Lionel ZW-L

Will it be ready for Christmas?????????????

quote:

 This is a reduction of 100 Watts. Will there also

be a reduction in price?

 

I would not be surprized to learn that there is a price increase.

I bought 2 of the Lionel ZW's that were produced in the late 1990's. They were capable of handling 4 180 watt bricks, for a total wattage of 720 watts. They work, but not well. They apparently had plastic used in the controller arms instead of metal and Lionel (or an after market supplier) made a replacement part. That worked better, but they never had the feel of the postwar ZW.

 

I would check out this one carefully before buying it.

 

Gerry

The ad for the ZW-L indicatesthat the transformer will be only 620 Watts.

 

I guess the L stands for "Lite!"  ZW-L Lite by 100 watts. I shoulda gone into advertising.

When did you get your O gauge rr magizine?

Got mine yesterday, 15 Feb.  The ad is a nice two page spread.  620 vs. 720.  I don't think it matters that much?  Maybe the hand of UL?

Could it just be a misprint?

It seems odd to me that it would go down by 100 Watts, I think they just superimposed a 6 instead of a 7, but I`m going to ask LIONEL on Facebook anyway.

Remember they are told by UL what they can sell. Perhaps 720 wouldn't pass UL and they had to scale back Be nice to get a comment from Lionel

Very true.  It's amazing that UL routinely approves good ole hair dryers upwards of 1500 Watts, but the organization seems to always get in the way of serious power for our hobby.     Go figure. 

Gentlemen,

   I know some of you guys are not going to like this, but I see no need to invest in a ZW-L, I run my DCS layout with the old ZW's/KW's and the new Z4K's, is there any reason I should invest in a new ZW-L when I can pick up the original ZW for resasonable money.

PCRR/Dave

 

 

Meters?

I just bought five 0-10A and 0-30V meters for $6/ea on eBay, no reason to spend hundreds for meters.

From Lionel :

 

In order for the product to be ETL certified, Lionel was required to reduce the wattage to 620W. While this is less than we had wanted and previously advertised, the safety of our products and our customers must come first. We know many will be disappointed, but we can assure you the ZW-L Transformer remains a product that will deliver the power you need – and trust.

Not a problem just buy 2 and have 1240 watts! GunrunnerJohn are those meters digital or analog? What is the suppliers name?

Ron

I bought analog meters, I find them easier to interpret at a quick glance.

 

Here's the guy with the meters, same vendor had the voltmeters: C:US:1123" target="_blank">AC 0-10A Analog Panel Ammeter

Gentlemen,
   I know some of you guys are not going to like this, but I see no need to invest in a ZW-L, I run my DCS layout with the old ZW's/KW's and the new Z4K's, is there any reason I should invest in a new ZW-L when I can pick up the original ZW for resasonable money

Got a Fire Extinguisher handy Dave?

Jon

During the digital "craze" when the car manufacturers were going digital on the dashboard I felt that digital was a step backwards. Same for clocks. Reading digital gauges requires an extra line of code in the brain. It may be different for babies that grew up with digital.

Also, I am wondering if these meters read true rms. Seems like an iron vane type analog ac meter did. Obviously rectifier types do not.

BTW, the ZW meter (new style) does not read true rms by my measurements. Not bad, but not true.