Control+ General Discussion

[higgins91]

6 hours ago, dr_spock said:

I finished bulding the 42114 Volvo Hauler and ran into a problem. The Control+ app wouldn't detect that location is enabled when location mode is set to Device Only. Yet the Powered Up app worked fine with location mode set to Device Only and could connect to the Technic Hub and updated its firmware.

 

After some head scratching WTFs, I found changing the location mode to Battery Saving or High Accuracy on my Android phone got Control+ to see location is turned on. And I could play with the 42114. Why is that with Control+ app? 

 

I took out my 42030 Volvo Wheel Loader, put some batteries into the PF battery box and PF remotes.  It worked loading bricks into the Volvo Hauler without any use of colourful vomit language. 

 

I have the same problem with my Honor 9X lite, if I do not activate the "improve accuracy" option I cannot start the app

Screenshot_com.google.android.gms by alex peraux, sur Flickr

I did not have this problem on my Honor 7X!

[kbalage]

3 hours ago, TechnicRCRacer said:

It seems all apps want to use your location now for online connecting services, probably for region. I ran into this with another app that demanded I use high accuracy setting.

If the Android app needs a Bluetooth connection then it'll require location services, this is the case since Android 6.0 I think. 

[ukbajadave]

1 hour ago, kbalage said:

If the Android app needs a Bluetooth connection then it'll require location services, this is the case since Android 6.0 I think. 

This is correct, however Powered Up app on my Samsung galaxy requires high accuracy setting to be turned on in addition.

[dlee98]

On 6/1/2020 at 5:32 PM, allanp said:

Servos aren't just about steering. They have the potential to control gearboxes, pneumatic valves, landing gear, control surfaces and so on. But of course for that you would need configuration options, for example so you could set how far the servo travels. With these new motors you could go from 1/8 of a turn all the way up to 50 or more turns either side of centre if you need to gear it down a lot for huge articulated MOCs. 

I just noticed the PU interview today (thank you for that @kbalage ). I am glad they are aware of some of the gaps, particularly MOC support for those that, like me, aren't into coding. I really don't like playing on a phone screen or tablet for multiple reasons, coding just isn't much fun to me (and I don't really have any desire to learn it), and it's not what I would call a very Lego like experience. So this is welcome news  but I'll believe it when I see it. I posted a kind of rough sketch/idea of something they could do along those lines on the 1st page of this thread, which would cover that missing area not covered by really easy but un-customisable, pre-programmed apps and coding. 

He also mentioned they might be looking into configurable physical controllers? That would be great news. I think he also said something PU wise would be revealed the end of the month, that was yesterday so I wonder what it was/is.

I've been having fun using Control+/PU motors to motorize the 42055 BWE using Brickcontroller -- but I have the same question on configuration.  I can't see in any of the apps where there is a way to limit or put stops on the number of turns the motor will make to avoid for example actuators hitting their limits.  Seems like it should be doable considering the PU L and XL motors can count how many rotations they have done...

 

[mortil]

So.  i have tried to work this out for over a year now.  

in my MOCs with the Technic hub and motors  i only get the motors to run for like 3 sec and then turn off.  even without load. 

 

tried different motors and setups but cant get it to work.  

Tried on Powered up app, Brickcontroller2 app and  buwizz app and same problem on all three. 

Here i did a video on it. 

 

Powered up  works like shit.

[Gimmick]

Happens with C+ App, too?

Maybe try to reupload the firmware

https://pybricks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/restore.mp4

https://docs.pybricks.com/en/latest/start_pup.html#restoring-the-original-firmware

 

If nothing works, get a replacement from Lego.

 

[mortil]

2 hours ago, Gimmick said:

Happens with C+ App, too?

Maybe try to reupload the firmware

https://pybricks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/restore.mp4

https://docs.pybricks.com/en/latest/start_pup.html#restoring-the-original-firmware

 

If nothing works, get a replacement from Lego.

i have tried to reset firmware.   i am not interested in having to code as i need to use the remote to run it

i have one MOC where i get a L motor and a XL motor to work as it should.  but even when i switch out this hub to this new moc i get the same result.   

 

[kbalage]

@mortil does the same motor shuts down if you remove it from the MOC? If it only shuts down in the MOC then it has to do something with the resistance of your construction and the protection kicks in. The protection in the PU hubs kicks in sooner than we used to see with PF. Here's a comparison driving the same PU and PF motors with PU/PF power sources (timestamped the video to the relevant part):

 

[mortil]

Just now, kbalage said:

@mortil does the same motor shuts down if you remove it from the MOC? If it only shuts down in the MOC then it has to do something with the resistance of your construction and the protection kicks in. The protection in the PU hubs kicks in sooner than we used to see with PF. Here's a comparison driving the same PU and PF motors with PU/PF power sources (timestamped the video to the relevant part):

 

Yes. it shuts down even outside the moc.   you and me have been talking on this on facebook like 6months ago or so.  :) on my nasa crawler MOC. where i still have 4XL motors and 4 L motors sitting 

[kbalage]

1 minute ago, mortil said:

Yes. it shuts down even outside the moc.   you and me have been talking on this on facebook like 6months ago or so.  :) on my nasa crawler MOC. where i still have 4XL motors and 4 L motors sitting 

Oh yeah I remember :) I'd try to match the motors and hubs running freely and test them. Hub A with motor A, hub A with motor B, etc. You'll be able to see then if it is about the motor or the hub. Once you have the problematic ones narrowed down get in touch with LEGO and let them know that you have some defective ones, they should give you a replacement. 

[mortil]

8 minutes ago, kbalage said:

@mortil does the same motor shuts down if you remove it from the MOC? If it only shuts down in the MOC then it has to do something with the resistance of your construction and the protection kicks in. The protection in the PU hubs kicks in sooner than we used to see with PF. Here's a comparison driving the same PU and PF motors with PU/PF power sources (timestamped the video to the relevant part):

 

 

[kbalage]

@mortil another test you could try to eliminate the potential root causes - set up the most simple code to run the motor without the slider, just the simple motor power block at max speed and run it to see if it is the same behavior. 

[mortil]

Just now, kbalage said:

@mortil another test you could try to eliminate the potential root causes - set up the most simple code to run the motor without the slider, just the simple motor power block at max speed and run it to see if it is the same behavior. 

Same problem. just checked it again  as done before. 

[kbalage]

2 minutes ago, mortil said:

Same problem. just checked it again  as done before. 

Then as I said before, narrow down which motors are the problematic ones and ask for a replacement from LEGO.

[mortil]

22 minutes ago, kbalage said:

Then as I said before, narrow down which motors are the problematic ones and ask for a replacement from LEGO.

After testing all motors it seems wierd if 8 of my 10 PU motors should be failed. 

[kbalage]

2 minutes ago, mortil said:

After testing all motors it seems wierd if 8 of my 10 PU motors should be failed. 

Well as you said we talked about this issue already 6 months ago and you still have this problem unresolved. Apparently there's no easy explanation or fix for this, did you already try to ask LEGO support about it?

[allanp]

3 hours ago, mortil said:

After testing all motors it seems wierd if 8 of my 10 PU motors should be failed. 

So 8 out if 10 motors do the same thing? Do you have another hub to try?

[dr_spock]

Do you have an ammeter to measure the current draw by the motors? 

[mortil]

1 hour ago, allanp said:

So 8 out if 10 motors do the same thing? Do you have another hub to try?

Same problem on 3 different Hubs. 

 

39 minutes ago, dr_spock said:

Do you have an ammeter to measure the current draw by the motors? 

Nope 

[Gimmick]

1 hour ago, mortil said:

Same problem on 3 different Hubs.

So, different hubs, different motors, different apps tested systematically on the same smartdevice?

[mortil]

58 minutes ago, Gimmick said:

So, different hubs, different motors, different apps tested systematically on the same smartdevice?

3 different phones. 

Oneplus 5, Oneplus 8 and Samsung S6 

[allanp]

11 hours ago, mortil said:

3 different phones. 

Oneplus 5, Oneplus 8 and Samsung S6 

Oh wow! This is getting tricky! Hmmmm. Do you have any other BLE devices (Lego or non Lego) running that might be causing interference? Does anyone with more knowledge of BLE know if this is even a plausible cause of the issue?

Edited March 8, 2021 by allanp

[Gimmick]

What I would do:

PoweredUp App:

• Fixed value input without an interface (already done I think)
• Loop with fixed value input without interface
• Does it happen when you constantly move the slider a bit? Because the input seems to work, as the motor reacts when the slider wiggles around 0.
• Try one of the old interface presets

Pybricks: (yes I know, that's nothing you want to do, but it can help finding the problem)

• upload a simplistic one-motor-one-port program that runs completely independent of any smartdevice

Get a motor-hub combo that works from a friend and give it a try.

What irritates me the most:

"i have one MOC where i get a L motor and a XL motor to work as it should.  but even when i switch out this hub to this new moc i get the same result." Maybe there are interferences...

[kbalage]

1 hour ago, Gimmick said:

Get a motor-hub combo that works from a friend and give it a try.

As he said he has 2 motors working and 8 not working. 

@mortil - maybe you missed my question, did you try to reach out to LEGO support with your issue? If you did, what was their answer? And another troubleshooting tip, try to hook up the problematic motors to a hub according to an official set's configuration and test them with the Control+ app to see if they have the same behavior. 

[mortil]

6 hours ago, allanp said:

Oh wow! This is getting tricky! Hmmmm. Do you have any other BLE devices (Lego or non Lego) running that might be causing interference? Does anyone with more knowledge of BLE know if this is even a plausible cause of the issue?

Indeed this is getting tricky.  ive been messing around with it for a year now and so far the Lego support has not given me anything except try to work out as we all have done in this thread so it has been done a few times if i say so . 

 

 

6 hours ago, Gimmick said:

What I would do:

PoweredUp App:

• Fixed value input without an interface (already done I think)
• Loop with fixed value input without interface
• Does it happen when you constantly move the slider a bit? Because the input seems to work, as the motor reacts when the slider wiggles around 0.
• Try one of the old interface presets

Pybricks: (yes I know, that's nothing you want to do, but it can help finding the problem)

• upload a simplistic one-motor-one-port program that runs completely independent of any smartdevice

Get a motor-hub combo that works from a friend and give it a try.

What irritates me the most:

"i have one MOC where i get a L motor and a XL motor to work as it should.  but even when i switch out this hub to this new moc i get the same result." Maybe there are interferences...

• Yes done. 
• done
• does not matter if i move the slider 10% or 100% still same problem
• connected motors in to simulate 42099 in control+ app and still same problem. 

i will try the Pybrick to remove all questions. 

if i use a extension cord made for PU motors to PF battery the motors work perfect . 

4 hours ago, kbalage said:

As he said he has 2 motors working and 8 not working. 

@mortil - maybe you missed my question, did you try to reach out to LEGO support with your issue? If you did, what was their answer? And another troubleshooting tip, try to hook up the problematic motors to a hub according to an official set's configuration and test them with the Control+ app to see if they have the same behavior. 

yes talked over the phone and it was the same as here . just a bunch of tries to get it sorted out by testing.   then they should get back to me but then it went silent .