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kbalage

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Everything posted by kbalage

  1. kbalage
    There's a clear overshoot with the Control+ app as well if you remove the motor from the vehicle, you can check in the video below. In the car the axle is limited physically to turn only +/- 90 degrees so the effect is not visible. Additional fun fact - the Control+ app does not turn the servo full 90 degrees, it's a bit less. The stuttering is also visible if you try to steer the L and XL motors (especially the XL) with the Powered Up app's control blocks.
  2. kbalage
    Based on my rudimentary tests the torque of the PF and PU L & XL motors is pretty similar if you gear them to a similar speed. Can't wait to see a proper comparison from Philo.
  3. kbalage
    You can still order if you call them.
  4. kbalage
    Yes they have but you can't use the Control+ app for that. You can use them currently with the 2-port hub and the Powered Up app, but the blocks in the app will allow only relative positioning (zero will be the turn-on position).
  5. kbalage
    @Mr Hobbles there is an absolute zero on the L and XL motors just like the Spike Prime motors have one, as I see the protocol documentation lacks the proper description how to use it. I just did a test - physically restricted the motor to be able to move only between 0 and 90 degrees (0 selected to be where it is normally for the car). Then I wiped the app's data so there was no information stored. Turned the motor to 45 degrees manually, then connected it to the app. In this case 45 degrees became the relative 0. Started the calibration process, the motor was only able to turn between 0 and 90 degrees but despite this it still correctly reassigned the relative 0 to the absolute 0. This would be impossible without having an internal absolute zero. I did the test again with the motor turned by 180 degrees, result is the same.
  6. kbalage
    @Mr Hobbles the situation with the calibration is more complex than that. The left/right steering is used to determine the range of motion, but it is not used to define an average center position. You can simply test it by blocking the movement on one side, the center position will still be the correct one. I think the app actually selects the 0/90/180/270 degrees position that falls within the measured range and sets it as zero.
  7. kbalage
    @blondasek the Control+ app won't connect to the hub if the led is connected. You can either wait for the Powered Up app's update to support the hub or use a game controller and the BrickController 2 app (currently the Android version support the new hub and it lacks calibration for the steering).
  8. kbalage
    You need to take my word for this, I wrote the post. The information comes from a Powered Up-related workgroup where I participated. Control+ was designed to be set-specific, the Powered Up app will be the one that'll have customisation abilities and that will support all hardware in the "family".
  9. kbalage
    @AFOLegofan66 what's wrong with the rechargeable AA/AAAs? A device with a built in LiPo battery can be thrown away if the battery fails. With the rechargeable batteries you have much more flexibility.
  10. kbalage
    Here's my review of the B model:
  11. kbalage
    It's not that difficult actually, here's a blog post and a video that might help. You can't expect to have backwards compatibility forever if you want to create a system that introduces real new features. PF was around for 10 years, it was not prepared physically to have all the interactive functions introduced with Powered Up. The necessity of the mobile app is debatable, but all the 3rd party systems for Power Functions (that were praised previously) are using a similar mobile-based approach. The intention of LEGO is pretty clear IMHO - they want to have a platform where all components are using the same connector and same protocol (which is open source) to enable the widest range of devices to work together and also enable the development of 3rd party applications. Each product line will have their own basic control set (app) for the straightforward out-of-the-box experience, but the Powered Up app will be also the one that will be able to control all devices in the family.
  12. kbalage
    As far as I know they did not put it on the Technic motors because they thought the graphics would be too small to see compared to the Spike Prime motors. Unlike the PF Servo this motor is symmetrical so there are more possibilities to build it in. I expect that the PU app will give us the ability to set any 90 degrees position as zero so you only need to do it once when you set up controls for your model.
  13. kbalage
    Probably because despite the look 9398 and 42099 are in a very different league out of the box so most people (like myself) modded 42099 to match the speed of 9398 so the comparison would be more realistic. I showed briefly my BuWizz-powered 41999 replica in the latest video for comparison. The other reason might be the lack of time so far, not everyone has a modded 9398 on the shelf :) I had an XL motor powered 9398 previously with BuWizz, might rebuild for another comparison.
  14. kbalage
    There are a couple of gearing solutions between the original and the super-slow version. For a balance between speed and power I suggest a simple swap of one pair of gears so you'll have 1:1 gearing between the motor and the differential, to max out the crawling capabilities (taking into consideration the limits of the diffs and the ground clearance) the best is to swap one pair and replace the other pair with 2 16t gears:
  15. kbalage
    That's true. The issue with the current Servo support of BrickController 2 is that it still uses the relative positioning commands for the motor instead of the absolute positioning commands. This means zero will be the position of the motor/wheels where they were when the connection was established with the hub.
  16. kbalage
    The calibration process in the Control+ app only defines the zero position, and the app selects the 90 degrees position for that which falls in the measured range of motion. The range of servo is fixed, you can easily test it if you re-run the calibration and hold the wheels to limit the test range. After the calibration you'll still have the exact same servo range. This means if you use the Control+ app (and there's nothing else at them moment that could properly use the steering function) the servo range is fixed, and you also need to use the 2 XL motors for propulsion otherwise the app won't even connect to the hub. Btw it is possible to launch the app with all motors connected and later disconnect but I don't think this is a viable option. Better wait until the Powered Up app is updated with proper controls.
  17. kbalage
    The latest version already has a basic support for the Technic hub. Control+ is only the set-specific app to control 42099 (and 42100 when it is released).
  18. kbalage
    You can play with the gearing in the original setup, it allows a wide range of reduction and the gears are well secured so you won't have any clicking. That does not help with the ground clearance though :)
  19. kbalage
    The Servo behaviour you see in the video is designed for 42099 and it works pretty well there (btw it is also mechanically restricted). We still don't know how the servo function will work once the proper control block for the absolute positioning arrives to the Powered Up app.
  20. kbalage
    @Jurss if you swap one set of gears that's a good balance between speed and climbing abilities. Swapping both sets will make it very slow and you won't really be able to use the power as it will tip over sooner than running out of power (or the differentials will ruin the game).
  21. kbalage
    @SNIPE Powered Up is the product family (can be PF 2.0) including "City" Powered Up, Boost, Spike Prime, "Technic" Powered Up, WeDo 2.0, even the DUPLO train. Control+ is the set specific app for Technic. The Powered Up app includes the set specific controls for the trains and the Batmobile but that includes the free programming interface and will be the central "hub" to control all Powered Up components. Here's a summary about it if you're interested.
  22. kbalage
    For 42099 the protection kicks in relatively earls because of the gearing. If you swap the gears for the crawler mode then there's no obstacle that would trigger the protection sooner than it does for 9398. Btw if we directly compare when the protection kicks in for PU XL and PF XL then the PU hub shuts the motor down somewhat sooner but the difference is not that significant. You can check it here (comparing that towards the end of the video):
  23. kbalage
    Except that they don't support proper servo control yet unfortunately. 42099 is again a victim of its look, if it looks like a crawler then everyone expects crawler performance. TLG missed the perfect opportunity of providing the laziest but still ingenious B model instructions officially - simply swap the gears and tadaaa, you've got a crawler :)
  24. kbalage
    If the Control+ app and the default functionality is not satisfactory enough then simply don't buy it yet, wait until the app support will be better. No one is forced to jump on the Powered Up wagon immediately, Power Functions is still here and very much usable.
  25. kbalage
    No, that's simply a question of "when will it happen".
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