Mr Hobbles

I checked this out this morning and saw this too, it's very exciting. Not just for the HAT for the Pi (so cool that this is an official partnership with Lego!), but the news about the train switch motor. Wonder what it'll look like and how much space it'll take up. Perhaps the perfect excuse to come out with a LPF2 extension cable? :)

What's that picture from? Is that a Hidden Side set that didn't make it into production, or did I miss it entirely? Yeah, I think in terms of age range, and hitting the North American market, it fits the niche pretty well, but as you say, I think it ultimately comes down to do they want to make another train so soon. The Crocodile came out last year, and they'll have some data on how well that sold. Saying that, it primarily appealed to the European market, so perhaps there's still an untapped NA audience to hit. Still, 57 projects in total... :crosses fingers:

I really had my hopes up for the Canadian Train, but when I saw there'd be 57 entries in this selection they were muted a bit. TLG only really usually picks one or two...and there's a lot of competition. Still, my fingers are crossed...

100% vouch for Okbrickworks. I've ordered a handful of replacements and all have been great. They're one of the few that prints white on transparent paper where needed. They're more of a thin vinyl than sticker paper and as a result are mega sticky. They look excellent when applied.

For cleaning my track, I bought some of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Bright-Boy-Track-Cleaning-Eraser-Block/362997498358 It's veeeeery effective. A few seconds on each rail and they are shiny and clean and beautiful. I also use them to clean the wheels on my 9v motors - put a 9v wire from a battery box or a transformer on top of the 9v motor to start the wheels turning while you're holding it, and rub the eraser on the wheels as they turn. Result - pristine shiny wheels.

Love it. The Re 460 is one of my favorite modern day locomotives (I have a bit of a fascination with both the SBB and the RhB) and you've captured it very well. Hope you're planning to model some double decker SBB IC stock for it to haul too. :)

The different motor colors have different LPF2 id's, but as far as I can are identical internally. Technic Medium Angular Motor (white/green, SPIKE Prime) = 48 Technic Large Angular Motor (white/green, SPIKE Prime) = 49 Technic Large Angular Motor (light grey/dark grey, Technic Control+) = 76 The Mindstorms versions are unknown at the moment since they haven't been released (I think @kbalage gave me the Control+ motor id to begin with, thanks!) My theory is the issue is that the Powered Up app doesn't know what to do with "LPF2 peripheral id 76", so despite the fact that it's identical, it ignores it. A patch needs to be released to add support. As for why they have different ids, I imagine it's so that apps can display a different colored icon depending on which is plugged in. I guess.

I guess that's part of the issue - if Trixbrix and others can get away with manufacturing similar items without paying the royalty, why would anyone else?

While that is true, I didn't want to confuse the matter. The BLE can't be used to connect to a smart device, only to other BLE peripheral devices, and only when coding using Python. It's not end-user friendly. It's also doesn't speak LWP3 natively, just raw BLE - if you want to talk to a PUP hub, you have to code that yourself. Technical capabilities aside, it can't be considered part of the Powered Up family.

That's why I called it a "super app", they want to use it to unify all the consumer facing ranges. :) However, WeDo 2.0 is very old, and they've previously said they can't update the firmware on the hub. It speaks a very different Bluetooth "language". It's pretty much left on it's own, I wouldn't expect the WeDo 2.0 hub to ever have support inside the Powered Up app, especially as its limited to education market and consumers don't generally buy it. The WeDo 2.0 motor and sensors are supported already though, just on other hub types. SPIKE is an interesting one. The hub uses Bluetooth Classic not Bluetooth Low Energy, so they could add support to the Powered Up app, but they haven't yet, and it would require quite a bit of additional work on their part if they ever do it. It's also limited to educational markets - but the new Mindstorms hub is identical, so we'll have to see what they do there.

Let me try to help clarify some stuff. 1. The Powered Up range has a few different hub types, yes. The Boost Move Hub has two ports to plug motors and sensors into, as well as two embedded motors. The Powered Up/City Hub has two ports and no embedded motors. The Technic Control+ hub has four ports. Also, technically the remote control is a hub too - it just has no removable ports and no embedded motors. :) 2. The motors and sensors all use a connector called the LPF2.0 (or Lego Power Functions 2.0) connector. It is compatible with the hubs I listed above, as well as the WeDo 2.0 hub, and the SPIKE Prime hub. 3. There are multiple apps. Control+ is used to control Technic Control+ sets. Boost is used with the Boost set. Powered Up is used with City sets (as well as Creator Expert). WeDo 2.0 with the WeDo 2.0 set, Spike Prime with the Spike Prime set, etc. 4. The Powered Up app is kind of a "super app". As well as controlling the models it is configured for, it also has a programming mode, that is compatible with all the Powered Up hubs and nearly all LPF2.0 motors and sensors. 5. Although the WeDo 2.0 hub and SPIKE Prime app use LPF2 motors and sensors, they are *NOT* Powered Up compatible. You must use their own apps with them. Also not all LPF2 motors and sensors work with these two hubs. In short: Powered Up = the super app, as well as hubs - City Hub, Boost Hub, Control+ hub, remote control. LPF2 = Motors and sensors compatible with Powered Up (as well as WeDo 2.0 and SPIKE Prime) use the LPF2 connector. This includes the Boost motor and sensor, WeDo 2.0 motor and sensor, Control+ motors and sensors, SPIKE Prime motors and sensors, etc. SPIKE Prime and WeDo 2.0 = NOT Powered Up, but compatible with LPF2 motors and sensors. EDIT: I see you mentioned NXT and EV3 in a subsequent post. They are not compatible at all with Powered Up, SPIKE Prime, WeDo 2.0, etc. They use a different connector and different apps. And as you say, are now discontinued. :)

We'll have to disagree there, I think I proved it above. ;) However I think it requires older Lego products - newer Powered Up products don't have a good solution for power/energy. I hope they come out with a hub type that allows power to be supplied via a cable - even better if it could be controlled over the cable as well as Bluetooth. I also don't mind cables - they provide full power instead of requiring batteries, and if I were to build a properly build layout, I would hide the cables underneath Lego plates or something else. Personally I only want to use batteries if the model is moving, such as a train. For sensors, switches, signals etc, I prefer wires. I also like your idea of powering via the track, but I prefer pure Lego solutions that don't require modifications. I do like the idea for Pybricks, but I think it excels for standalone builds that don't require a computer to control. In my case, for coordination of multiple devices/trains, I think the stock firmware works best, using a central computer for control.

Apologies, I forgot to set it public before I shared the link. Please try now.

I actually have several...I forgot to mention those! They’re a good alternative if you want mains power, but the issue is that if power or the BTLE connection is interrupted, they turn off. It requires you to physically press the green button to reconnect, which may not be an option if the hubs are far away on the layout. I preferred to stick to a wired data connection if I can, except for the trains. :)

That is strange, I don't experience that. Maybe a 5-10% speed drop at best. Here is a video of my Crocodile running on both 9v and plastic track.

Following on from my previous topic about combining old and new Lego technologies, I decided to take it a step further and automate the trains. :) In the process, I added a new piece of Lego technology to the mix - Lego Education WeDo (1.0) hubs and sensors. I decided to use WeDo (1.0) sensors for train detection for a couple of reasons. 9v light sensors plugged into the Control Lab could work, but are susceptible to changes in environmental light. I might still try this in the future though. Powered Up/LPF2 motion/distance sensors would work, but other than the SPIKE Prime hub, have no constant power solution at the moment - only batteries. I hope Lego offer some kind of mains/USB power option for the Powered Up hubs. WeDo hubs plug straight into USB, allowing constant power and no battery issues. The distance/motion sensor is also identical to the Powered Up/LPF2 one, offering infrared distance detection. Below are a couple of videos of the setup working, but here's the breakdown. Lego Dacta Control Lab. This controls: The two signals. The first signal has red on port A, and green on port B. The second signal has red on port C, and green on port D. Each light is a Power Functions LED (the second bulb is hidden inside the control box beside the signal). The two switches. One of the switch motors is on port E, the other is on port F. These are Power Functions medium motors. The 9v track on port H. The Metroliner 4558 has a 9v motor. Lego Education WeDo (1.0). There are two hubs, each with two distance/motion sensors attached. The first hub powers the "Far away" side, and is used to detect trains approaching one side, while detecting trains at the end of the other side. The second hub powers the "near" side, and does the opposite. Lego Powered Up hub and Lego Control+ Medium motor powering the Crocodile 10277. MacBook Pro running the Node.js/Typescript code that powers this, utilizing some libraries I've written and open sourced. The WeDo's are plugged straight in via USB, the Control Lab has a RS232 to USB converter cable. https://github.com/nathankellenicki/node-poweredup/ https://github.com/nathankellenicki/node-wedo/ https://github.com/nathankellenicki/node-controllab/ The automation goes as follows: Track switches are set. Light is set to green. Train is slowly sped up until predefined max speed. Train does three loops. On the third loop, as the train passes the signal, it is set back to red. Train slowly comes to a stop in front of the red signal. Go back to step 1 for the other track/train. Hope you enjoy. :)

I've removed the rubber bands from leading and trailing wheels (both sides), leading them only on the powered wheels in the middle only (both sides). It runs very well for me on both 9v and plastic track, straight and curved. :)

You're absolutely right, I missed that! Apparently it's TI - I don't know where I got it in my head it was Nordic. :) Not ESB then - just tricky to sniff!

Yep, I think there's some confusion. :) Perhaps I wasn't clear about the remote to begin with. My comments about the remote are more because while I'm aware it does advertise the same BLE services and characteristics as other hubs, even using the same LWP protocol for advertising its buttons as internally attached devices, it doesn't appear to work the same way when connecting to other hubs. There appears to be a bonding process used to pair the two together. In addition, my efforts in sniffing the packets when a remote and hub are connected together have been fruitless when using the BTLE profile in Wireshark, which leads me to suspect it might not be BLE at all? I believe all Powered Up devices use some variation of Nordic chipsets for their BLE capabilities, which are capable of a custom protocol called Nordic ESB (Enhanced Shockburst). I've seen this used in other products where both sides use a Nordic chipset, so they negotiate a change to use ESB instead of BLE. https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/intro-to-shockburstenhanced-shockburst I could be wrong about the ESB part and just be sniffing the connection wrong though. :)

This is very cool! I wonder if you can get the PUP handset/remote to connect to your custom hub directly? :)

I don't believe Apple did anything specific for it either, so I took a little look at the NQC codebase to see how it's doing it. It looks like it doesn't use drivers on macOS - it opens a IO file to the USB device and speaks the raw protocol, sending and receiving bytes and interpreting them, bypassing the need for a driver since it does all the work. On Windows it looks like it has a header file that maps to the functions in the driver. As a result the macOS implementation in NQC has a lot more code, but doesn't need a driver.

Catalina is 64bit, but I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with how it works with the USB tower. I assume no driver is required on macOS and the NQC binary speaks the protocol natively, but I’m not sure. I certainly didn’t install any.

One other thing to add to this: there are a couple of projects actively maintaining NQC on modern systems. I've used https://github.com/BrickBot/nqc just this week using the USB tower on macOS Catalina with no issues. :)

This is honestly the part I'm waiting for. I don't have much use for this without it, but that's a game changer. :)

If this project does get made (and I really hope it does!), Lego/you will have to get creative there - as a general rule, Lego set designers are allowed 2-4 unique new parts (or unique recolours, or unique printed pieces) per 1,000 pieces in the set. Basically any piece that takes up a new bin slot in the warehouse. Might have to be a few stickers instead! :)