I've had a Zephyr and a UT-4 for a year or two now and I'm happy with both.
The "jump" function allows you to plug the output of a good-quality DC powerpack into the Zephyr. What basically happens is the Zephyr reads what the DC signal is "saying" to it - as you increase the power your sending to the Zephyr, the Zephyr recognizes that the increased power means the engine you've assigned to the jump throttle should be going faster, so it send that engine a signal to increase speed. If you reverse polarity, the Zephyr tells the engine to start going the other direction. The DC power isn't going thru the Zephyr to the engine, it's just being used to tell one engine what to do.
I used the jump throttle for a while (until I got the UT-4). It worked pretty well, some engines didn't seem to like it and were a little less smooth than they were under the regular Zephyr control. Also, you can't control any functions like headlights/flashing lights, or sounds like the bell or horn if it's a sound equipped engine. In my case, it was a temporary way to run two trains at the same time, I suspect for most people it will also be a temporary solution. But it worked well while I used it - and now I can use the DC powerpack to power accessories.
Hi Rob,
I have a Zephyr and have both Jump throttle inputs hooked up. You just take the wires from the DC throttle that would normally go to the track and connect them to the appropriate Jump throttle connections on the Zephyr. Once they are connected, there is a Jump button on the Zephyr. Press it once and you can now select a decoder equipped loco and assign it to Jump A. Press it again and you can assign a loco to Jump B. Press again and you are back to looking at the loco running on the Zephyr. Once a loco is assigned to a Jump throttle the DC power pack knob increases and decreases the speed and the reverse switch controls direction. One important caveat is that you don't want to use a DC throttle that is putting out momentum and other more sophisticated control features, the simpler the better. I find the jump throttle ideal for allowing a smaller child have some means of operating a train, while really limiting what they can do with it. The Zephyr is simply calculating speed and direction from the DC throttle output and converting it to DCC signals and sending it to the assigned loco over the tracks. I think it is a neat feature.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
You can only ever control one analog loco at a time (well, you can have 3 ont he track, but they will all move at the same time and in the same direction). HOWEVER, a jump pack attached to the Zephyr can control an analog loco OR any DCC address. With two DC packs attached to the Zephyr, you can have control over 3 locos at a time - 2 DCC ad 1 analog, or all 3 DCC.
You don't necessarily have to buy a DC power pack - about $4 in electronic parts builds a simple power supply that runs off a battery and makes a handy jump throttle. All it really takes is a voltage that varies from 0-12 volts and has a DPDT switch wired as a reversing switch to control direction.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
The Zephyr is a DCC pack. You can set it to address 00 "Zero-Zero" and operate ONE analog engine with it's throttle. You may hear some "Singing" from the motor due to the AC field that is present.
To Jump a power pack to the Zephyr is definately doeable, although I THINK again, you can only run ONE analog engine because either the Zephyr or the Jumped power pack can have control but not both at the same time.
Also, one would think that having a jumped power pack somehow boosts total system power to the rail. I dont think that is true. The Zephyr is most likely going to be the one carrying the power big club at 2 amps.
DT400 throttles are expensive. Generally people have thier own DCC and usually a throttle or two ready to go. Call a DCC Club or Operating session and several DT400's come out of the woodwork.
The Zephyr will be an outstanding power pack for the first start into DCC for you and a sort of a "Teething" pack for the child. Chances are before too long the child will be asking questions like why cannot this engine give me a air brake function 7? (That is one item this old driver is starting to figure out as well OY!)
My vote is on the Zephyr for this situation. I have personally seen this unit in operation in a number of situations and it does a very good job.
Oh I forgot, the UT-4? (Did I get it right? Or was it the UT-6?) might be less complicated and less expensive than the DT400 and probably more robust as well.
The power pack on the Bachmann Thomas starter set I bought my son for Christmas '05 has died. I'm not surprised or upset; we got a good year out of it. My local shop has some DC power packs, but why should I buy a $50 power pack when I plan to buy a DCC unit soon?
However, I just read this on the DCC Wiki:
"It's fun running trains with friends. You'll need an additional throttle for each engineer. The Digitrak Zephyr lets you use 2 "old-style" DC power packs as 'jump throttles,' so you get 3 throttles for the price of the one Zephyr."
This might be the ticket! Has anyone had any experience with this? I was thinking of getting the Zephyr system. I have one locomotive and a small layout. It's also affordable. If I buy the DC pack to keep my son happy, I could still use it with the Zephyr.
I'm buying lumber tomorrow to build my benchwork!
Rob Carignan
Portland, Maine