ZTC 611 UPDATED CONTROLLER!

[Mike Storey]

The article mentions a Robin Palmer, who went on to work at ZTC.  Was Robin the "main man" up until it's closure?  (It was eventually sold/passed on to the current owner.)   If so then I recall ZTC selling off units at Scaleforum back in 20?? something for seriously discounted prices, whist neglecting to mention that the company would be shut down just a few weeks later.........

 

I see where you are coming from, but it was not shut down, merely taken over, and then a, shall we say quiet, period, whilst Taunton decided what they were going to do. They have, as far as I know, been pretty honourable in servicing and "discounting" upgrades from ex-ZTC equipment?

[Crosland]

The article mentions a Robin Palmer, who went on to work at ZTC.  Was Robin the "main man" up until it's closure?  (It was eventually sold/passed on to the current owner.)   If so then I recall ZTC selling off units at Scaleforum back in 20?? something for seriously discounted prices, whist neglecting to mention that the company would be shut down just a few weeks later.........

 

It went to David Nicholson and then SBX before becoming Taunton Controls.

[two tone green]

Did it ever fully leave ZTC ?

[GoingUnderground]

As promised, the story of the development of ZERO-1, from the (fading) memory of one of the developers at Hornby. Please see the attachment.

 

The Zero-1story.pdf

 

I hope your enjoy.

 

All the best

 

DeadRinger

Thank you for posting that, it was very interesting. A pity for Rovex/Hornby Hobbies that it was too sophisticated a concept for the technology of the day to execute at a realistic price.

[GoingUnderground]

It went to David Nicholson and then SBX before becoming Taunton Controls.

Palmer founded ZTC after Rovex/Hornby Hobbies discontinued Zero 1.David Nicholson said at a ZTC users/training meeting many years ago that his family electronics company bought ZTC from Palmer to keep the ZTC business going as Palmer was going to close it down. Nicholson was a ZTC user and didn't want to see the 511 consigned to history. If I remember correctly, that's when Nicholson said Palmer's interest in ZTC ended.

 

David Nicholson then ran it for several years up to his retirement, when his son took over making the decisions, which eventually included closing down the ZTC business.

 

SBX did a deal with the Nicholson company to market ZTC products, but that fell apart after a year.

 

Then Taunton took over. I don't know if the Nicholson electronics company is still involved in the design/manufacturing/sourcing of components side of the business.

Edited March 6, 2018 by GoingUnderground

[two tone green]

Keith, your last line is why I posted about ZTC actually not being involved any more. Possibly its still in the background?

[GoingUnderground]

Keith, your last line is why I posted about ZTC actually not being involved any more. Possibly its still in the background?

Hi Andy,

 

First of all, I should expand a bit on the history of the ZTC brand's ownership. I was looking for some old paperwork and came across an old ZTC price list from 2010 or so. At that time marketing of ZTC products was being done by Neil Kinison. He took over after the deal with SBC fell apart. Kinison was himself a railway modeller, someone else who didn't want to see ZTC die. He relaunched the ZTC brand in 2009 and was, IIRC, interested in fixing the issues with the 511 and developing it, but eventually either lost interest, or ran out of money, or both. Taunton Controls took over from him, and delivered the 611.

 

As regards your point, the Nicholson family electronics company was known up to 2008 as ZTC Electronics Ltd, but changed its name to Trizo Ltd in 2008. An internet search shows that members of the Nicholson family were and still are directors of Trizo from 2007 onwards. To quote Trizo's own web site: "Trizo Limited is a UK-based contract electronics manufacturing company located in Bridgwater, Somerset, offering a variety of contract electronic manufacturing services such as surface mount assembly and complete PCB manufacturing services. Trizo offer customers a total-quality, end-to-end electronics manufacturing services solution. From one-off prototypes and ultra-low volume through to medium volume repeat production batches, Trizo is the electronics manufacturer of choice." So it would appear to be still in the electronics business.

 

I don't know if there is any contractural relationship between Taunton Controls and Trizo. I leave that to others to work out. But Trizo would be well placed to offer the design and manufacturing services that would be needed to develop the 505/511 into the 611 and now the 612, especially as they would already have the product knowledge going back many years.

 

I hope this doesn't deter anyone from buying a ZTC/Taunton Controls product. 10 years is a long time, and a lot can change in that period. I wish Taunton every success with the 612. But I'm afraid that I won't be in the market for one as I'm more than happy with my current DCC system.

Edited March 6, 2018 by GoingUnderground

[two tone green]

Hi Keith,,

 

Yes I was aware of Trizo and how it evolved and yes they are in an ideal situation to be still involved in their old and new products and possibly are.

 

Like you I have no need of any new things from them as my DCC set is very adequate and I think very similar to yours.

 

But I still have my  511 & 620 and glad I moved on from it.

[Combe Martin]

I was delighted with the six ZTC258 decoders I bought for four years before they started to go wrong.  On a similar vein, I have had many 'cheap & cheerful' Bachmann/Hornby decoders for almost 10 years which have performed flawlessly, in spite of many 'experts' running them down!

 

Peter

I had this problem. It was caused by a loco fitted with a Hornby 8249 decoder being on the track at the same time.  It didn't affect all the ZTC258s just some of them.  It also affected some locos fitted with other decoder makes but I cant remember which now.  I contacted Hornby and they replaced the 8249.  The replacement affected one less ZTC258. Hornby then suggested I fit filters to the ends of my wiring bus.  When I did this, the problem disappeared.  I'm away from home at the moment, but as I recall the 8249s were causing some sort of 'noise' on the bus.    

[Colin_McLeod]

Its the rowdy lot on the back seat.

[RAF96]

Odd that an NMRA conformant and warranted (as opposed to declared as compliant by the manufacturer) decoder should affect others.

[Combe Martin]

Odd that an NMRA conformant and warranted (as opposed to declared as compliant by the manufacturer) decoder should affect others.

Maybe, but there was no doubt it was caused by the 8249.  When I lifted the loco fitted with it off the track, everything ran normally. Maybe others hadn't seen the problem because they already had filters fitted to their DCC bus.  The Hornby man pointed me towards the Brian Lambert website for details of what to do. 

[Hilux5972]

Bringing back an old topic here, but has anyone heard of progress on the 612? I love my 511, but it really bugs me because it only plays 9 sounds on my locos. 612 has been in development for a long time it seems. 

[Nigelcliffe]

34 minutes ago, Hilux5972 said:

Bringing back an old topic here, but has anyone heard of progress on the 612? I love my 511, but it really bugs me because it only plays 9 sounds on my locos. 612 has been in development for a long time it seems. 

 

I'd assume it will never appear.        If wanting an upgrade but keep your 511 for some control, then look at systems which could use the 511 as a "throttle".   Candidates that spring to mind include Lenz, Digikeijs and Roco's Z21.   With those you may be able to combine control, with the higher functions accessed on another device.  

[Colin_McLeod]

I was talking with Graham Warner of Taunton Controls yesterday and he told me that work has recently recommenced on the ZTC612.

[Paul_C]

The last post on this is now over two years old and nothing further has emerged which is a bit concerning. I've no idea as to what is happening with ZTC. Graham did say that news of substantive progress was imminent but that was some months ago now.