TWG

The Z21 is not made by ESU but by Haber & Koenig Elektronik, who are located down the road from Roco headquarters in Bergheim, Land Salzburg.

The Uhlenbrock website is in German only, but there are good English versions of the instructions. Click on downloads, on the next page Handbücher, then English. I have reservations about Dutch Master's last post above. If the command to change a point is sent direct to an accessory decoder, then that decoder will have to be one that responds to a Loconet message, such as Uhlenbrock 63410 or the CML Electronics decoders; most accessory decoders however are connected to the digital centre's track output. I doubt if you could switch a route, as routes in the Intellibox are activated when a feedback address shows occupied. Unless this is the same with the Z21, which seems unlikely, it would not work. To tell the feedback unit which points to switch you have to set Loconet CVs. The Roco diagrams show the Z21 in use with Uhlenbrock devices that require LNCV setting, such as the Lissy infrared control system, but I can find no indication in the instructions that the Z21 has the capability to set them. So you would need someone with an UIhlenbrock digital centre or an ECoS with a Loconet adapter to help you.

I suggest that for the non-Railcom detectors you look at the products of Digikeis. They offer a unit with 16 inputs for €60. They have one for Loconet, but probably even better for use with a Z21 they have one specially designed for use with the Roco R-Bus. Both can also be used in combination with a S88N device, which is cheaper; a combination of the two with 32 inputs is on offer for €99. So they work out much cheaper than the other makes suggested above. The Uhlenbrock has the advantage that in addition to giving feedback it can also switch 2 points or routes when a section is activated, but I suspect that this will work only in conjunction with an Intellibox. I have not used Digikeis detectors, but I have had a switching accessory decoder for some time and it is excellent.

.................. Who is to say that Lenz may not enter the market with a Bluetooth device? They have the motor and accessory control side pretty sorted, it would be a case of marrying those components to a Bluetooth chip rather than a DCC chip (simplistically speaking)................... Lenz have, or are about to. Or at least something similar, I don't know whether the wireless is bluetooth. They have come up with something called a Lokschüssel (loco key), which will be supplied with every Lenz gauge 0 loco. You can find some information on www.digital-plus.de/insight.php#faq183; this is in German (I can't find an English version) but there is a picture. The text says that you simply put the loco onany track and off you go; the nature of the electricity on the track is irrelevant. In an interview done at the Nuremberg trade fair, which you can find on the website of the Modellbahnshop Lippe, Bernd Lenz says that the system was developed because quite a lot of his customers did not want to use DCC since they found it too complicated, so the aim was to come up with something simple. He clearly does not at present see it as a rival to or possible replacement of DCC.

I doubt whether you will have any problem using the PSX1 with an Uhlenbrock booster. I have been using for years an Uhlenbrock Intellibox and Intellibox 2 with a Digitrax PM42 cut out, so there is no inherent incompatibililtly with other manufacturers' overload devices. The PSX admittedly works in a different way. I bought one recently for the next stage of my layout, though I have not installed it yet. I have done a quick test; the PSX works perfectly when a short circuit is induced and the Intelliboxes are unperturbed. So I cannot offer you a report on long term use, but the indications are good. I think it unlikely that you will get a definitive answer from either DCC Specialities or DCC Supplies. Uhlenbrock withdrew from the American market years ago, so DCC Specialities have probably never tried a PSX with an Uhlenbrock booster. DCC Supplies, though very competent people, do not deal in Uhlenbrock, so may be in the same position. You could consider phoning A&H Models, the UK Uhlenbrock importers; there is a sensible and knowledgeable man there called Chris who is probably the No. 1 Uhlenbrock expert in the UK.

I originally thought that £199 for an upgrade seemed excessive, but if you look at it in a different way it could be thought a bargain. Those who buy a new 611 will pay £250 for the box and the tiny display.

I find the list of new features less than impressive. Most of them have been offered for years in equipment that costs much less. ZTC seem to be living in some sort of 1990s time warp. Do they really expect us to be impressed by 128 speed steps, lights that work properly and 28 functions? As for paying £199 for that, words fail me. I suppose for that you do get a computer interface, with which you may be able to download overpriced updates in the future.

It looks from the information on the z21 website as if the only bus that you can use at present is the X-Bus. There is a recent statement that following the acquisition of a Loconet licence Roco will work on implementing it.