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Toastie

Eurobricks Grand Dukes
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  1. Toastie
    Have you tried or did you do? Any chance to see a photograph of the inside? The logic chip looking for the dials (left/right turn, go up/down, even when still sending out the usually 4 times repeated IR signal) needs clean contacts. The dial has more than one round of contacts (for deciding on the above), so this is critical. There are electronic grade sprays you may want to use to clean the contacts (NOT WD40) - no idea what you have at hand. As said, a close-up photograph would help for further "analysis" Best, Thorsten
  2. Toastie
    Nice article! Thanks for sharing. So the "international safety regulations" @JopieK was referring to are actually US national safety regulations? I mean - this swallowing thing seems to be a localized issue ... I have never heard of such issues in Germany. But what do I know. Phew. When you suck in H2 gas and then O2 gas (well, that's there anyway) and then - well - ignite that by swallowing a burning match, it would be a mess. Depending on the match, of course. Big health issue, though. Why is there no such article about the "big health hazard" when swallowing a 1x6 technic beam with a technic bush attached, which has one of these poky things (there are so many) in its center? Weird ... Whatever, I agree, swallowing two of the current train couplers will certainly not pose a "magnetic" health issue - it will cause severe injury way earlier. Which in turn makes me think: Is a current magnetic train coupler not a "big health hazard" by simply existing? There is no reason not trying swallowing it. Best, Thorsten
  3. Toastie
    The magnet swallowing thing??? Or swallowing in general? I am confused - but that's OK Best Thorsten
  4. Toastie
    Yeah - Clikits - Dots - you can swallow them by the bucket. Some look like candies ... but they will see the light again without much change other than a brownish cover, I believe. I guess this is about the metal/magnet? They are fully enclosed in ABS, but ... it is stupid anyway. Swallow a technic 1x6 brick, and you may be in trouble as well. Hmm, on another thought: What if the swallower has a pacemaker ... no, we were talking about kids. Nope, I don't get the swallowing fear ... we can run down the list of LEGO pieces and trouble is clearly ahead - when swallowing them. Why does Deep Thought come to mind - NONONO, not what you ... here it is: "Six pints of bitter, said Ford Prefect. And quickly please, the world's about to end." Best, Thorsten
  5. Toastie
    @Tcm0 Amen to that! All you said. From experience in the research world, I can tell that the hardware folks are always at least 2 years ahead. New chippy here, new sensor there, throw it in and get it to market: We have the newest and best. The software folks are always lagging behind, because they have to deal with >us< (the dummies, screwing every possible software thing up) and with the firmware gurus, who want to make maximum use of the new hardware, which however changes every other month. And then marketing comes in. And then all lights go out, and they fly the whole thing - in total darkness. Coming up with new names, more buzzwords: Bestest, ultimate, superior, never seen before, new generation, game changer, then ever ... and so on and so forth (I gave once a PowerPoint presentation at an international meeting, the first two minutes I was just - StarWars like - running down "buzzwords" used in that research sector. Was fun!) Oh, and there is time-to-market. Or better: There is no time. There is market. As far as I am concerned, PoweredUp demonstrates under how much stress TLG currently is. And they don't handle all that - that well. And for sure: PoweredUp ages already! I bet they have a plan for ditching that technology and introduce a new, way more powerful, never seen before, enabling a whole new world - well, world of robots following a line, or making wild moves. Or smile. And which is of course completely incompatible with PUp, PF, RC, 9V, 12V, and 4.5V. And I believe they have already an entire department running red-hot for coming up with new names. As they have in the automotive industry. It is what it is. Best, Thorsten
  6. Toastie
    Well, I was born in the early 1960's ... and our first car was a 1972 Renault 5, we got in 1983. As far as I can tell, there were absolutely no chips in that car. And fixing things was more or less a question of "mechanical parts availability" and tools. It all changed, when I installed a Blaupunkt digital radio and some 25 cm diameter loudspeakers in the rear ESP and ABS were not invented back then, I believe. Best, Thorsten
  7. Toastie
    There is none. But people tend to forget that there was a time before chips. You know, the wired stuff and all that. Best Thorsten
  8. Toastie
    Yes it does; full DC for a period of time and then 0V for a period of time - depending on your power setting. Full fwd/bwd = 100% PWM duty cycle = full DC on the track (in your setup), as you know. With focus on the no-load behavior (with load it - well - depends on the load and things are rendered less straight forward): When you go full fwd/bwd using the PF receiver, do the motors show the drop out behavior? Is it even possible to go to that level without derailing the motors all the time? Because at that level having the (constant) output of the 9V train regulator is the same as having the (constant) output on the PF receiver. When you did not set PF to max. then indeed PWM may lead to a different response of the (still not good) thermistor (PTC). There are two things happening: motor temperature increase due to (unavoidable) resistive heating by the current flowing through the coils; and pulsed current flowing through the thermistor. If the thermistor has aged to a point, where "self-heating" (via P = I^2 x R within the PTC) and thus resistance increase via self-heating is > resistance increase via external temperature increase (the motor housing) than things become rather unpredictable. In other words: Your observation, that the bad motors run with less speed than the good ones, may be because of the aged PTC with an elevated resistance even when cold. When current begins to flow, both the PTC "by itself" and the motor heat up. Ideally you want a cold PTC resistance of 0 Ohm, which is not possible, but would lead to a self-heating of P = I^2 x 0 = 0). There is always a residual resistance in the PTC. The older they get, the larger that "cold state resistance" of the PTC increases. Up to the point that it heats itself up faster than the motor does. And yes, PWM may help, depending on how much heat is dissipated when the PWM voltage is 0 and how much during full DC. Just on average, 1 sec x 9V + 1 sec x 0V is the same as 2 sec x 4.5V regarding power. But not with respect to power dissipation in the PTC. Best regards, Thorsten
  9. Toastie
    @Pybricks This is to-tal-ly cool! Thank you very much for your reference!!! All the best, Thorsten
  10. Toastie
    Nice!!! You are referring to detecting the sleepers, right? In your video, the color contrast between sleepers and their foundation (table surface) is rather stark - in other train layouts with ballasted track this may become a bit more challenging, I suppose. Anyway, this is a really nice example! Did your Pybricks speed control program use any P(I/D) algorithm? That could also be fun to implement in code and then use it for educational purposes. When I did that on my RCX trains (rotation sensor on one non-powered axle, 9V train motor), it was really fun to play with the PID parameters and use the RCX data-logging function to record 1) setpoint 2) actual speed and 3) motor power level. These are classical examples for PID control; however, doing that on a train is fun. It is very simple to change inertia/friction by adding cars and/or implement a wild R40 curved track segment and one straight track only segment and then inspect the data-log. Each inertia/load setting (for educational purposes, used that in a PChem lab, as we control e.g. the temperature of an ion source housing (= "metal block") with resistive heating) has optimum parameter settings. Also, a learning function can be programmed. That is a little more work, but really fun to do. And: The folks did comprehend much faster how that ion source heating works ... Very nice! Best Thorsten
  11. Toastie
    True. But to be honest: I opened all my 9V motors, removed that naturally aging thermistor (PTC, the hotter, the higher the resistance), and run them simply without ever since. With no problems at all. However, not with track voltage regulation, but with PF and PUp. What is helping is the electronic driver: Back then in the 9V days, a quite powerful voltage regulator (the black thing with the yellow dial) was doing the speed work. When you run your trains off from PWM modulated drivers (RCX, PF, PUp), it is >much< better with regard to overload, as these drivers have their own protection circuits. Not absolutely save, but much better. Best, Thorsten
  12. Toastie
    Well, nothing much to add to what you said. With this BTS thing, it finally became absolutely clear (to me, that is), what's going on. As if it were different in the past, but this time they even did not bother at all to cover it up - other than with selecting in parallel the A-frame: TLG looks at Ideas votes to just find the 10000+ entries and then select the one that will generate the maximum revenue. And that's it. Over and out. The machinery of capitalism capitalizing on ideas. And you know what? I wouldn't even be surprised, if they are pulling some strings behind the screen regarding the whole Ideas instrument for profit maximization ... just as any other large profit oriented company would do. Trains? No. Look at the 12V (and maybe 9V) era: In comparison to what is available now, I'd call it a massacre what they did with the train theme. Why? Has been discussed over and over again: Trains are a total market niche. Back then, TLG may have operated differently: There was no competition, zero. And virtually "no" licensing. So a little here and there was acceptable. Today there is not only competition, there is serious competition on all fronts; this usually happens, when patents run out - but then you had 30 years of further development: Quality competition, licensing competition, portfolio competition, creativity competition (I am not talking about copying, I am talking about genuine newly developed models from the competitors), competition to reach out to MOCers all over the world - i.e. in the public domain ... Yes, it is getting much tougher. Raking in profit from an Ideas idea - why not. I have no clue what this does to the folks sending in ideas to Ideas. Quite honestly, after BTS it would have been my absolutely last entry as it openly looks like what it really is - but never did that anyway. The "make no profit for three years after sending it in" thing was more than enough for me. On to much nicer ideas : I am almost done with retrofitting my 10-wide BR 89 from BB with TLG PUp stuff (L-motor and 2 port hub). It is so absolutely nice that the stuff is compatible. Best, Thorsten
  13. Toastie
    When I saw the announcement this morning, I thought they accidentally added a T to the BS. And the winner is: "The LEGO Group [which] is a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company is still owned by the Kirk Kristiansen family who founded it in 1932." Here is to the family: Whatever. The hut is a nice hut. Also a compensation hut, as it seems. Best Thorsten
  14. Toastie
    I am talking about TLG PUp hubs and TLG motors and not DCC decoders or other motors. So yes, I may use a TLG train motor but would not know how to control the rpms with a PUp hub, that's all I am saying. I am also quite familiar with EMF - not in LEGO trains but on a larger scale in the lab - all our turbo pumps are controlled that way - at final 30000 - 60000 rpm, classical rotation sensors have some difficulties in following the spinning wheels :D Best, Thorsten
  15. Toastie
    Hi @Lok24, yes, in Pybricks it is adjustable, but in the ominous LWP3.0 document for the PUp hubs I did not find anything. In the same direction: As my remark was on the usage of a TLG train motor, regardless of make (9V, RC, PF, PUp), none of them have any BEMF gear nor would I know how to tap into that. Best, Thorsten
  16. Toastie
    Nice idea! Two alternatives: Start a new thread (easy) ... ... or pester @JopieK Either way is fine with me. Best, Thorsten
  17. Toastie
    My dream! Did some serious research into that, could be done - but making it compatible with PUb is - for me - the major obstacle, as PUp software and everything else, like Legoino depending on the hub firmware depend on the UART protocol. I believe PyBricks as well, but I don't know. Maybe they use their own routines. Nevertheless, running speed control firmware based code is tricky. Precise speed control, as in PI or PID, relies on parameters such as friction and mass (response behavior), but hub/firmware based routines are not - as far as I know - allowing such parameter adjustment. So my plan was to use the electronics of a PUp tacho motor inside a train motor - seems to be not feasible. Too bulky. And: RPMs may not match at all. Best, Thorsten
  18. Toastie
    Ha! No! Reason: (first have another beer for me being a "smart" megablocks: ) Because: The hub with a PUb tacho motor attached will keep the "demanded" >speed< (lets say 5% of full speed) constant, even when it has to put out 100% power (i.e. 100% PWM cycle). A 9V motor can never do that; in contrast. All the best, Thorsten. Wait: Edit: At what f*ing rank is a*s not automatically translated to megablocks??? What is megablocks anyway? mega = 10E6; blocks = bricks. So is one a*s = 10E6 bricks?
  19. Toastie
    Good evening, Sérgio ... ... and I thought, you are a genius when it comes to trains. I have no idea why ... sometimes things narrow to a forum ;) My goodness. Believe me, I am not into cars, as I see them as vehicles to transport things from A to B that are tough to be hauled by public transportation. But this beauty - it is that - makes me rethink ... how on Earth are you doing this? How? I know that you are a genius with electronic building as well - over at TrainTech - but this is beyond belief. The other cars you are currently presenting - the exact same thing. This one was frontpaged - maybe three in a row is "too much" for EB, but three in a row would have been very well deserved. Tipping hat - and a slight bow. All the best, Thorsten
  20. Toastie
    First of all: All the very best for your recovery and tell that Covid virus to go to hell. Secondly: Original post, line 1: You had the design already 99.99% done! I'd round that off to 100% So everything else in this thread is just that: Ideas and experiences tossed around. This is a 100% genuine shunter, you made. I really like it, as said. All the best, Thorsten
  21. Toastie
    Wait - were they ever painted in green??? https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/shinkansen-train-types You know what, dads da Crocodile!!! I bet the original quote said "has long front ends" Well, maybe not - I guess, they were never used for hauling coaches. But TLG is behaving funny from time to time! Thorsten
  22. Toastie
    Poor minifigs ... well, this is fun! Back in the days, on some platform-type stops (as the one I frequently use for travel by train, I live in a 9000 people (max) town), they always had to announce that "a" train was approaching, and that you should stand back from the edge of the platform or whatever that is called. With all that early automation stuff - man that was fun!!! - an electronic voice did the announcements. I remember quite vividly, when one of the 1st generation ICE high speed trains thundered "through" the platform - southbound to Cologne/Munich. Suddenly, all hell broke loose - accompanied by tornado like wind gusts - it came from behind me - then it was over. And then this tiny voice announced this very train, I laughed my butt off ... later they simply gave up, as on this main south/north line such a train blasts every 10 to 20 min "through" the platform. They painted white stripes on the platform floor - and until then it was simply your fault ... . Yes, platforms with minimal sheltering are fun. Maybe also with minimal width between two tracks . Best, Thorsten
  23. Toastie
    Correct me if I am wrong, but this is a direct consequence of preferring individual transportation (1 max. 2 persons per vehicle) "in the US" (what do I know, I lived 4 years in SoCal/Beach Cities with frequent travel from Irvine to the greater LA area - on the 6 lanes in each direction of I5/I405 that was the situation - my wife and I always used the carpool lane, as 2 persons/vehicle qualified to as carpool) rather than public transportation, isn't it? And without broad acceptance of public/train transportation, it does not make sense to have big and shiny stations, does it? Best Thorsten
  24. Toastie
    Just looked it up on Legoland/Germany - I believe this means discounted items? So not more than 100g of the discounted bricks/plates/parts (per day and person) - but as many as you can carry away of the regular overpriced parts. I believe - otherwise, the text on their website does not make much sense. But who knows. Best, Thorsten
  25. Toastie
    They add 2 plates-high incompatible road-plates with missing tiles to existing layouts. In addition, you get 4 of these round 8-wide slopes that you don't need when your setup does not end at the end of the new road-plates. On the other hand, you can use these slopes for ... "other things". There will be quite some numbers of these slopes piling up (at least 4 in each set), because so many "other things" may not require so many weirdly sloped slopes. Fun fact: Incompatibility is relative. Another fun fact: When replacing all baseplates with one-plate high plates plus addition of one layer of tiles on the exposed surfaces, the new road-plates are fully compatible with existing layouts. Maybe TLG is also consolidating the price gap between the cargo and passenger train sets, regardless of what is in the box. Best, Thorsten
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