Toastie

Wow - that must be some nice stickers! The ones I had exposed to light and dry warm air (SoCal) literally fell apart. But I believe this is also dependent on sticker adhesive, sticker thickness (I believe they are now much "thinner" than they were back then) and coloring scheme. You know what? I have come to the conclusion that almost nothing "in real use" out there is really bright white. The weathering of white adds to the appearance. As does the fading of colors. It adds ... a bit (a tiny bit) of "reality". As if LEGO should be anywhere near reality - LEGO is always imagination - but it helps. 10016, the My own Train tanker car, looks so much nicer when seasoned a little - and the white quarter cylinders do season nicely. It's never too late ;) begin with the document @dr_spock was pointing to, get a Chem1 text book, do the problems, and off you go again Best Thorsten

That will certainly work. The storage boxes will probably degrade, but you will notice and can replace them. Best Thorsten

Yes, it works: // Send a bit non-modulated ------------------------------------------------------ void PowerFunctions::send_bit() { //Changed here to send 6 cycles of 38kHz as 1 high signal to be fed into TXM OOK digitalWrite(_pin, HIGH); delayMicroseconds(12 * PF_HALF_PERIOD); digitalWrite(_pin, LOW); } This signal is of course as long as 6*PF_HALF_PERIOD (HIGH) + 6*PF_HALF_PERIOD (LOW). When I feed this data line into a LINX TXM433 on-off-keyed (OOK) RF transmitter, a LINX RXM (OOK) RF receiver recreates that signal - and that can be plugged in to my modified RF receivers: Alternatively, the RXM receiver output can be re-modulated to original PF IR with any 38kHz signal source (e.g. an Arduino) + an AND gate (or two NAND gates, or so many other things ;)) So again, sorry for necro-bumping this thread. Legoino rocks, though . Best Thorsten

Folks, sorry for necro-bumping this thread. I tried to PM Cornelius to no avail. Guess the 10 msgs thing is trapping this - or @Cornelius is not frequently checking in. Maybe others know as well, though ... OK the thing is: I believe an ESP32 fitted with Cornelius latest Legoino software (1.1.0) may replace the NXT bricks + HiTechnic IR receivers on my layout (both have abandoned their LCD screens - yes there are fixes, I know, but ...). I am using the NXT for capturing "train IDs" broadcasted by my VB6 (and more recently a 1985 ZX Spectrum BASIC;)) control program, and translate the corresponding "speed data byte" submitted subsequently to PF IR code via the HiTechnic sensor. Now, the PF IR signals are - as usual for LEGO stuff - 38 kHz modulated. So far so good. Tested the Legoino PF features, all good (IR LED via resistor on selected pin of an ESP32 board bolted to GND). However, the pin signal 38kHz modulated. I just need the pure non-modulated "PF data signal". Does anyone know if this is the right place to hack? The file is PowerFunctions.cpp in the Legoino/src directory: // Send a bit void PowerFunctions::send_bit() { for (uint8_t i = 0; i < 6; i++) { digitalWrite(_pin, HIGH); delayMicroseconds(PF_HALF_PERIOD); digitalWrite(_pin, LOW); delayMicroseconds(PF_HALF_PERIOD); } } I would simply set the second "_pin, LOW" to "_pin, HIGH" and then add "digitalWrite(_pin, LOW) after the loop, before exiting. The pin should then be high for the duration of the signal. That goes into an OOK RF transmitter, is received by an OOK RF receiver and fed into the PF receiver. I know that latter part works. Does that software hack make sense? I know, I can try - but C++ is as far away from BASIC as Earth from Alpha Centauri (where the home of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council is - and you all know what that means!). Best Thorsten

Well I said "this is one of TLG's pitches" ;) See, sunlight gets you a nice sun tan - provided, you are careful. When you are not, you get serious sun burns - and chances are you may develop skin cancer a couple of years down the road. At least for pale types like me. Now, that takes a couple of hours (the burn). 3 years "only" would have toasted me to char coal at best. Although there is less UV when the sun-light shines through a window (glass), there still is - Beer's Law and all that. So: residual UV light * exposure time = disintegrating bricks. BTW if have found a very secure place for LEGO: We visited ASML in Holland yesterday, the folks that make these EUV scanners for the production of the latest generation chippies in 5 nm technology. They want us to take gas composition measurements at an EUV test rig, basically this 13.5 nm "lamp" ;) with a test vessel attached to it. Now, the thing is, half of the city of Veldhoven seems to be a "clean hall area". So in essence, I believe a good place for ABS bricks/plates and stuff would be a clean room/hall, @ 20°C +/- 0.2°C, with not too much of carefully filtered light (VIS only), and they will last forever. Getting into the cleanroom clothing sucks but other than that it will certainly work. I am kidding, of course. Best Thorsten

Yup, without the "+" though ... Best Thorsten

Huh? I have TLG bricks from 1965. Not degraded. Faded in color, yes, but structurally "degraded"? No way. That's 56 years. And >no< sign of structural degradation - at all - for bricks I got after that, into 2021. Sure, bite marks, temperature too high, etc. but ABS does not degrade. It cannot. Not at ambient conditions, not exposed to UV etc. BTW, making plastic materials, which can possibly burn (and ABS can burn nicely), or promote such events and so on and so forth, brought into the market at the rate TLG does, forces them, per law, to retard any processes in a fire event. Of course there are fire retardants in ABS. Otherwise, they'd violate strict laws. As @Lyichir said: There are also more additive all over the ABS recipes. They need to be there. But one thing is for sure: LEGO bricks last forever, it is one of their major pitches. Folks will freak out when the Lambo or any other 300+ $/€ sets simply degrades into a hump of dust or water-soluble mess you can - without having a bad feeling - flush down the toilet. With regard to the fire retardants: Science moves on - the bromine containing retardants of the olden days (cheap, efficient, and "dangerous") have been replaced with other stuff. As efficient, less bad, and not so much affecting "white". The Chinese ... I simply don't get this. Best Thorsten

And I really believe that there is a reason behind that. They have too many folks thinking about too many things at the same time. I cannot imagine that someone higher-up decides to make "as many colors" as possible. And I always believe that a company that big, with the (always) associated payroll overhead, tries to minimize expenditures 24/7. How about: We got a sh*tload of mold resin in tan-in-the-39th-shade-of-tan originally to be used in ... well, let's say DaThing, set#0815. Unfortunately, that did not sell well, so let's make ... Technic pins with that color. OK I know that the pins have a different resin formulation ... so here is another thought: Somebody in the Global Purchase Department figured out that some chemical company in country X - let's call them for simplicity Bayer or DowChemical or whatever, offers that somebody a deal: You guys buy X Megatons of each color we can possibly make - as per your inspirational color scheme - and we give you Y megatons of each color for free (instead of buying Z gigatons of - duh - blue bricks, with an additional "so-demanding-to-make-tag"). In a normal corporate world, that will go up the chains of command: We can make it cheaper!!! Yeah? At what cost? Possibly color vomit. Is there a way we can over that? Sure: It makes it far easier for a 2-years old to build a complex model. Sounds good, order cleared. and a plaque for the one who figured it out: Employee of the hour. Naa, the day. Best Thorsten

Well, maybe a little more input regarding your overall travel plans may help to make "good" suggestions ... Are you planning on going "just" to Billund, or do you want to merge that with a Denmark/EU/etc tourist type round trip? If the latter: What countries are you planning on visiting? See list of arrivals flights to Billund below If the former: Have you googled the Greater Billund Area already? Personally, I love green grass and flat land very much (I was born rather close to that area in Northern Germany - cows and such) - but if you don't: Billund consists essentially of a domestic airport, "Legoland", and an about 250 acre large town. Do you want to stay in Billund the entire visit? Billund Lufthavn (airport) is quite busy for its size (Scheduled arrivals for tomorrow: https://www.bll.dk/en-en/planlaeg-rejsen/rejseinfo/ankomster) - and as you can see, some flights are from Paris (CDG), London (Stansted), Amsterdam, Frankfurt ... The next bigger cities around Billund are Varde/Esbjerg, Vejle, Kolding, ... all in public transportation reach, about 20 to 35 miles distance. Staying there, you can use either public transportation (bus/train) or of course a rental car. The bus/train service to Billund is quite good, as Billund has an airport . In essence: It depends on your plans, I guess And others around here on EB may even know much better! I just visited Billund a couple of times over the past years - we spend our vacation almost every year on the most beautiful island of the entire world (Fanø ) - maybe @1974, @dtomsen, etc. etc. are more knowledgeable than I am! Best wishes Thorsten Merde: Just saw that you are planning for a "trip" to Billund within a research project (somewhere else, right? I thought you want to do some TLG related research ;))

Man - I skipped this all the time!!! Here is what Wikipedia says: "An SSN is a nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarine. SSN is the US Navy hull classification symbol for such vessels; the SS denotes a submarine[1] and the N denotes nuclear power." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSN_(hull_classification_symbol) Oh my - what a wonderful BR 01 rendition! @Teddy as well as @LEGO Train 12 Volts made then as well - as many others. They are all a blast!!! Sorry that I missed your 01 - and my sincere congratulations! All the best, Thorsten

I don't know, but that remote was there in the first place, wasn't it?. What is happening is (I believe) that folks figure out how to make use of the event "this or that button pressed". Software-wise, this is all you need to know: When is a button pressed. Software-wise, you can do what ever you want with that piece of information. The hubs are BLE servers, and depending on what firmware is running on the server, it will respond accordingly. The hardwired PUp remote is "just" a client, throwing out data (this button pressed, that one); the server has to recognized that. And then respond. Summary: The PUp remote does what they hardwired in there. The hubs respond, as per their firmware. I believe there was a lot of "Py" in the movie; that may well change what servers (PUp hubs) do, once flashed. But, as far as I know, not the remote. All a remote of that type can do is, reporting that a button was pressed. So in essence it is not the remote, it is the hubs interpreting the remote's codes. One4All remote is then an issue for the hubs responding. The remote is dumb. As far as I believe. I just work - uhmm - there. Not here. Best Thorsten

(On vacation, he is. Lots of thoughts and inspirations he may have ...) Nice one, Emanuele! As - well - usual. It appears as if one gets used to seeing something special from you - just to - every time - suck in air - and then thinking: Again. What a nice MOC you created! I love the moment of needing to suck in air when clicking on a new thread you posted here. It is the "this will be good" feeling - but it is always: better than expected come-out. Best Thorsten

All that above - - and with PU [provided >currently< the right combinations of hub and motors are made (TLG needs to eliminate some bugs in e.g. the CityHub)] you can run your trains so smoothly as you will never be able with PF. Yes, sure, use 2 - 4 PF XL motors in your loco - it will run smoothly, because you bolted it down on power. And: You'll drain your batteries in no-time. With smart control of the motors, they'll adjust to demand; I find that - hmm - more "appropriate" in the world we live in. Rather than do the power-overkill-and-apparent-"endless"-power-supply approach. Best Thorsten

Who on Earth is paying for this? I never saw anyone asking for participating in securing funds for all the expenses! It must be costly, looking at the number of members here! Best Thorsten

Oh no, just move on from Technic to TrainTech Best Thorsten

It does. This book I have here as paperback is showing a lot of wear (and tear ...): https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2000076/Book/The_Complete_Spectrum_ROM_Disassembly The interface 1 ROM disassembly is here: https://www.tablix.org/~avian/spectrum/rom/if1_2.htm Regarding Z80 (as well as many microcontroller) machine code: Timing-wise, I like to use simple 1 clock "nop" instructions; load some register with the loop count, count down with djnz loops, the loop is just one or a bunch of nops. Implementation is straight forward in ZX Basic using DATA, READ, POKE (to prepare the machine code) and then RANDOMIZE USER (address) to call the code. I have the impression though that FOR NEXT loops, provided the temporal resolution [read ("interprete") the FOR i = m to n BASIC code + load registers; read NEXT i] is good enough, then looping in ZX Basic appears to be as rock-solid as it is in machine code. Best Thorsten

Certainly not. It is not about Korea, nor about Technic. It is about what is going on in this world. On multiple levels. As far as I am concerned, I stick around here for some time (Central Europe, that is). Make that event "hybrid", and I'll join! Best Thorsten

Cheers! "Bump". July 24. Well, when that date is tagged as "bumped", we should all switch to Facebook or whatever hyper-fast reply to what-is-not-really-not-important-at-all issue there is. Second: I my >very personal< opinion, this thread was thrown under the bus. And that felt bad - to me. As if there was a need to silence without using the "Closed-Thread-Type-Button". That one always works, doesn't it? Third: There is a much more polite way to voice concern about a delicate topic. This reply was, in my very personal opinion, rude. Maybe mods have a reason to do that, who knows, but honestly? What is that reply trying to tell the audience? What is the conclusion? Other than: Huh? Best Thorsten

Ahhh - yes, XON/OFF renders serial life so much more enjoyable Nice, really nice! What I like the most is that the sail perfectly fits my Black Pearl (clone) ship - using black cloth, though. And then the douche bag sticker - man. Nice. BTW, the nifty 2-3 3-2 (5-5) cross over thingy also comes in handy, when playing with the LEGO IR tower. The tower hooked up to that cross-over thingy needs an additional RTS/CTS bridge (pins 7/8), a USB2Ser converter that is aware of RTS/CTS, and boom, NQC, BricxCC, and the VB6 OCX plugin, are all happy to communicate with the tower. On any Win7/8/10/32/64bit machine. Just make sure in device manager that the COM port of the USB2Ser converter is <8. Because in the olden days, a COM port number exceeding 7 was considered - nuts. At least. Best Thorsten

That is insane! This accounts to at least 120 Watts. How does the battery (in the BuWizz) do that? I am really curious, because that is a true game changer (not the electronics, that is fine, it is the battery/power supply I am interested in). Also, what kind of wiring are you using? Pumping 7A through regular PF motor cable must be heating it up. Also, PF motors are natively protected by PTCs; do you take them out? Or do I miss something? Best Thorsten

Hmm - really? "Happy drunk"? Best Thorsten

Well then: Out with it! The PCTs are just there for the super-nervous TLG folks. Take it out, put a nifty temperature sensor hooked up to an Arduino clone onto the motor. When that temperature gets close to the melting point of ABS: Stop it. Or: Install a micro fan, blowing air over the motor when the going gets tough. I mean, a motor is a rock solid and very tolerant electromagnetic device, as compared to a nervous PTC. Or an H-bridge IC . Tough tasks need solid solutions. Certainly not a nervous TLG motor, representative, lawyer, or sales person, or PTC. Tough tasks need serious engineering, maybe pushing things a bit. Best Thorsten

How on Earth went that through Big Brother? Wait: Testing, testing, one tow three: Shit. SHIT. Let's see what happens, when I press submit. Okay, back on topic - two images, two worlds. I totally agree. I believe this is about 6 years-old pretending they have a) the money and b) produce the ID of mom or dad at store check-out. Best and no offense Thorsten Hmm - the mods must have adjusted the Big Brother thing. Shit goes through.

This is most probably due to continued bending of the wires when running your models, right? Which is - as I am concerned - a design flaw, as motors are supposed to do something - in a "non-static" design like a car. Also, I believe your experience does not relate to the wires themselves but the "joints", right? Best, Thorsten

Wow, that is a nice action scene!!! I really like this scale, as I find it to be most challenging. You captured that scene perfectly (I like the angled buoy very much); the red/white border is cool as well. And the boat, of course - pumping out that water fountain! Thank you for sharing! Best Thorsten