PF Help Needed

[Maegnus]

I am probably the least mechanically/electronically inclined person out there, which is why this is really frustrating for me.

I have a MOC that needs to work with the IR receiver and remote to get a motor to turn in both directions. If I plug the motor directly into the battery box, pulling the switch in both directions makes the motor turn in different directions; so that works. However, when I plug the motor into the IR receiver and use the remote, only one direction on the remote switch does anything: It turns the motor in one direction. Let's say pushing the switch up makes the motor turn one way, pushing the switch down does nothing. Now if I flip the little black switch on the remote, all it does is make pushing up on the remote switch do nothing, and now pushing down makes the motor turn in that same direction. Shouldn't both up and down on the IR remote make the motor do something?

The same is true of the light setup running off the remote. Pushing up on a switch makes them work, pushing down does nothing. Is my remote/receiver broken? Am I making any sense?

Edited April 15, 2010 by Maegnus

[soc399]

I don't have any experience with a similar problem, since up and down on my remote does indeed make attached motors turn in different directions. Have you tried both the red and blue channels on the IR receiver?

[Maegnus]

I don't have any experience with a similar problem, since up and down on my remote does indeed make attached motors turn in different directions. Have you tried both the red and blue channels on the IR receiver?

Good to know that it is supposed to work that way (currently the only remote and motor I have to test). I tried different channels and both red and blue; all yield the same result.

[Maegnus]

For the record, when I push the switch on the remote in the direction that does nothing (though is supposed to make the motor turn in the other direction), the IR remote and receiver LEDs flicker, indicating that the signal is in fact being received. No reaction from the motor though...

Edited April 15, 2010 by Maegnus

[backbone]

Probably wire is broken, or something inside in the ir reciever.

[DLuders]

Perhaps Philo's "Power Functions Presentation" at http://philohome.com/pf/pf.htm has some useful info. You have to scroll 1/4 down the page to see the PDF document.

If the #8885 "Power Functions IR Remote Control" is defective, perhaps Lego Customer Service can replace it: http://us.service.lego.com/en-US/replaceme...ts/default.aspx . You can "Change Region" at the top-right corner to match your country.

[dr_spock]

Do you have fresh or charged batteries?

[Maegnus]

Do you have fresh or charged batteries?

I do. It must be something wrong with the receiver, as I know the remote and motor work properly. Annoying stuff, but I submitted the problem to LEGO.

[Brickthus]

For the record, when I push the switch on the remote in the direction that does nothing (though is supposed to make the motor turn in the other direction), the IR remote and receiver LEDs flicker, indicating that the signal is in fact being received. No reaction from the motor though...

If the motor turns at least one way then it's not an open circuit on either of the control pins.

Check for a short circuit on the plugs, that's the two receiver ports and both sides of the motor plug. Since the effect is the same on both ports, it's most likely to be on the motor plug.

A short circuit from one control pin to either supply rail would let the motor turn one way and not the other whilst receiving commands correctly.

Do you have another motor or light to test on the receiver outputs?

Mark

[allanp]

I suggest you call legos consumer services, i've always found them to be very helpful. They may have seen this fault before and know exactly which part is not working properly, at which point they will promply send you a free replacement.