ABOUT THE "Z"
Ok ... over all, them good 'ol boys from Georgia have a mighty fine product!
Hookup was a easy. Just insert the track wire ends (stripped) into their repective holes and screw down the connectors (a small jewelers screwdriver works just fine) for a very secure connection. Plug in the AC power supply (PS315) and you are basicly done (I haven't added a program track nor extra throttles yet).
I tried DC operation first. The display came up with "00", which is the non-DCC loco address (it actually comes up with the last setting(s) used, which I like! To choose a different loco address, just press the "loco" button, punch in the numbers for the loco address you want, and press "loco" again to select). I had put an Atlas Master GP40 (Rock Island, of course!) with the dual mode decoder still in the "DC" mode on the track. One thing I noticed is that there seems to be less power to the track in this mode vs the Athearn power pack /throttle that I have been using - at full throttle I had much less speed and no headlight from the Atlas loco. For a P2K E8A, I had headlights, but also less power.
OK ... on to DCC ....
I opened the hatch (RI locos don't have DBs!), pulled the plug (a small pair of curved needle-nosed pliers worked just fine), re-inserted it for the DCC mode, and popped the hatch back on. Easy as pie, Atlas! Good job on the design!
OK ... now Atlas Master decoders are set with the loco address as the last two numbers of the road number. I've got #385, so I simply pressed "loco", punched in "85" and pressed "loco" to select. And there I was! Under DCC, I had as much speed as ever. And headlights! My GP40 finally has headlights! At least as bright as a P2K under full power (nowhere near as bright as Kato or Stewart, though). The lighted numberboards looked good, too! And, of course, they are on when the loco is at a stop unless I turn them off by the F0 button.
The loco was very responsive. And I love the "Break" feature! The loco slows down very phototypically to a stop. This fuction can be adjusted for the level of breaking desired.
Ok ... I have another decoder equipped loco ... my Atlas Master BN GP38 (You thought I only had RI locos?) ... I quickly converted it to DCC mode like the GP40, selected it's address (#2175, so "75" it is), and now I had control of TWO lcoos. The first thing I did was one of the things I wanted DCC for ... run an MU!
Setting up the MU was easy! I let the GP40 be the lead loco (as fitting for a RI loco), so set it up to run forwards (to keep it streight as to travel direction, I turned on the front headlights). Now I set up the GP38 to run backwards (back headlights on). I wanted the GP40 to be the controlling address ("TOP"), so I pressed "loco", keyed in "85", pressed "loco" to select (as before), but this time pressed the MU key next. To add the BN to the consist, I then pressed "75" and then "t/+" to add the BN.
ALL RIGHT !!!
I had a MU train with lead RI followed by backwards running BN, all under control! The two A-M locos ran very nicely together! I saw no need for the BN to have it's headlights on, so I simply selected the BN ("loco...75...loco") and hit the F0 to turn off the BN lights. Then selected the TOP address ("85") to run the MU. Note that each loco in a MU needs an address, so you can't use one address for the entire MU and have others available for other locos/things.
One nice feature is that the Z remembers this setup when powered down. So when I wanted to stop (gotta eat SOMETIME!), I was able to shutdown the system, then continue to run the MU after supper!
Well, it's not much, but it's a start!
- George
I hate when I have to fix newer Ham Radios for people. Those darn surface mount components are a pain!