BuWizz - High Performance LEGO Power Functions Controller and Battery

[shroomzofdoom]

10 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

Thank you for the form factor praise, I tried to implement as many connection features a spossible. Regarding axle hole, It's a feature, not a bug! I've designed the axle in same way as a train motor, so it acts like a safety clutch. So if you try to force spin the motor, it protects the internals from overloading and breaking. The small sacrifice of loosing clutch power and accuracy is worth protecting the internal gearing mechanism in my opinion.

Good to know! 

[Zerobricks]

4 hours ago, amorti said:

Just to chip in on the "bw3 dead battery" issue. The box has an accelerometer which is used for "shake to wake". I guess that keeping that alive uses >0 amps, such that over a long time it would pull the battery below where a cell can be revived.

@Zerobricks could you tell us more about the new disconnect feature mentioned in the app update? The lack of a failsafe in case of disconnects is what caused me and @aFrInaTi0n to set our RC motorcycle projects aside for ages. You can probably imagine what happens if a 25km/h motorcycle gets out of range and, as the previous software, just continues on full throttle. So it would be good for testing purposes, to know what we can expect it to do now. I assume if ping without pong, then stop all motors?

Thet refers to recentering the servo once reconnected.

[pankov]

4 hours ago, amorti said:

Just to chip in on the "bw3 dead battery" issue. The box has an accelerometer which is used for "shake to wake". I guess that keeping that alive uses >0 amps, such that over a long time it would pull the battery below where a cell can be revived.

I thought about this too but on all BW3 devices I have this function disabled so I presume it shouldn't be the cause of the issue ... or can I be wrong here?

[amorti]

8 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

Thet refers to recentering the servo once reconnected.

So, is that all? Is it still going to run wide open throttle until it hits something or reconnects, if it disconnected with WOT?

[Aurorasaurus]

3 hours ago, amorti said:

So, is that all? Is it still going to run wide open throttle until it hits something or reconnects, if it disconnected with WOT?

;) come to the dark side, we have more range than you have space to play with

Hopefully buwizz 4 uses proper radio control.

[amorti]

30 minutes ago, Aurorasaurus said:

;) come to the dark side, we have more range than you have space to play with

Hopefully buwizz 4 uses proper radio control.

It's so tempting, but a big part of my fun in MOCing comes from using stud.io and eventually uploading instructions. The brushless world wouldn't offer that.

Also I feel like the setup costs could be quite a lot? I don't have any part of what's needed nor the knowledge. So battery, charger, transmitter, receiver, speed control, geek servo, etc.

Eh, maybe one day. Maybe.

[Aurorasaurus]

59 minutes ago, amorti said:

It's so tempting, but a big part of my fun in MOCing comes from using stud.io and eventually uploading instructions. The brushless world wouldn't offer that.

Also I feel like the setup costs could be quite a lot? I don't have any part of what's needed nor the knowledge. So battery, charger, transmitter, receiver, speed control, geek servo, etc.

Eh, maybe one day. Maybe.

We're off topic now, but I'll say this much: I think I got my brushless setup for around the same price as a buwizz 3 unit, give or take a bit.

[shroomzofdoom]

 

Edited January 31 by shroomzofdoom

[aFrInaTi0n]

Just a little FYI for MOC Creators: @Philo updated the parts pack for his Buwizz models not have those sticking out boxes anymore showing in the latest Studio versions.

The parts-pack has been updated and needs to be re-downloaded and put into the CustomPArts folder again.

 

Big thanks to again Philo! :)

[msk6003]

Seems like one of my BW3 is drained to much. It doesn't charge even I pluged on mobile phone charger least 4~6 hours.

Is there is any possible way to revive it?

[NV Lego technic]

Maybe get a replacement battery if nothing else works.

[shroomzofdoom]

23 hours ago, msk6003 said:

Seems like one of my BW3 is drained to much. It doesn't charge even I pluged on mobile phone charger least 4~6 hours.

Is there is any possible way to revive it?

I've not done it for BW, but when my cordless drill battery dipped too low, I connected it to a bench power source for a minute to get it above the threshold. After this, the battery would charge normally. If it's gone through too many charge/drain cycles it may be easier just to replace it. I buy the BW batteries a few at a time so I have a few spares on hand. They're cheap enough.

[SAM1626]

On 4/24/2025 at 10:45 AM, shroomzofdoom said:

I buy the BW batteries a few at a time so I have a few spares on hand. They're cheap enough.

Too relatable!!!!!!!!! I am practically addicted to buwizz 3.0 pro. I literally don't have enough buckets to store them. after counting them I now know that I have 132 batteries

[gyenesvi]

I've been testing the Buwizz app lately as I wanted to use the new PU motor speed control feature for the truck trial event in the Buwizz camp, but man, this app is just not getting any better. For one, steering is just even worse than it was, calibration not running properly, sudden movements to one side breaking my model all the time on startup/shutdown, drifting off center during use, and stuttering heavily. As for the speed control feature, it worked nicely for a simple model, but when I wanted to control 3 motors at the same time, it's just acting weirdly; sometimes not moving, sometimes making sudden jumps (also on shutdown). Even the UI is confusing; when I set up a speed control module, I set which lever it controls, but then when I want to connect the same speed controller to another motor, I cannot select it again, unless I associate it again with the same lever. I don't know if this unnecessary re-mapping process might screw up something..

Anyways, I've been tinkering with the BW protocol again, testing things, and I think I have also found another bug in the FW. When I switch to speed/angle control mode, sometimes there's a sudden motor movement. I have been monitoring the PID controller state, and I see that in these cases the PID state is not zero after the switch, that may cause the jump, as there is activation in the PID controller. I think the PID state might get filled with some garbage when the motor is running in normal power mode, or due to other FW commands, and it's not cleared before switching to a mode that would use the PID controller. Shame, because this way it is impossible to make a controller that would do speed control with one button and power control with another..

Also, I tried if I can send (normal PF) power control commands while in (PU) speed control mode; that has no effect (even though both could work at the same time, the PU mode should only effect PU commands). So that way again it's not possible to use both power/speed control simultaneously. What I'd like to achieve is precise speed with one button and max power with the other.

BTW, I never understood how the BC2 app can get the steering so smooth, but now I also got to understand that; it probably just uses the default PID settings of the FW :) With the FW default, steering control is quite smooth, not much stuttering. The BW app manages to overwrite the FW default, and probably that causes all the non-smooth steering. Fantastic.. This is why everyone uses BC2 even in the BW event.