Ivan_M

CADA battery with 4 motor outputs and remote control

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Now that Chinese manufacturers make tiny PF-compatible micro motors, maybe TLG will finally launch some of their own, like what is happening with flip-flop beams.

28 minutes ago, Petr LUBAS said:

Hmm, they also sell sets of 8 micro LEDs connected to a single PF plug. Interesting.

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9 minutes ago, AVCampos said:

Now that Chinese manufacturers make tiny PF-compatible micro motors, maybe TLG will finally launch some of their own

Not gonna happen. TLG doesn't make PF stuff anymore (and C+ is not as useful imo) and it would be more expensive to buy.

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1 hour ago, AVCampos said:

Now that Chinese manufacturers make tiny PF-compatible micro motors, maybe TLG will finally launch some of their own, like what is happening with flip-flop beams.

The new SPIKE Essentials kit that will be released next month will contain a "small angular motor". But I suppose that it will be about the size of the M-Motor, so not really smaller, just with more features.

1 hour ago, Polarlicht said:

ANd think of it that way. TLGs electronics come from china as well. Probably from the same factory...

Wouldn't chinese products support 7 steps per direction if they came from the same factory? The motors etc have different characteristics, so pretty unlikely.

1 hour ago, Petr LUBAS said:

They are already available on AliExpress, i just bought 4 pieces of CaDa micromotors ... (and 3 pieces of new CaDa LED lighting cables)

link to AzoomStore https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002790547198.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.7a794c4d6Ey06o

So I am just waiting for delivery. I wanna use them in my WIP Wrecking truck for moving fake truck engine and wanna test them to power linear actuators of outriggers

Prices are good - C61019 Mini motor € 7,53 (free shipping and VAT inclusive) + C61019 Light € 7,01 (free shipping and VAT inclusive)

 

I bought the cada pro power system recently and the included leds are very dark compared to the lego ones (but they also take less energy).

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39 minutes ago, Tcm0 said:

The new SPIKE Essentials kit that will be released next month will contain a "small angular motor". But I suppose that it will be about the size of the M-Motor, so not really smaller, just with more features.

It just 2 stud shorter verion of medium angular motor. length is 5L.

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And does it still have absolute position encoding, or is it "dumb" like the motor in WeDo 2.0, Batmobile and Zetros?

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1 hour ago, Tcm0 said:

 

Wouldn't chinese products support 7 steps per direction if they came from the same factory? The motors etc have different characteristics, so pretty unlikely.

I meant that more like a joke. ;) Since some buy Lego only and refrain from chinese products and copies, even tho some Lego stuff is from China as well.

Edited by Polarlicht

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First time I have seen this thread.... I have not looked into CaDa motors but I recall from another thread that such are more powerful than the Lego L PF motors?  Do I have this correct? 

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5 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

First time I have seen this thread.... I have not looked into CaDa motors but I recall from another thread that such are more powerful than the Lego L PF motors?  Do I have this correct? 

i dont have the CADa ones but i have the generic grey ones and yes they are a bit more powerfull than lego ones but also faster

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7 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

First time I have seen this thread.... I have not looked into CaDa motors but I recall from another thread that such are more powerful than the Lego L PF motors?  Do I have this correct? 

I believe MouldKing makes both normal and high-powered L-motors, and I am pretty sure CADA at least makes high-powered ones, and likely normal ones too. Some have compared MouldKing high-powered Ls to buggy motors in power.

8 hours ago, AVCampos said:

And does it still have absolute position encoding, or is it "dumb" like the motor in WeDo 2.0, Batmobile and Zetros?

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in the "new rechargeable battery" thread that it does have the encoding.

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13 hours ago, AVCampos said:

And does it still have absolute position encoding, or is it "dumb" like the motor in WeDo 2.0, Batmobile and Zetros?

It does have absolute position encoding.

13 hours ago, Polarlicht said:

I meant that more like a joke. ;) Since some buy Lego only and refrain from chinese products and copies, even tho some Lego stuff is from China as well.

Sorry :D I've seen people saying that seriously so better be sure.

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14 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

First time I have seen this thread.... I have not looked into CaDa motors but I recall from another thread that such are more powerful than the Lego L PF motors?  Do I have this correct? 

Yes, they are according to reviews (at least the new ones from "pro" series, with partially trans-black case). Here's a great pdf with most major 3rd party motors (except MK for their piracy issues): https://brickelectronic.de/downloads/Brickelectronic_TechCheck3_en.pdf

However in spite of having ia rotary encoder inside, CADa servos don't seem to work with my BuWizz (1.0). All I get is weird jittering and -90, 0 ,+90 controls, and it doesn't work whatsoever in the new app - just ignores command inputs or goes crazy :sad:. It definitely is trying to position itself somewhere in-between with the old app, but success rate is practically 0 - sometimes it turns to about 30deg, but either returns to 0 or one extreme. Perhaps my BuWizz is defective or something, since it's the first gen. Looking into selling it and getting a Sbrick or another batterybox+receiver combo with proportional controls, having to use a phone has become a considerable pain after getting used to the CADa remote, even if it has extreme-only controls without stepping.

Edited by syclone

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Thanks for the info.  If I read the chart correctly, looks like rpms for both mouldking and Cada are definitely higher for the L motor, but not the torque.  But the difference is small for torque and since the RPM differences are so high the overall power is greater for both mouldking and Cada.  I will look into purchasing some of these motors...  

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3 hours ago, syclone said:

Yes, they are according to reviews (at least the new ones from "pro" series, with partially trans-black case). Here's a great pdf with most major 3rd party motors (except MK for their piracy issues): https://brickelectronic.de/downloads/Brickelectronic_TechCheck3_en.pdf

However in spite of having ia rotary encoder inside, CADa servos don't seem to work with my BuWizz (1.0). All I get is weird jittering and -90, 0 ,+90 controls, and it doesn't work whatsoever in the new app - just ignores command inputs or goes crazy :sad:. It definitely is trying to position itself somewhere in-between with the old app, but success rate is practically 0 - sometimes it turns to about 30deg, but either returns to 0 or one extreme. Perhaps my BuWizz is defective or something, since it's the first gen. Looking into selling it and getting a Sbrick or another batterybox+receiver combo with proportional controls, having to use a phone has become a considerable pain after getting used to the CADa remote, even if it has extreme-only controls without stepping.

Thank you for sharing the data sheet :thumbup:

Regarding the weird behaviour on BuWizz - I can only tell you my experience on the 2.0 device that it works fine, as well the other motors. It´s fun driving a heavy car on 4x of the Pro L motors connected two of each on a BuWizz. One small suggestion: try different extension cables from different manufacturers, if at hand.

A new control app is underway from CaDA according to my information which should allow to connect multiple receivers (CaDA batteries) at once!

---------------------

What do you guys think if CaDA would offer some buggy motors in their portfolio too? What should they be equipped with / how improved compared with the other 3d party devices mentioned above? At least they will be noisy, no doubt :shrug_oh_well:

Edited by brunojj1

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1 hour ago, brunojj1 said:

What do you guys think if CaDA would offer some buggy motors in their portfolio too? What should they be equipped with / how improved compared with the other 3d party devices mentioned above? At least they will be noisy, no doubt :shrug_oh_well:

 

1 hour ago, Scoar Sonander said:

Maybe CaDA should make some RC buggy motors with a more appealing shape - one that would fit inside MOCs easier, and with metal gearing?

Just wondering how you think the new BuWizz motor doesn't fit the bill here?

https://buwizz.com/shop/buwizz-motor/

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5 minutes ago, astyanax said:

 

Just wondering how you think the new BuWizz motor doesn't fit the bill here?

It´s not only about the performance. As @ScoarSonander mentioned, the shape often doesn´t suit your needs. Then the attachment points and surrounding bumps, half-stud offset are quite annoying if you ask me. 

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Even as a big fan of the buggy motors - they're a major pain in the a$$ to build with. The "original" ones are even more so due to the 9V connector taking up space, and as mentioned half stud offsets are terrible to work with, specially in a small MOC, where all little space matters. BuWizz motors are nicer since they removed the diagonal supports for the pinholes and made them round, but are not as exciting as I thought them to be, considering the elevated base price+additional hardware to power them at full potential (BuWizz 3.0+PU motors) in return for a small performance increase. 
As far as desireable features:
- form factor without half stud offsets/annoying bumps 
- angular type motor (with a pass-through axlehole)
- close to or same performance as the "original"
So far very happy to see innovation from CaDA - the new pico LEDs and micro motors are long wanted items, and making them PF-compatible was the right choice. Now 

Tested the servos again by themselves, with different extension cables, and even a switch - same result unfortunately (on all 4 BuWizz ports and both legacy and new apps). Although hearing that your BuWizz 2.0 unit has no issues controlling them leads me to believe that my BuWizz 1.0 is either defective or simply developed a fault after all these years - cannot confirm which one is it though, as never had a servo motor until now.

Though will hold off on getting something else hearing now that a CaDA app is developing. Does this mean that the current hubs actually support proportional controls and the only limiter is the remote? In that case would love to see a proportional remote someday too - currently enjoying the phone-free control a lot.

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2 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

It´s not only about the performance. As @ScoarSonander mentioned, the shape often doesn´t suit your needs. Then the attachment points and surrounding bumps, half-stud offset are quite annoying if you ask me. 

I'm sure they had some very tough discussions at BuWizz HQ about the trade-off between form factor and backwards compatibility... :head_back:

Whichever they let prevail, someone will then argue it should obviously have been the other! :wink:

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2 hours ago, syclone said:

Tested the servos again by themselves, with different extension cables, and even a switch - same result unfortunately (on all 4 BuWizz ports and both legacy and new apps). Although hearing that your BuWizz 2.0 unit has no issues controlling them leads me to believe that my BuWizz 1.0 is either defective or simply developed a fault after all these years - cannot confirm which one is it though, as never had a servo motor until now.

Tested a cada servo from the pro power system set with a sbrick and it only has the maximum positions. It has more positions with the rechargeable lego battery but they don't make much sense (no steps in one direction, reversed in the other direction).

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On 8/10/2021 at 7:38 AM, brunojj1 said:

We know how useful mini motors could be in a vehicle of any sort. I have never used any because they have been so rare ever since (and likely to break down?). What functions in a car instantly come to your mind? Screenwipers, popping headlights, collapsing side mirrors, ...?

So I was happy to know, unexpected but the more appreciated, there is good news from CaDA. I can´t wait to get my hands on the 4 pieces they have promised to send me :moar: ! Bad news: they will not be available in your supermarket around the corner today or tomorrow, but hopefully anytime soon ...

 

My batch of 4 micro motors just arrived. They all work, and they're surprisingly strong and fast at the same time -- as compared to the old Lego micro motor of which I also have one lying around.

I already started thinking, with some planetary gear reduction, maybe it could drive the Bucket Wheel Excavator? :laugh_hard: At least it's easy to connect them:

800x409.png

The motor also fits between the 'legs' of the small linear actuator, making all sorts of little motorizations possible:

800x592.png

Interesting times ahead... :excited:

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@astyanax

I saw the video on YouTube but using these in an actuator hadn't occurred to me. Potentially very interesting for a lot of construction machinery MOCs. Even if they don't have so much power, shouldn't be an issue as the actuator clutch will probably slip before these run out of power?

Now if they can come up with a mini servo that sells for <80€, I reckon that even the purest purist will have to take pause for thought.

How hard are these to turn by hand? could you use rubber bands to pull them back to centre like some guys did with M motors?

Edited by amorti

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1 minute ago, amorti said:

How hard are these to turn by hand?

For all practical purposes, impossible.

So I don't think they'll make good steering motors... unless maybe you want to steer by linear actuator as in some heavy construction vehicles.

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As this seems to have become the go-to topic for all Chinese electronics, I'll use it to share some findings of mine.

I've bought myself four generic IR receivers off of AliExpress to supplement my four Lego PF ones, mainly because I like the idea of running 16 different motors at once (The Chinese ones use different frequencies!).

For no good reason I ended up using one of these Chinese receivers on a truck of mine outdoors today in the sunlight, and I noticed that I was getting really good reception--no cutting out at all! I then gave it a rough distance test, and was shocked by how much range I was getting.

Tonight I decided to do some basic testing, and set up LEDs connected to two receivers, one Lego, the other Chinese, and then proceeded to pace backwards to see how much range each would give me. I did two trials, and switched batteries in between in case that made a difference. Here are my findings:

Trial     Lego     China

1.         13*         23*

2.         12*         26*

*All units in paces

As you can see, the $4 Chinese one performs dramatically better, with almost twice as much range!

Perhaps some of you will find these handy, but then again, maybe not. Maybe in some cases it will get the IR range to an acceptable level, avoiding having to use Bluetooth?

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Under direct sunlight, there's really nothing much IR can do. Does the Chinese system really use IR, or is it radio?

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