Toastie

Yes, exactly! And it has the layer feature, numerous CAD programs and the like have. That is very powerful, as you can simply "blank out" layers to focus on particular items positioned on one selected layer. This makes all the difference for me. And it allows you to import your very own designs. Best Thorsten

This is one of the best (if not the best) LEGO models I have seen when it comes to German steam locomotives. Incredible. I am speechless. Does it negotiate curves/switch points? I simply can't tell from the pics. All the best and thanks for sharing!!! Thorsten

All the best Thorsten

This. 100% agreed. This is the core of the matter. Including what you said with regard to "That's it": 100%! I could start here stories about chemistry curricula (we have arrived at +50% females entering, but we are not even close when it comes to doctoral degrees, which are a more or less a prerequisite (85% of students surviving all the way to a get PhD) to get a job, in Germany that is. But I don't There is >a lot< of work to do. In every branch/aspect of our lives. Certainly also in an environment that is supposed to be "educational" or "learning by playing + doing", i.e., the LEGO world. I cannot agree more on "put female characters in whatever narrative there might be". Thank you very much for your opinion/input, @Karalora, it "feels" very good. And I will certainly not only keep your posts in mind, but bring them forward, when it comes to discussions usually titled with "... gender ...". All the best Thorsten

And this is all what counts! Yes, the flash may very well have amplified the mirror effect to an extent that is not visible in an ambient light setting. Whatever: You enjoy the plates, you are really making progress: All is good! Best Thorsten

And this function is to keep the ratio of "successfully" submitted proposals (>10000) and "funded" proposals simply to a constant ratio? Or is there any other function? When submitted ideas expand, a program associated with such ideas usually expands as well. This is what the public domain is all about. I don't see that here to that extent ... other than raking in ideas. Best, Thorsten

This is construction-wise very nice! However, the "mirror effect" - to me - is something I don't like. No road looks like that, does it? After serious rain, yes. But on average? Best Thorsten

This thread has 226 pages. Is there any conclusion - other than TLG does what they want to do? Just playing it out to their advantage? Or did I miss something in between? Best wishes, Thorsten

The 12 points from Germany go to ... Italy!!! You are right, of course. In summer, we do the gas grilling almost every day - not that much on the meat side, but there are many things you can expose to heat - and they become very tasty. Thing is: Every time, I really make sure that everything is tight and good - gas-supply-wise - and when I press the piezo thingy to ignite the gas/oxygen mix flowing at some pressure through the bellows and pipes ... I sometimes think: Oh my. There are about 10 L = 2.5 gallons of liquified explosive gas in that thing ... then it makes puff - sometimes ffoomp - and - the grill is on. I should not watch these actions movies ... I am getting too old for that stuff When I charge my cell phone (a motorola g8 power - I bought that one because of the huge - uhmm - LiPo battery in there for 3 days of continued Zoom meeting operation - and the fast charging feature - while you zoom), it is never the same fear, in contrast: Can't this thing charge faster? Phew. Apparently, France and Germany are playing soccer. Now that one seems to be the equivalent of 1000 gas grill cylinders, I guess. I am in the basement - putting another coat of paint on the door ... there is also beer here ... and some LiPo operated tools ... Here is to feeling good! And that is the point. LiPos in today's main stream devices are safe. When we do experiment with them: Always be careful. As with the gas grill! Best Thorsten

Yeah, LiPos are usually "lame" in this regard; the shell around the pouch cells (this is what you were using in the drone, wasn't it?) is simply not building up enough internal pressure for the boom thing - and the chemical reaction is not fast enough to compensate for that (i.e. detonate). It more or less relaxes thermally . Fun fact: We did a master thesis recently in collaboration with the Department of Chemical Safety and Fire Defense at our university, where we deliberately (and with all possible safety measures) were blowing up different types of rechargeable batteries, including some for military applications. Believe me, with regard to the boom thing there are much better choices than LiPos. However, LiPos can of course do damage, particularly because they can develop, depending on size (capacity) and cell layout, an enormous amount of heat. Well - which is energy. When the energy density of a chemical system is as high as in a fully charged LiPo, then the potential of releasing that energy not into electrical current but heat (which for thermodynamics is more or less the same, as all is good: 1st Law of TD: check, 2nd Law of TD: check, 3rd law not relevant here) is perfectly OK. Boom wise, thermodynamics needs to kiss kinetics, and then it depends: Either your train runs for a really impressive amount of time, or - well - it "blows up" - usually in the puff-up reaction you saw ... However: A LiPo treated nicely is as safe as a cigarette lighter filled with propane/butane treated nicely. And a really big LiPo is as safe as the cylinder for a gas grill. Best Thorsten

We should not overdo it, though. Time = technology is progressing as well. And: There are so many devices now running on LiPo technology, you don't even have the chance to not charge them while absent! True, you definitely need all that electronic protection when operating LiPos. However, it costs you next to nothing, as these circuits are used all over the place. Furthermore, a tank full of gasoline "left unprotected", can blow up much more than a bunch of LiPos. Same holds true for many, many more things in everyday life! Yes, but more or less only for "bridging gaps" in electrified sections of your layout: Cited from that article "So if we have an equal volume of supercaps to AA batteries, our run length will be 1/100th: an AA battery set lasts several hours, call it 2h on the conservative side. That means an equally sized supercap bank will run for 1.2 minutes, plenty of time for zipping through a short unpowered track section!" In summary: (9V) powered track is the way to go!!! Just trying to be a little funny here, don't take it too seriously. All the best Thorsten

But the input voltage range of mt3608 is 2 - 20V - doesn't that mean it'll drown the battery to 2 V before it gives up? Hmm. The charging voltage range of 8878 is (was) 9 - 18V, the power supply required is (was) a dead cheap unregulated wall wart. However, with a 5V regulator as input, one could achieve the same or even better performance of 8878 so yes, your equation holds true! Most importantly: $/€(LiPo battery + mt3608 + tp4056 + 5V regulator) << $/€(8878)! Wow, I guess I need to order some stuff Thanks Emanuele and Martin!!! Best wishes, Thorsten

Oh yes, that is what I was aiming for, Martin! I just don't know, what mt3608 has in its brain ;) So let's do the math: mt3608 + tp4056 = 8878? Best Thorsten

Don't know - but don't think so - with LEGO devices running on LiPos (there are only very few, I believe) this circuit is usually built into the "battery pack" replacing the batteries or the compartment, isn't it? At least the NXT LiPo battery had that protection built into the battery pack but there is no such circuitry in the NXT. Nor RCX, etc. pp. 8878 certainly had that - but that is just a battery pack ... I believe you need to tell the hub that you are using a rechargeable battery set, which may explode when running below a certain level. OK, maybe not explode, but calling it quits . Wasn't there a mirco switch thing in the Technic hub? Don't remember. Also in case of @LEGO Train 12 Volts's solution, the hub would not know that the battery is operated below damage threshold, as the output is held constant as long as possible but the input not as long as healthy ;) Best Thorsten LiPos are as well a bit diva-ish - at least when it comes to operating range. They also do tend to go into flames when not treated as such. TLGs answer to all these challenges was the 8878 LiPo box: Input: Charging while operating, wide charging range, overload protection. Output: Overcurrent protection, under-voltage protection (9V/0), on/off switch (9V/0), adjustable output (C1/C2) ... Too expensive and ... retired. For whatever reason. Maybe LiPos are too much for a toy company. Best Thorsten

Nice one, Emanuele! Now with regard to @dr_spock's comment: Is this of concern? The mt3608 will hold the output constant as long as it can (which is excellent of course!). But will it do so even when the input voltage drops below the critical value of about 3V? Or is there some unvervoltage protection, as in all the devices running on LiPo/Li-Ion rechargeable batteries? If not, then you need to install such undervoltage protection circuit as well, as you won't notice too low volatges, because the output is always 9V - even with 2 V input. Which in turn may severely damage the batteries. Best Thorsten

One thing and really tough - and phrased very carefully - and politely. And this is the core of the matter. Far less politely, but to the point. TLG did "break" so many times nicely running "codes" by "updating" firmware and/or app code - it seems is if they are doing it on purpose. The LWP3.0 doc (which inferred - back then - so much of hope) is on GitHub - entirely >unaltered<. What is this? They should either keep their stuff to their own - but certainly not do as if it were in the public domain. I can clearly see why folks, as @Zerobricks is representing, drop support for such a crappy "product". You know, when it comes to quality (and thus cost of production of) bricks, TLG makes such a noise, it becomes annoying. They currently charge insane, unhinged amounts of money for their "evolving" PUp product line. Where is all that quality assurance stuff? Man. They have folks developing some hardware such as BLE with sensors and actuators - and then the whole thing just ... "evolves"???. I have never ever seen a comparable thing happening >at that price/cost level< for the consumer. What are we, test balloons? I thought - as a dedicated user of Windows crap - that I am living in a world of - well crap as many say - which - for me - works perfectly well. Since decades. But with PUp - I have never seen that. Never ever. Evolving but not sharing critical code. And asking for unhinged amounts of money. We are willing to pay. Well then: Lets wait for the next release of PUp version XYZ. Breaking code in the MNO App, and in the PQR firmware of the whatever hardware. @Zerobricks: It was a very smart and - as far as I am concerned - >necessary< step, to drop support of TLG's BLE/PUp stuff. You will be advancing so much faster and with more very nice gadgets to come, I am sure. Best Thorsten

I am not sure, but there were some issues with comments from SSE or the like. His status is "Banned outlaw" (as it says below his avatar) - which in turn (I believe) means that he may not be able to reply publicly. I have no clue, but personal messages may still work. A moderator would know for sure. Sorry. Best regards and welcome to EB! Thorsten

Absolutely possible. It could very well be a combination of both, as the Technic hub runs SetSpeed flawlessly with the PUp app and the HW equipped zero position motors (see @kbalage comments) Best Thorsten

But >not< the City hub, which however appears to be most appropriate for use in trains of "regular" size. The SetSpeed command does not work reliably on this hub, as @Hod Carrier has found out. (Scroll all the way to page 3) It will hopefully be fixed rather sooner than later, as none of the HW tacho/zero point detector equipped PU motors run on that hub. BTW that game changer became possible when the RobotC (and all the other improved types of) firmware became available for the RCX - in an all LEGO solution: There was a rotation sensor, the train motor and the RCX. All you needed was to program a matching PID algorithm. And that was really a blast to see: A 9V train motor running an engine or even a train at constant 5% speed, regardless of changing friction or slopes (within motor power range). Absolute downside: You need the RCX on board/in one coach. Works though. Now if only TLG would give us a PUp rotation sensor and let that one access the PUp hub's firmware PID routines ... Best Thorsten

Yes! That is of course the beauty of it. Wonderful! Now I have it. Thank you very much!!! Have a very nice day! All the best Thorsten

But wait: This is not what @Hod Carrier is doing here, as far as I understand Fell's gearbox principle: I thought that the "trick" is that you have n motors; and you can consecutively or in parallel switch them on and off without the need of a clutch as you see fit. It is more of a "clutchless" gearbox rather than anything that synchronizes individual motor speeds. I bet the Technic gurus know that so much better, that they find my wording embarrassing. When you run 1 motor at lets say speed 2 then [depending of course on how many motors and differentials (which are as may as you have motors + the combining differential(s) you have in your drive train plus any additional gearing], the final speed is geared down by a factor x. The second motor is simply turned off. Now when you turn on the second motor, depending again on gearing adds its rotation (whatever that is) to that of the first motor. And so on. In the present case, with two motors, this results in two "gearbox" positions. Which means high torque at low speeds and so on, isn't it that way? Best Thorsten

You mean the 9V (4548) controller, right? And it can't because there are no PUp/9V conversion cables, correct? And this is for a static model (GBCs, etc), correct? If so, I would >certainly< make my own converters. That forces you to either make your own PUp socket type connector and route that to an 9V connector, or simply cut the PUp motor wire, use some sort of reusable pin/socket interconnector (e.g., of type pin header/sockets, there are so many) and route that to a 9V connector. Investment: Overcome the fear of cutting LEGO wires, spare 9V connectors (1 LEGO 9V wire = 2 connectors), and a few cents for the connector in between. Nothing for the purists though. Best Thorsten

In essence similar to the LEGO LiPo (8878), right? The latter does not suffer at all (3 years and counting) from constant "charging" (it simply stops charging or better, holds up the charge) when externally powered. Also, 8878 does not deliver more current on the outputs as it would without charger present, regardless of charging power source amperage. It would be indeed a very strong point for the BuWizz 3.0! Best Thorsten

The entire post of @dr_spock: Learn from the experienced. I don't do exhibitions, nor GBC's, I am not a member of a LUG. I do research "shows", blast balloons of certain colors with laser pointers of certain color not allowed in Germany, but who cares, when apparently overqualified but in essence incapable personnel is operating the stuff . Point is: Learn from the ones who >did< it all. Multiple times. Not the super high power modules, or models. But the actual way of >doing< it. For hours. Thank you very much for compiling that list. It tells a lot, and it is exactly to the point. All the best Thorsten