in a day or so.....stay tuned!!
Richie C: Please see my comments to hokie 71 above. Logic tells me that if it had something to do with the voltage and Hz ratings between Australia and the US, the Z1000 transformer would not have worked, ever, but yet it does, and it runs all of my MTH loco's for a few years now. And the Z4000 also will run most (bar 4 loco's) of my MTH loco's as well as my Williams loco's as well. For goodness sakes, it also runs my Swiss Buco loco's perfectly (field coils and armature motors).
Mark V. Spadaro: Can't come to grips with the difference between the 50Hz and 60 Hz. Why do all of my other PS1, PS2, and PS3 loco's run beautifully on the Z4000, and ALL of my MTH loco's (every one of them) run just great on the Z1000....same 110 voltage and same 50Hz going to the Z4000.
That's it for the moment.....I hope I haven't missed anyone. Please stay tuned and I will come back in a couple of day with results from all of your suggestions.
Peter (Buco Australia)
