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Zero 1


mhickers
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Hi I'm in the planing stage of my garden railway which will be about 60'x15'

I was looking at some of the old zero 1 controllers would I be nut's to get one and some chips

Or should I just get new dcc.

Thanks for helping

Mark

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I've oggled it myself because it can be bought fairly cheaply. There is also that retro aspect that can be a draw as well. I would say your best bet is to go DCC. It is much more versatile. It has sound. It's possible to buy new locos already equipped with DCC. It's been proven to work in the rain or snow on outdoor layouts as well.

Save yourself some hassle and go with newer stuff. The old zero one, even if it does work, will probably crap out on you after a while.

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I've got a Zero1 in a box in the loft, I use a NCE PowerCab to run my garden railway.

I did come across someone who is using his Zero1 to control the points on his garden railway and DCC to control trains. That's an interesting idea, but I prefer to use a computer screen and a mouse so control my points, much easier.

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Zero 1...Just the thought of it brings back memories.

I purchased this system when it first came out and used it successfully indoors and then as a combined Shed /garden railway. It was a revelation, giving so much freedom for individual control. I also got it out of mothballs some years ago when I built this latest venture (Rossi Railways in the Sun). Having never tried the newer DCC stuff, I found Zero 1 to operate pretty well after its time in the packing cases. But the more I read in the magazines about DCC the more I realised the limitations of the old system. Time marches on, and technology, as in everything else, has no remorse for nostalgia.

I think you'll find that your money will be invested better with the latest equipment. When I upgraded (to a Lenz Digital) the performance was much better. The first outlay can be a little high, but the old Zero 1 gear will now be suffering from fatigue (no matter how little use they have had). Plastic push buttons eventually unseat themselves, the "chips" will have decay on the "electronic ink" identification marking and, apart from the gimmick of inertia, Zero 1 can't hold a hand to the newer products. It served its purpose at the time, and should be congratulated, but I can see you having more problems than its worth.

Now, having praised the new and the somewhat old...I have actually returned to analogue running...So I suppose its a question of "horses for courses."

Let us know through the forum how you progress.

PS...If any one is still running Zero 1, and think I am putting it down, let me tell you that I had almost a full year of trouble free running (second time around) before I went over to the Lenz DCC system, but the step up in quality was noticeable.

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If you did buy Zero 1 I think the best thing to do with it is to paint it a suitable colour and put a plant in it. Zero 1 was a propriety system. No one other than Hornby made spares for it and I very much doubt if they could help you out in that department nowadays. Zero 1 is like a Model T ford would you buy one of those even if is was in working condition or would you buy a Ford Focus instead.

Roy.

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chris said:

I've got a Zero1 in a box in the loft, I use a NCE PowerCab to run my garden railway.

I did come across someone who is using his Zero1 to control the points on his garden railway and DCC to control trains. That's an interesting idea, but I prefer to use a computer screen and a mouse so control my points, much easier.

Can you find a link for that please as I do have a Zero1 knocking about somewhere in the caravan doing nothing at present, just collecting dust and in the way taking up valueable space.

Ian

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4 amps is a lot of power on OO how many trains do you think you'll have in motion at one time? Even with friends round it very rare that I have 4 locos moving at once and my 2amp NCE PowerCab can cope easily.

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mhickers said:

So the Hornby select will be good enough run a double line.

The Select probably has enough power, but whether it will be good enough is a different matter.

The Select is an entry level product, or to put it another way, it's DCC for a train set. The Elite is more suitable for a model railway.

If you see your DCC controller simply as a way of making trains move then both the Elite and the select will do that. But DCC offers a lot more than controlling the train rather than the track. DCC allows trains to have functions, which usually means lights, but these functions can control sound or automatic couplings. DCC can also control accessories, which usually means points, but could be signals, lights in buildings, your model windmill (forum joke ;) ). DCC can perform route setting, it can automate a reversing loop so you never have to worry about it. It can also do so much more.

If you think that you may want to use DCC to do more than control trains then the Select isn't for you, and I wouldn't recommend the Elite either.

Check out systems by Lenz, Digitracks and NCE, in my opinion they all offer better systems.

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With DCC don't be tempted to buy on ebay because you want to be able to test one before you buy. The Hornby DCC system in the form of the Select and Elite are to put it mildly like old communist country cars, interesting but you wouldn't buy one. More established brands such as Lenz, NCE Digitrax Zimo etc are a much better investment than either Hornby or Bachmann DCC systems. After all you can't buy rolling stock from Lenz, NCE, Digitrax and Zimo. Their focus is just on DCC systems and they are very good at it.

I have NCE 5 amp and what is really important is to not skimp on your size of wire. DON'T be tempted to use thin telephone type wire. Use a decent size diameter wire. My main bus wire is 2.5mm stranded and is black and red. Think of it as trying to get water to flow easily. If you had a small diameter pipe from the street into your house you'd have very low water flow even if the pressure in the street was high and high pressure if you have a larger diameter pipe from the street into your house. If you have very thin diameter wire you could be inviting disaster in the shape of an electrical fire as the very thin wire will heat up and possibly melt. You may also have trouble with the booster with thin wire and if you have a short it may not cut out and will burn out instead and destroy itself in the process. My NCE puts out 14.25volt constant AC. So have a large diameter wire and peace of mind.

Roy.

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grockle said:

Holden for me :D

Ian

Holden?, certainly not for me. Going off topic slightly a work mate of mine has a Holden HSV 325 GTS which has a 6.2 litre motor and more exterior plastic bits than a standard Holden Commodore and cost more than twice what I paid for my G6E and has appalling ride due to the large wheels and ultra low profile tyres. The G6E Turbo can out drag it too.

Roy.

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mhickers said:

So I get some think like nce but have Hornby or bachmann loco's with

there chips in will they work.

As I would like to get it right 1st time.

Yep, I have Hornby "DCC Fitted" locos running on my NCE system. All chips should work with any system.

You can't mix command station equipment form different manufactures, a NCE throttle won't work on a Lenz system, but loco and accessory decoders can be mixed up otherwise everyone at a club would be locked into one supplier.

So far I have loco chips from TCS, DCC Concepts and Hornby. I have accessory decoders from Guagemaster, Team Digital and Digitracks.

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I'm a newby here compared with these guys that have been at this stuff for years and have just built my first outdoor layout, which I had up and running today for the first time. My choice of controller is the Hornby elite which I up graded from the select for the following reasons: I chose the elite as you can still purchase one for around £160 new and being new to this hobby didn't want to fork out a large sum of money on some of the more advanced stuff until I had found my feet. The Hornby elite may have 4 amps of power but one of those amps is used for controlling accessories leaving 3 amps for your trains. With a dcc system even locos. that are not being used but are on the lines use a small amount of power to feed the chips, plus if you have coaches with lights they also draw on the available power. The elite also offered me something the select didn't have and that was the ability to reset and programme the chips especially on my sound locos, I was also able to use more functions that were not available with the select such as guards whistles etc. Hope this is of some help to you and good luck with whatever you decide upon.

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chris said:

All chips should work with any system.

You can't mix command station equipment form different manufactures' date=' a NCE throttle won't work on a Lenz system, but loco and accessory decoders can be mixed up otherwise everyone at a club would be locked into one supplier.[/quote']

\ said:

So I get some think like nce but have Hornby or bachmann loco's with

there chips in will they work.

As I would like to get it right 1st time.

It isn't advisable to mix up hardware such as a NCE command station with extra boosters by Lenz with extra Digitrax throttles. In theory they should all work together but would you try to fit say Vauxhall spare parts to a Citroen car? It's best to keep all the hardware from one manufacturer. If you mix and match then your warranties may not apply and any fault will have that manufacturer blaming other manufacturers equipment. Mobile decoders such as the ones in locos can be anybodies just so long as they are NMRA compliant. As I've said I have NCE 5amp Radio with ESU Loksound decoders and no problems. If I required extra boosters they would be NCE without hesitation.

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