Z21 and O Gauge?

[Despatcher]

I have had a Z21 DCC Controller for around 3 years and I think it is brilliant. I love using my iPad to control locos. I  also like having pictures on the F(unction) Keys so that I don't have to remember individual locos and sound files differences. I also find having a photo of the layout with the points displayed which I just have to tap to change brilliant and having photos of my loco to select a loco from rather than having to remember what the loco number, CV1, is. To me this is DCC bliss. I used to have a ZTC and then Bachmann Dynamis before opting for the Z21.

 

The Z21 works well with my big (18' x 2") OO Modern Image Diesel Maintenance depot which usually has around OO 20 DCC sound locos sitting on it, although they are never all active at the same time but usually at least 10 are sitting there ticking over.

 

I have a Roco booster attached attached to it which provides the power for the point motors (Tortoise and Cobalt), the three Switch 8 point decoders and the 3 Hex Frogjuicers.

 

I have never had any problems with this set up at all.

 

However, having seen the new Dapol 08s, I have gone mad and bought one and decided to build a small (portable) 6' x 18" "Diesel Shunter Maintenance Facility". It has three points and will be home to three or four (max) 0-6-0 and 0-4-0 diesel shunters. Probably of Dapol or Heljan origin. My first of many questions I suspect, as I know nothing about O Gauge other than it is much bigger than OO gauge is, can I use my Z21 (with booster if necessary) to power this O gauge layout.

 

The OO layout is bolted to the wall and is not going anywhere in case you were wondering. 

 

 

[Despatcher]

I will have to unhook the Z21 to operate the O gauge so no possibility of two layouts working at once. Phew  . The main layout has quarry tiles below it and anything falling from a layout height ends up in lots of pieces. So that disaster won't happen. I dropped a Hornby OO schools class, weathered with sound years ago, and it ended up it in many, many pieces. The only thing salvageable was the decoder! Ouch!

 

Can I clarify please what I think you are saying, that if all three / four of my O gauge shunters were powered up with sound on at the same time, then the Z21 would struggle to have enough power? If so, is there a similar system, I probably mean interface or something that has the same convenience as the Z21, that I could look at?

[PaulRhB]

No problem with O I used my Z21 with G scale, I did add a booster though when I built the 21x10 Süd Harz layout. I've gone the other way and doing the same in HOm now

The standalone Z21 will cope with a couple of O scale big locos and probably 4-5 08's

[Despatcher]

Thanks. Think I am getting there now.

[Phil S]

My only observation is that you have chosen to run the dcc-Accesory bus from the booster, and not the main Z21, with the track running from a booster...

Was this because, at the time, no Rail-com cutout booster was to hand  (the Z21 range is now released) or some other preference??

 

(On other (Roco) systems, I have placed the Accesories and Pgm output on the Master unit, and the track Power Districts on the boosters [which are re-allocatd Roco amplifiers] - so that if a track has a short, it does not have to affect other areas, and especially the points - which may need changing to remove the track-short caused by overrunning a wrongly set point. This on the basis that the points/accessories rarely experience a short because they are all fed by protected wiring and not open-metal rails, and the PGM track is always fed directly from the Master.  [i also use PSX's on track feeds excluding PGM]

 

I'm looking forward to the delayed Wifi Multmaus (Due week 6/7 now) - rather than flattening my phone battery - which is why I still use the MultiCentrale Pros as my Master units ...along with their Zigbee Multimaus Pros.  I print A3 loco/stock recognition charts identifying all my stock - a habit from when I hand drew them on a single sheet of A4 when at school in the 60-70's.

[Despatcher]

Yes, when I bought the Z21 I bought three Roco boosters that were apparently compatible with it. I had got to the stage where my layout had too many locos on if for my Bachmann Dynamis to cope with. I loved the freedom of the controllers though.

 

I decide that my new layout would have power districts, that I had read about, plus a more powerful controller and would eliminate the power problems I had experienced. So I ripped up the old layout and rebuilt it with more track and sidings etc etc as you do. All went well until I wired it up and discovered a short every time a loco moved from one power district to another. The Z21 also provided a power district. A track bus and an accessory bus was wired to each booster and the Z21. I asked lots of questions on here and elsewhere. I checked, rechecked, double checked and then did it all again to make sure that positives went positives etc etc. I had  bought different coloured wire for each booster and the Z21. So checking red to red, pink to pink, sky blue to sky blue was easy. As was checking all reds were on one side of the track and all pinks on the other etc.

 

Eventually, i was 300% there were no wired in shorts. Especially as I could move locos and change points within each district. Yes I did check the wiring to the boosters and the Z21 too. many, many, many times. Eventually I wrote to Roco who, after many translations of translations, informed me that the boosters were not at this stage compatible with the brand new all singing and dancing Z21. So, back to the drawing board and all track was wired to the Z21 and accessories to the boosters which did not create problems and at last the whole thing worked perfectly. Except for some rather too complicated wiring and odd colour schemes. 

 

As I still have three boosters, I was going to wire in the new O gauge exactly the same. Three small locos and three points should not tax a booster and a Z21. I am glad to hear that boosters and Z21s now talk to each other "nicely". It was a pain in the rear at the time and it is all logged on here somewhere.