kbalage

The "dumb hub" is a potential future Powered Up hub without Bluetooth control, only to provide power like the PF battery box. I really wish TLG had a proper naming convention for the Powered Up parts before they start the rollout... the AAA hub is simply called "Hub" or "Bluetooth-controlled battery hub". The AA hub is not sold separately so we don't know the official name but usually referred to as "smart hub" in the set descriptions. Anyway, since 42109 inexplicably comes with the AA hub despite the fact that it only has 2 motors I don't expect any future Technic set to be released with the smaller hub.

@allanp we all want to know more but there's no additional information yet about the release date or what the update will bring to the app. Honestly I would not have very high expectations based on the previous updates and the gradual approach, so don't expect fully customisable controls, advanced combinations etc. Realistically I'm expecting a basic multi-hub support and support for the Technic hub and the L/XL motors with specific code blocks. I'm sure the whole structure and concept will be the expansion of the current layout and code blocks that you can see in the Powered Up app. This means a visual programming approach, all actions and behaviors built with task-specific code blocks.

Currently only one, only the Control+ profile for the Liebherr set can control 2 Technic hubs but that's only working with that specific set. Theoretically you could control at least 5 devices simultaneously since you can create a network of 5 hubs with the train remote. We'll see the reality once the multi-hub support will be added to the app.

Btw there's one thing that supports the F&F theory and could explain why this set is revealed somewhat later. The next F&F movie comes next May and nothing is officially published about it yet. Based on the rumors and the timing schedule of the previous F&F movies the first trailer is expected around mid-December. If the set is really based on the movie then it can be revealed at the same time.

Probably wrecked with only 2 wheels left?

@lambu76 you need to make sure the servo and the gear rack is centered during building. Otherwise it can happen because of the Servo not being perfectly centered after a while, I have that phenomenon as well with some of them. @iLego there's no intermediate gear in the steering here, might be also because of the gear play as you mentioned.

That can be achieved by simply limiting the output level. The latest version of the Powered Up app has a new control interface for cars with a joystick and a boost/nitro button. By default the output level with the joystick is set to 80% and you can get 100% with the press of the button.

@Cut the Kragle the real problem is not with the fine from the FTC. The problem is that YouToube retains the rights to mark your video as "for kids" content and you will not be able to disagree. If the video is marked for kids then it is basically flushed down the toilet, no notifications, no comments, no recommendations, no viewers.

@Cut the Kragle if you upload anything to YouTube your content will be available in the US, therefore you need to comply with their law unless you can make sure your content is not available in that county.

The way I see this whole story: COPPA is not about copyright or anything similar. This US law is about children's rights and privacy and it is not something new, has been around for a while. On paper you need to be at least 13 years old (in the US) to have a Google account so theoretically no kids are using YouTube while they are logged in, but meanwhile Google promoted their platform to the advertisers as the best way to target kids. With this they admitted to track kids without parental consent, they received a nice fine of $170 Million. Now they want to push all the responsibility to content creators and also make sure that any video that has a potentially kid-targeted content will be totally featureless with zero tracking (no comments, no notifications, no info cards etc etc) therefore they can wash their hands. Btw they don't say that ads won't show on these videos, but they won't be "personalized". This basically means that advertisers will pay the fraction for these kind of ads. Youtube gives you the opportunity to comply with the law (according to their interpretation), but that dumbs the service down completely, not even your subscribers will watch your videos unless they go to your channel on a daily basis. Since YouTube's algorithm pushes the content that has more interaction, these videos will be pretty much shadow banned. You can choose to say your content is not for kids, but then you're threatened with a $40k fine per video coming from the US. It is still unclear btw what happens if YouTube flags your video automatically and you disagree with it, I guess you'll be able to dispute but not sure what happens then. The main problem is with the law - it is extremely vague without any clear definition. You can't and won't be able to tell what is exactly "made for children". The age limit in the US is 13, just image what can be interesting for a 13 year old kid. Basically everything about toys, cars, video games, movies, half of YouTube's current content can be affected. The outcome is totally unknown at this point. If there won't be any clarification about the law and people really will start to receive fines that'll be the end of YouTube as we know it.

@johnnym thanks, I spent a lot of time with the front area. About the gearing - The 24Ts are driving a 8T and there's another 16T/16T pair before the usual 20T and the differential, that is the faster gearing. In the slower version the 16Ts are replaced with a 12T/20T combination to make it suitable for indoor play (even in Ludicrous mode) and to avoid stressing the components too much

Here's my RC version after a nose job :)

No need to pair it, just use the app to connect

The app already supports them at some level, but you won't really be able to use it for steering even if there'll be full support. Every time you switch on your hub you'll need to make sure the steering is centered because that will become the zero position for the Boost M motor.

The Boost M motor does not have absolute zero, that's the difference compared to the L/XL motors.

Being a bit late to the party I thought Halloween is the perfect time to make a video with this set :)

@agrof thank you, a full movie would be tough but never say never @Didumos69 probably you could add it as a remark/extra option, if someone wants to use it as a hardcore offroader with locked diffs I'm sure that person has a few extra pieces Using it as a real rock crawler has its consequences anyway so spare/replacement parts are definitely needed:

There was some difference on flat surface but on the rocks it was not really noticeable.

@Didumos69 you're very welcome, thank you for the great design! I was very lucky with the weather, we had the last warm days of autumn and the Danube's water level was low enough to approach this area, otherwise it's usually under water. Let me know if you decide to come here and I'll show you some other great spots to explore (with LEGO RC cars of course )!

I took the model out to have some fun and I'm still smiling

But to make it more complicated the Boost M motor only has relative positioning which means the zero postition resets every time you turn it on. Because of this it cannot be properly used as a servo. The L and XL motors have absolute positioning with a a hardware zero postition.

There's a 2 port hub with AAA batteries and 2 types of M motors available. They won't work for steering though, at least one L motor is needed for that.

The Control+ app was updated to 1.0.3, the connection bug at phase 2 testing is fixed. The app can now connect to the second hub with a single motor attached.

Instead of testing your equipment in complicated MOCs you can try to build a very simple vehicle with your PF parts and check the performance compared to BuWizz. Depending on the batteries used it has to be comparable to the normal/fast settings of BuWizz.

I use LDCad for building and LPub3D to create the instructions. You need some practice and tinkering to get it right but works in general. I also tried Stud.io but I was not really happy with the interface. The benefits for me in this setup: can work perfectly with soft axles, motor cables etc. I can easily add unofficial parts The software has a CAD-like interface and handling, I was working with other 3D design applications previously so it is familiar The ability to see and edit the code parallel to building