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BuWizz - High Performance LEGO Power Functions Controller and Battery

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2 hours ago, kbalage said:

That's called product development... there's always a next iteration of a product with something more or different to offer. Development cycle can be 1-2 years but can be months as well. DJI introduced the Spark drone only half a year ago, I bought it before Christmas. I never thought they will introduce the Mavic Air which is like a Spark 2.0, and it has the exact features I was missing from my Spark. Can I complain? Sure I can, but there's really no point...

Product development, or simply releasing a product that was unfinished because of backer pressure. Remember, there was talk of a "ludricous" mode before the release. Then they said no and released it anyway.  Few months later they release 2.0 with "ludicrous" mode.  I am not alone in thinking it looks a little fishy

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2 hours ago, kbalage said:

That's called product development... there's always a next iteration of a product with something more or different to offer. Development cycle can be 1-2 years but can be months as well. DJI introduced the Spark drone only half a year ago, I bought it before Christmas. I never thought they will introduce the Mavic Air which is like a Spark 2.0, and it has the exact features I was missing from my Spark. Can I complain? Sure I can, but there's really no point...

BuWizz 2.0 would be accepted appropriately if it have been announced in a appropriate way. I have backed BuWizz on the Kickstarter, got it several month after it was promised and had no clue that after a while there will be second version so soon. I would like to have a ludicrous mode, I backed the product from the start to have it and now I feel abandoned and cheated in some way.
And still no custom profiles, still no gamepad support and those have been kind of promised. Even BuWizz 1.0 has characteristics that are different from the official Tech Specs on the website (battery capacity, e.g.).
Also, there is still no information on the mysterious white connector.
I really understand all those difficulties when it comes to development of the final product, but still, I think this is an example of bad attitude, especially to the ones who backed the project on Kickstarter. 

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There seems to be a problem with my BuWizz 2.0. It randomly crashed into "Firmware update failed" (the app never started updating the firmware) and nothing listed in the user guide helped. To be precise it blinks red for some time, turns off, then green or red light blinks once and then keeps on blinking red again. The only way I managed to make it functional again is by trying to connect to it in the app many times, but after some time the problem occured again and I wasn't able to connect to BuWizz ever since. The app just says "Connection gone" upon clicking the "Start engine" button.
 

 

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10 hours ago, apachaihapachai said:

There seems to be a problem with my BuWizz 2.0. It randomly crashed into "Firmware update failed" (the app never started updating the firmware) and nothing listed in the user guide helped. To be precise it blinks red for some time, turns off, then green or red light blinks once and then keeps on blinking red again. The only way I managed to make it functional again is by trying to connect to it in the app many times, but after some time the problem occured again and I wasn't able to connect to BuWizz ever since. The app just says "Connection gone" upon clicking the "Start engine" button.

Hi! Try to connect to the BuWizz with nRF Connect app ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=no.nordicsemi.android.mcp&hl=en ). If it manages to connect than the issue is in the BuWizz app not on the device.

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Just now, imurvai said:

Hi! Try to connect to the BuWizz with nRF Connect app ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=no.nordicsemi.android.mcp&hl=en ). If it manages to connect than the issue is in the BuWizz app not on the device.

I tried to connect using 4 different phones yesterday (Xiaomi Mi5S, Xiaomi Mi5S Plus and two Sony Experia Z3 Compact). And got no luck. So I decided to put it in a box of dried rice for the night and it might somehow have fixed the problem (because there was no way for moisture to penetrate BuWizz). After about 10 hours it works fine again. 

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So I now have two buwizzes and charged both for 3 hours. I turned them on and both started to blink green for a long time and then turned off, a state not described in the user guide. I turned them on again and tried to pair my phone to both of them, as they were both discovered as Bluetooth device.

For buwizz 1, pairing timed out bringing the buwizz in a non-blinking green state. After this, buwizz 1 can not be turned off anymore and is no longer discoverable as a Bluetooth device. Also plugging in a charger does not change this state.

For buwizz 2, pairing results in a "pairing rejected by buwizz' message on both my phones, consistently.

So nothing is working. I feel deeply disappointed and hate electronics even more than I already did.

Did anyone have a similar experience or does anybody have an idea what's wrong?

Edited by Didumos69

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@Didumos69 you don't need to pair the BuWizz like a BT headset. Download and open the BuWizz app, start to set up a simple profile with one BuWizz first. The blinking state with BuWizz 2.0 means it's ready to connect. If it's solid green it means it has connected to something, apparently to your phone as you tried to pair it. Turn off the Bluetooth service on your phone, restart BuWizz, then try with the app.

In the app open the first profile, click on the setup button. Assign one output to one of the controls, and with the icon in the top right corner you can select your BuWizz unit. On that screen click on refresh, once your BuWizz unit is found select it and go back to the previous screen. Then go back again with one screen - you should see there the big "start engine" button. Tap on that, as the light goes around the button the blinking green light on your BuWizz unit has to turn solid green and you should see the controls.

Let me know if it doesn't work, I can make a short demo video what needs to be done.

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22 minutes ago, Didumos69 said:

....

Did anyone have a similar experience or does anybody have an idea what's wrong?

I have made the same experience few weeks ago after receiving 2 of these (not so cheap btw) devices. No user manual inside the cardboard packaging :thumbdown:. After having downloaded it, I couldn´t find the fix for my problem. I guess the green flashing means the need for updates on the device which will start automatically after successfull connection.

My fault was that I tried to use BuWizz on my 7.0 Android phone, iPad - no bluetooth pairing was possible. The error was like "password rejected by Buwizz" or something. 

After having overcome my hate feelings the next day I tried again with my older phone, 5.1.1 Android, and - Heureka! - it worked out well :sweet: :thumbup:. Wish you good luck!

Edited by brunojj1

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3 hours ago, kbalage said:

@Didumos69 you don't need to pair the BuWizz like a BT headset. Download and open the BuWizz app, start to set up a simple profile with one BuWizz first. The blinking state with BuWizz 2.0 means it's ready to connect. If it's solid green it means it has connected to something, apparently to your phone as you tried to pair it. Turn off the Bluetooth service on your phone, restart BuWizz, then try with the app.

In the app open the first profile, click on the setup button. Assign one output to one of the controls, and with the icon in the top right corner you can select your BuWizz unit. On that screen click on refresh, once your BuWizz unit is found select it and go back to the previous screen. Then go back again with one screen - you should see there the big "start engine" button. Tap on that, as the light goes around the button the blinking green light on your BuWizz unit has to turn solid green and you should see the controls.

Let me know if it doesn't work, I can make a short demo video what needs to be done.

 

3 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

I have made the same experience few weeks ago after receiving 2 of these (not so cheap btw) devices. No user manual inside the cardboard packaging :thumbdown:. After having downloaded it, I couldn´t find the fix for my problem. I guess the green flashing means the need for updates on the device which will start automatically after successfull connection.

My fault was that I tried to use BuWizz on my 7.0 Android phone, iPad - no bluetooth pairing was possible. The error was like "password rejected by Buwizz" or something. 

After having overcome my hate feelings the next day I tried again with my older phone, 5.1.1 Android, and - Heureka! - it worked out well :sweet: :thumbup:. Wish you good luck!

Thanks guys for the help. I got it working now. My new android one phone doesn't connect to two buwizzes, starting the engines always fails, but with my old phone it works. Don't know what to think of this, but it works. Thanks!

Edited by Didumos69

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@kbalage, @brunojj1, I didn't really take the time to explain how I got it working yesterday. I was too excited :laugh:. Like @kbalage said, you don't need to pair with the BuWizzes and the blinking green light means 'ready to connect' or 'ready to start the engine' in BuWizz terms (or 'ready to setup' if you didn't already). When I first tried the BuWizz app, I immediately pressed 'Start the engine', which gave me a message saying something like: "First setup your BuWizz". I interpreted this as 'first pair your BuWizz'. The could really be explained better in the user guide.

Because I use 2 BuWizzes, I had to use the Crane profile, which is not very intuitive, again this could be explained better in the user guide. After setting up the Crane profile I pressed 'Start the engine', but this consistently led to connection failure on my Android One Xiaomi MI A1. Starting a profile with a single BuWizz did work. Eventually I reverted to my old phone, a Samsung XCover 3, and now I could connect 2 BuWizzes. But this phone is very slow, which made the BuWizzes respond very slow to my interactions on the phone's screen. This resulted in some severe crashes in my living room :grin:. Eventually I reset my old phone to it's factory settings and installed only the BuWizz app. Now it works very responsive.

All together the BuWizzes feel a little bit experimental. I can live with that, because in my case it adds a little to a sense of pioneering, which fits my 4WD buggy project, but in general I think BuWizz should improve their user guide and should add a custom profiling feature to their app.

Edited by Didumos69

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On 02.02.2018 at 11:53 PM, apachaihapachai said:

There seems to be a problem with my BuWizz 2.0. It randomly crashed into "Firmware update failed" (the app never started updating the firmware) and nothing listed in the user guide helped. To be precise it blinks red for some time, turns off, then green or red light blinks once and then keeps on blinking red again. The only way I managed to make it functional again is by trying to connect to it in the app many times, but after some time the problem occured again and I wasn't able to connect to BuWizz ever since. The app just says "Connection gone" upon clicking the "Start engine" button.
 

 

I had the same problem too. You have to disassemble buwizz and detach it from battery and then connect battery to buwizz again and then buwizz will work 

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One of the recent updates added a new channel "ButtonLight" and a static button (on/off positions) "Light" with black/bright green lamp bulb icon.

640x400.jpg

640x400.jpg

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Nice, but not available in the Crane profile, the only profile with 2 BuWizzes.

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1 hour ago, Didumos69 said:

Nice, but not available in the Crane profile, the only profile with 2 BuWizzes.

Yes, unfortunately. However the changes becomes true. Slow, but still comes.

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9 hours ago, Void_S said:

One of the recent updates added a new channel "ButtonLight" and a static button (on/off positions) "Light" with black/bright green lamp bulb icon.

That's awesome but for me it is way overdue and not enough by adding to just one profile.

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I created a video to show the setup process of BuWizz 2.0 and the different profiles, there's usually some confusion as the description provided is not too detailed (and has some errors as well). There's also a speed demonstration and some fun with ludicrous mode:

 

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Why not? 1 step to controllable drift

 

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On 16.2.2018 at 7:21 AM, Didumos69 said:

Nice, but not available in the Crane profile, the only profile with 2 BuWizzes.

That´s the disappointing fact which I discovered too.

 

12 hours ago, rm8 said:

Why not? 1 step to controllable drift

 

Slightly off topic, (but quite important): you didn´t say anything about the 3d part wheels. Do they add to the BuWizz powered performance, besides the good look? Where can one get them? And how adapt them for cross axles?

Edited by brunojj1

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27 minutes ago, brunojj1 said:

 

Slightly off topic, (but quite important): you didn´t say anything about the 3d part wheels. Do they add to the BuWizz powered performance, besides the good look? Where can one get them? And how adapt them for cross axles?

 

 

Attika already posted info about fitting these wheels...

1) buy wheels from Aliexp......look for 1:10 drift/touring wheels

2) increase middle hole slightly for LEGO axle (axle should fit but very tight, not easy)

3) insert 12Z bevel gear from the inside and glue it.

Check this video

To follow the topic, I should say, that Buwizz gives enough power even to drift with Rubber tires (for touring) like on my video. There are also plastic drift wheels that are more slippy and easy to drift even with regular 9V power source.

But for me, these wheels are, first, very aestectic and realistic. They have realistic disk offset and have enough space inside to fit brake calipers (fake of course) and even portal gearing (not 9398/8110 part of course)

 

Edited by rm8

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Can you do blinking lights with BuWizz already?

My buwizz unit is sitting on the shelf waiting for the app to include customizable controls for a „Light&Sound-styled“ Fire Truck....

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2 hours ago, DoomedACE said:

Can you do blinking lights with BuWizz already?

My buwizz unit is sitting on the shelf waiting for the app to include customizable controls for a „Light&Sound-styled“ Fire Truck....

Not yet, we'll have to wait what comes with the new app version. Since this requires a certain level of programming of the output I don't think it will be included this time (at least it was not on the list). At the moment you can only do it with an SBrick sequence as far as I know.

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Thanks for the reply, would an original Light&Sound Light Element work on the output of the Buwizz? Either directly, or with an adapter cable. Do you know?

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2 hours ago, DoomedACE said:

Thanks for the reply, would an original Light&Sound Light Element work on the output of the Buwizz? Either directly, or with an adapter cable. Do you know?

Yes it works, just tested it for you. You have to use the old extension cable:

 

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You, Sir, are officially my hero now! Many thanks!!!!

Goes off to bricklink...

Edited by DoomedACE

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My first released test
Buwizz+4l motors
85% time works well)
15%- At high loads, protection is switched on.
range of action is good

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