Technic Pub

[Vectormatic]

2 hours ago, AkiyamaWataru said:

Maybe it is not so much caring but knowledge. And for the Porsche it might be vetoed out bei Porsche. Think about the 4 wheel steering....

On the other end who knows much about engines and stuff? Enthousiasts and mechanics...... maybe the problem was lying there....

I doubt there isnt at least one guy at lego who knows his mechanics, especially in the technic design team, but there might be more reasons we dont really know, in the end the current fake engine parts look good enough for most technic fans, and i will admit that i am one of the more detail obsessed people here probably. I just find it odd that both the porsche and the BMW motorcycle, vehicles known in enthusiast circles explicitly for their boxer engines, would get 180 degree V-engines. If i had been on either the porsche or BMW liaison team, i would have tried very hard to get lego to make a proper boxer engine.

 

Efferman pretty much ruled out printed parts by the way, cross axle/receptor stuff doesnt work well enough with current printing tech, the prints just arent accurate enough to give a secure connection. He suggested a one piece crank with clip-on conrods

I might dick around a bit to see what i can do with regular unmodified parts, but i think ill end up buying some spare parts and modifying those to see where it goes.

[Rob Klingberg]

On 1/15/2017 at 2:55 AM, LXF said:

So, recently I got new rechargeable batteries - Ni-Zn 1'6V 2500mWh ones . Unfortunately , I was disgusted finding out that my 8881 battery box won't work with them. Quickly discovering that those batteries do work in an old rc train base (part 55455c01 ) I tested the 8881 with alkaline 1'5V batteries - it did work. 

My question is , do I have to overcome ( solder a wire over it) this element in the circuit board ( marked with the arrow ) to be able to use these 1'6 batteries ?

Image courtesy of Philohome

The part the arrow points to is called a resettable fuse.  It seems to appear in slightly older versions of the battery box.  These typically have a dull, yellowish green power indicator LED, while the newer boxes have bright, darker green LEDs.  Unfortunately that seems to be the only way to tell them apart from the outside-- they have the exact same part number and look identical from the outside.  The job of the resettable fuse is to keep power (current) output from going above a set level.  What this means is that, if you are driving a heavy load *OR* (in your case, likely) if you are using batteries that have a lower voltage or lower current capacity than standard Alkalines, the fuse gets tripped earlier and more often than it should.  The most common indication of this will be lights flashing many times per second, or motors not operating near capacity.  My guess is that LEGO realized the circuit board with the fuse was a design mistake, which is why the fuse is absent from the newer versions of the box.  It simply is not needed, and it does much more harm than good by interrupting power flow when it shouldn't.  I don't know what can be done about the version of the circuit with the fuse on it-- I've not tried bridging it or removing it.  There are other components on this version of the circuit board that are also missing from the newer version, so I can't say what impact bridging the fuse wold have on the overall operation.  Best bet is to find a newer box.  How to do that?  I just buy them 10 at a time from LEGO and check the color of the LEDs. :-)

Here is a photo (not the best quality) of the newer version of the circuit board-- you can see the fuse is missing.  In the background of the photo is the old version, with the fuse.

 

Edited January 24, 2017 by Rob Klingberg
Added photo.

[legotechnicisawesome]

12 hours ago, Rob Klingberg said:

The part the arrow points to is called a resettable fuse.  It seems to appear in slightly older versions of the battery box.  These typically have a dull, yellowish green power indicator LED, while the newer boxes have bright, darker green LEDs.  Unfortunately that seems to be the only way to tell them apart from the outside-- they have the exact same part number and look identical from the outside.  The job of the resettable fuse is to keep power (current) output from going above a set level.  What this means is that, if you are driving a heavy load *OR* (in your case, likely) if you are using batteries that have a lower voltage or lower current capacity than standard Alkalines, the fuse gets tripped earlier and more often than it should.  The most common indication of this will be lights flashing many times per second, or motors not operating near capacity.  My guess is that LEGO realized the circuit board with the fuse was a design mistake, which is why the fuse is absent from the newer versions of the box.  It simply is not needed, and it does much more harm than good by interrupting power flow when it shouldn't.  I don't know what can be done about the version of the circuit with the fuse on it-- I've not tried bridging it or removing it.  There are other components on this version of the circuit board that are also missing from the newer version, so I can't say what impact bridging the fuse wold have on the overall operation.  Best bet is to find a newer box.  How to do that?  I just buy them 10 at a time from LEGO and check the color of the LEDs. :-)

Here is a photo (not the best quality) of the newer version of the circuit board-- you can see the fuse is missing.  In the background of the photo is the old version, with the fuse.

 

ahh so thats the difference between the light and dark lights on the battery boxes... i have 4 of the old one and 3 of the new one and i was woundering what the difference is, thanks for sharing!

[syclone]

@Rob Klingberg  Thanks for the detailed explanation, I was fortunate enough to have a broken Battery Box and asked to the Customer Service for a replacement.  Both of my battery boxes (or what is left of them) are the old version (yes, I dismantled them and even modded one to fit a 9v battery) so hopefully I will be provided with a newer version. The problem was that the higher voltage batteries (1'6 instead of 1'5) weren't working with that battery box design, even without load. And having in mind my abilities to solder (50% is a fail) it was better to ask before doing something dumb. 

Thanks for the explanation of the batterybox circuit, it clarified a lot of things to me! 

[legotechnicisawesome]

oh.. just rembered that one of my m motors has a problem where it wont let the battery boxes turn on when it is pluged in but they are fine when that m motor isn't pluged it... do you know what could cause this? it would be nice to get it working again!

[Lasse D]

1 hour ago, legotechnicisawesome said:

oh.. just rembered that one of my m motors has a problem where it wont let the battery boxes turn on when it is pluged in but they are fine when that m motor isn't pluged it... do you know what could cause this? it would be nice to get it working again!

It sounds like it has been short circuited. Try to power it using another M motor as generator to see if it will even move.

[syclone]

Effectively, I received a new style battery box (the LED is of a different green and there are some small aesthetic changes in the box itself. And the most important - it does work!

https://flic.kr/p/RtWEHf

Edited January 25, 2017 by LXF

[Zerobricks]

So new battery boxes have no current limiters? Which means you can use them with PF2.0 receivers and RC motors?

[Rob Klingberg]

49 minutes ago, LXF said:

Effectively, I received a new style battery box (the LED is of a different green and there are some small aesthetic changes in the box itself. And the most important - it does work!

https://flic.kr/p/RtWEHf

Glad it works!

2 minutes ago, Zero (Zblj) said:

So new battery boxes have no current limiters? Which means you can use them with PF2.0 receivers and RC motors?

Correct, the new-style battery boxes have no current limiters.  Not sure if this means they will work with the parts you mentioned (I've tested with the PF 2.0 receiver but not an RC motor), but technically yes they should be able to put out as much current as the installed batteries will allow.

[Mantarri]

I noticed that we've got a new theme now, what do you guys think of it?

I personally prefer the old one (Sorry Jim).

[N-4K0]

I don't mind either part being used, but I feel like white for topics you've posted in is a little too faint. I think this should be changed to LBG, with DBG being used as "new posts" and e.g. red for "new posts in topics you've posted in".

Otherwise I like it.

[Jim]

2 hours ago, XtremeBuilder said:

I noticed that we've got a new theme now, what do you guys think of it?

I personally prefer the old one (Sorry Jim).

There's no new theme. I removed the Christmas decoration.

But I did change the icons to #1 connectors. We need three different states (new, read, unread), so we need three different colors. I tried a red connector, but it's rather IN YOUR FACE! So I used different shades of grey/white.

As usual, I don't mind suggestions. Must admit that I am not too sure about the white one either.

I can switch colors, so let me know what you think.

[AkiyamaWataru]

I'd have a selection to mark Pinned threads: Put a black pin with friction in the hole.

[Jay Psi]

@Jim Maybe a trans-red, dark red or reddish brown will work better than the regular red? I agree that red looks a bit garish, but I also think that white doesn't stand out enough on the light background.

Black could be another option, but the icon size could hide the pin hole. What about blue or dark blue, to match the colour of the schematic used in the Technic forum's banner?

[tgrbailey]

I think there needs to be some really good contrast between them so if going from Jim's selection above red, white and DBG

 

but ideally I'd go for something that can be yellow, dark blue and red so it is really clear! 

[syclone]

Maybe blue would work? ( still prefer 1x1 Technic bricks) 

Can someone explain me this : some of the unread topics are DBG and others are LBG. Why?  This was really confusing, and I mistake them for already read topics every time :( 

Edited January 29, 2017 by LXF

[dr_spock]

14 minutes ago, LXF said:

Maybe blue would work? ( still prefer 1x1 Technic bricks) 

Can someone explain me this : some of the unread topics are DBG and others are LBG. Why?  This was really confusing, and I mistake them for already read topics every time :( 

DBG means an unread topic that you have commented in.

LBG means an unread topic that you have not commented in.

 

 

[Jim]

The 1x1 Technic bricks weren't really crisp. That's why I wanted to change them. I have "borrowed" these connectors from Rebrickable. I will drop Nathan a line if that's okay.

To all of you; if you are used to working with graphical programs, feel free to make a suggestion for new icons. Bear in mind that the width needs to be 22 pixels. Height can vary.

[zux]

4 hours ago, dr_spock said:

DBG means an unread topic that you have commented in.

LBG means an unread topic that you have not commented in.

While I know this, I still, somehow, getting confused with LBG - my brain keeps thinking is "already read". 

How about using these connectors just in Black (commented in topic) as it has good contrast and DBG (not commented) which is slightly lighter than Black instead?

Edited January 29, 2017 by zux

[syclone]

I don't really like to see a difference between these , that's why I prefer 1x1 bricks , the don't jump out and mix great with the forum.

[JJ2]

I think it would be better if it showed nothing if it was a thread you have not viewed but it just has the title in BOLD. then it could have a LBG #1 connector if you had commented on it and a DBG #1 if you had commented on it and it was unread.

[legolijntje]

5 hours ago, Jim said:

The 1x1 Technic bricks weren't really crisp. That's why I wanted to change them. I have "borrowed" these connectors from Rebrickable. I will drop Nathan a line if that's okay.

To all of you; if you are used to working with graphical programs, feel free to make a suggestion for new icons. Bear in mind that the width needs to be 22 pixels. Height can vary.

Nathan is like extremely busy at the moment upgrading/fixing/'firefighting' the new major Rebrickable 'V3' update, so I don't know if he'll reply very quickly 

But in the end, I believe these images come from Lego itself, so I think it's not that big of a deal.

[Tommy Styrvoky]

What about using 16z gears for the posts.

[syclone]

+1 about the gears ^^

Edited January 29, 2017 by LXF

[Jim]

Hmmm could indeed work. But we would still need a third one.

The red one?

2 hours ago, Tommy Styrvoky said:

What about using 16z gears for the posts.

Can you post the third one? Maybe the red version?