Help Me Save Power Functions!

[thic_trains]

Hello. I have some sad news. Lego is retiring the power functions system. I need your guyses help to sign my petition by January 1st! we need 100 signatures. here is the link for the petition! here is the petition.

[nerdsforprez]

100 signatures and then what?  TLG will  continue to produce PF?  Not sure this has really been thought through...

 

 

[sirslayer]

Well in the America market, all PF devices on Legos website are sold out!! 

 

[JintaiZ]

I understand the love for power functions, I really do. However, it's retiring for a reason: It'll be replaced by powered up, a system that works better and smoother.

[kbalage]

This is a corporate product strategy planned for years in advance. I appreciate your enthusiasm but there's really no point to start petitions for such things. On the other hand Power Functions parts won't be sold as new anymore, but considering the amount circulating on the market you'll be probably fine for the next 10-15 years if you want to buy anything. And I did not even mention all the compatible stuff that you can still buy as new...

[Lyichir]

Sorry to break it to you, but no petition is going to convince Lego to hold off on replacing Power Functions, least of all one with a paltry 100 signatures. That's a drop in the bucket for a corporation as large as Lego—even their own in-house Lego Ideas program requires 100 times that many votes for a product idea to even be considered.

The Powered Up system is essentially "Power Functions 2.0". It's replacing the old Power Functions much like Power Functions itself replaced the old 9V system of motors.

The good news is that if you prefer you can continue to use the existing Power Functions system if you prefer. Even once Lego stops selling Power Functions components, the aftermarket should remain well-supplied for a good while given Power Functions' ubiquity for well over a decade. Additionally, even if you do choose to upgrade to Powered Up (which may be a necessity when it comes to powering future sets), there'll be nothing forcing you to discard your old Power Functions components—they just won't work natively with the new Powered Up equipment.

[nerdsforprez]

Ditto to what others have said.  I may have been a little harsh.  

Don't worry about PF leaving.... it happens in virtually in every enterprise out there.  Things/products are improved and companies move on from them.  Look on the bright-side, in a few decades you will have a piece of history.  Also.... like others have said, although not available through TLG, PF will still be around through third party vendors for quite a while....

 

 

[Zerobricks]

I don't see a good reason mentioned anywhere?

What's wrong with PU? Most motors have kept the same perofrmance and general shape (+1 stud longer for some), but with added position sensors they opened up a whole world on new possibilities.

Not to be rude, but without a proper reasoning it sounds to me like you want to keep PF just because you don't like changes?

This pettion feels simillar to making a petition to stop manafacturing of electric cars to "save" ICE cars. Save them from what? Progress?

Edited December 8, 2020 by Zerobricks

[nerdsforprez]

8 minutes ago, Zerobricks said:

I don't see a good reason mentioned anywhere?

What's wrong with PU? Most motors have kept the same perofrmance and general shape (+1 stud longer for some), but with added position sensors they opened up a whole world on new possibilities.

Not to be rude, but without a proper reasoning it sounds to me like you want to keep PF just because you don't like changes?

This pettion feels simillar to making a petition to stop manafacturing of electric cars to "save" ICE cars. Save them from what? Progress?

We may want to tread lightly here (myself included).  I suspect an underage OP here....

 

 

[JintaiZ]

31 minutes ago, Zerobricks said:

I don't see a good reason mentioned anywhere?

What's wrong with PU? Most motors have kept the same perofrmance and general shape (+1 stud longer for some), but with added position sensors they opened up a whole world on new possibilities.

Not to be rude, but without a proper reasoning it sounds to me like you want to keep PF just because you don't like changes?

This pettion feels simillar to making a petition to stop manafacturing of electric cars to "save" ICE cars. Save them from what? Progress?

I understand why people think PF is better:

-Includes a controller
-Could be used in any set/MOCs
-Cheaper

[The Brick Boss]

A petition won't work. Its Lego! You should learn to expect Lego to do things we may not like, mainly because their goal is to please the younger generations who are less critical of a build or certain arrangement of sets like we adults are. These younger generations are also earlier in technology than we are too. That's how Lego works.

[Mechbuilds]

I haven't looked into powered up systems at all because i run everything trough buwizz. But what i can see from images from google, there is a PU small motor that looks like the M motor. Then there is a medium sized motor that looks like the L motor and the large motor that looks like XL motor. 

If i got the gist, you're telling me that those motors can be also used as servos? All of them? 
I might consider getting buwizz 3.0 and some of those PU motors. 

I have no experience on those PU stuff. All i can say that they look ugly and the connector looks more like an internet cable than a lego cable. 
I'm assuming the boxy shape of the new motors help you connect beams around them? 


Can the PU motors compete with the buggy motor? 



EDIT:

If i base my comparison between PU and PF from this video, it seems like powered up is garbage compared to it's predecessor. 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Mechbuilds

[Lasse D]

1 hour ago, JintaiZ said:

I understand why people think PF is better:

-Includes a controller
-Could be used in any set/MOCs
-Cheaper

And is easier to turn on and off for new users who just want to use a remote with the basic hub.

But then there are all of the disadvantages of, and oh boy! Range of remote, number of channels, servo motor limited angle and position, etc.

If anything, a petition should be made for interoperability like PF has the 9V adaptors in all extension cables, NXT is compatible with EV3 and has 9V adaptor cables, etc.

[u118224]

PF from a cost standpoint have been reasonably priced from Lego. Control+ hub and motors are expensive. 

[thic_trains]

4 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

100 signatures and then what?  TLG will  continue to produce PF?  Not sure this has really been thought through...

 

 

hers the thing, petitions will make the lego group have no choice. by law, from what I know, they have to listen

[Murdoch17]

Just now, thic_trains said:

hers the thing, petitions will make the lego group have no choice. by law, from what I know, they have to listen

Sorry to disappoint you, but no, they don't have to listen.

[thic_trains]

ok thanks

 

well, goodbye for now

[JintaiZ]

On 12/8/2020 at 4:51 PM, Murdoch17 said:

Sorry to disappoint you, but no, they don't have to listen.

Sometimes they listen if there's a lot of fans asking for something. But in this case, not sure 100 is enough...

Sorry to disappoint.

Edited January 7, 2021 by JintaiZ

[howitzer]

45 minutes ago, Mechbuilds said:

I haven't looked into powered up systems at all because i run everything trough buwizz. But what i can see from images from google, there is a PU small motor that looks like the M motor. Then there is a medium sized motor that looks like the L motor and the large motor that looks like XL motor. 

If i got the gist, you're telling me that those motors can be also used as servos? All of them? 
I might consider getting buwizz 3.0 and some of those PU motors. 

I have no experience on those PU stuff. All i can say that they look ugly and the connector looks more like an internet cable than a lego cable. 
I'm assuming the boxy shape of the new motors help you connect beams around them? 


Can the PU motors compete with the buggy motor? 



EDIT:

If i base my comparison between PU and PF from this video, it seems like powered up is garbage compared to it's predecessor. 

For comparison of the characteristics of various motors, I recommend you take a look at this: https://www.philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm There you can find all kinds of measured data from I think all Lego motors since the beginning of the 9V era.

I think PU motors indeed can all act as servo, except the M-equivalent is still of the dumb kind, which can only be controlled for power and not speed or position, I don't know about train motors. (I wasn't able to get the M-motor to work in a quick test with the Mindstorms hub, though I hear power control should be possible with Python.) C+ motors (L and XL), along with the angular motors that come with the Volvo hauler and Spike Prime are controllable for power, position (both, relative and absolute) or speed and they can also act as a sensor, so there are tons of possibilities out there for them.

[Bartybum]

lol

[msk6003]

TLG need keep C+/powered up because chinise sh*t copycat can't (or didn't?) copy any C+ MOC yet.

[steph77]

My point is a bit dissapointing statement..

It seems to me that everything has be done to make sure people like me (who won't never build a set but get it as parts pack) will never be able to build their Mocs.

I think that the fact TLG didn't provide a free programmable app to build my own model is totally deliberate.

So, until they change their mind, there will be any buy of such model(PUp), for my part.

As said some post ago, they are many other ways to motorize model using third party pack as Buwizz or Sbrick.

And a LOT more afordable...

Just my opinion...

 

[Jeroen Ottens]

Just now, steph77 said:

My point is a bit dissapointing statement..

It seems to me that everything has be done to make sure people like me (who won't never build a set but get it as parts pack) will never be able to build their Mocs.

I think that the fact TLG didn't provide a free programmable app to build my own model is totally deliberate.

So, until they change their mind, there will be any buy of such model(PUp), for my part.

As said some post ago, they are many other ways to motorize model using third party pack as Buwizz or Sbrick.

And a LOT more afordable...

Just my opinion...

 

They just released a free programmable app. The PoweredUp app now has the MindStorms like programming interface 

[steph77]

Ah? i didn't knew that.

I'll have a look at this app, so.

[Andman]

9 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

They just released a free programmable app. The PoweredUp app now has the MindStorms like programming interface 

But it's far away from usable, especially for beginners. No explanation what blocks do. Some are self explanatory, many others aren't. And not everyone has the patience like @kbalage, to try again and again to find out what a code block does and with which motor it will work. Additionally it shouldn't have been him to tell us what these blocks are doing. The Info should have been provided by TLG.

@steph77, here is the link for the code block overview: https://racingbrick.com/powered-up-code-block-guide-full/

Edited December 9, 2020 by Andman
Added link