BuWizz - High Performance LEGO Power Functions Controller and Battery

[kbalage]

@Zerobricks we appreciate your proactivity here on the forum, but I don't think anyone was personally attacking you. We really like BuWizz 3.0 and would love to use all its features and functionalities, but at the moment not all features are fully functional that you advertise on the webpage. I think it is a completely understandable request from your customers to get a roadmap which shows when you are planning to implement all these features, and also when you are planning to release the information you promised. 

[wower]

16 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

Please understand that currently lots of people are on holidays, I just returned from a 2 week long work-related trip

Also understand that we are a very small team trying our best, you think I as a MOC builder don't want these features and issues resolved ASAP?

Personally I'm replying to this forum at this hour out of my own good will and attacking me will just push me away.

Not attacking you.. just saying I heard these excuses for delays or  pretty much any other issue (too) often.. especially considering the rather high price you demand for your device I suppose I am not the only customer to expect true transparency instead of delays, excuses and empty phrases.

If you're a true MOC builder, why do you release a product which isn't final (and without gamepad support)?

Sorry, I really am a big buwizz fan and spent lots of money with you.. just finding my patience limited now after this buwizz3 delays and issue marathon :-/

 

[Zerobricks]

2 minutes ago, wower said:

Not attacking you.. just saying I heard these excuses for delays or  pretty much any other issue (too) often.. especially considering the rather high price you demand for your device I suppose I am not the only customer to expect true transparency instead of delays, excuses and empty phrases.

If you're a true MOC builder, why do you release a product which isn't final (and without gamepad support)?

Sorry, I really am a big buwizz fan and spent lots of money with you.. just finding my patience limited now after this buwizz3 delays and issue marathon :-/

 

Please understand I'm here to provide support for the issues and that I'm not the person in charge of the team. I sympathize with the issues, and as mentioned before I would like to see all the things implemented and working. Trust me, I am working hard and pushing to have them fixed almost every day, but it involves a lot of external factors we can't control.

Regarding release, if we delay the product a few months to polish it, people are unhappy. If we release it without full support, people are unhappy. There is simply no way to please everyone.

Regarding gamepad support, there is no gampead available which supports BLE, so we can't directly support it, but only via a third party app.

[wower]

6 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

Please understand I'm here to provide support for the issues and that I'm not the person in charge of the team. I sympathize with the issues, and as mentioned before I would like to see all the things implemented and working. Trust me, I am working hard and pushing to have them fixed almost every day, but it involves a lot of external factors we can't control.

Regarding release, if we delay the product a few months to polish it, people are unhappy. If we release it without full support, people are unhappy. There is simply no way to please everyone.

Regarding gamepad support, there is no gampead available which supports BLE, so we can't directly support it, but only via a third party app.

Your support here is appreciated!

Well.. we see these pre-order drama/marketing-hype/employee crunch scenarios in many industries. I guess though, taking my money many months in advance and stressing yourself, causing both a delay and an unfinished product in the end wasn't really necessary/the only option for Buwizz. But anyway..

Direct support of gamepads would be smooth of course but indirect like brickcontroller2 app (developed by one man if I got it right) works fine also (missing BW3 support as of yet though). Just seems like buwizz should be capable to have that function as well for such a premium price..no?

Edited August 1, 2021 by wower
typo

[Aerolight]

Anyone else getting lowered than advertised current?

I was not getting the power I expected from my home brew motors and when I checked the current display it showed; with one motor on each pf output the current was only 1.8 amps (any higher than this the brick would shutdown and require being plugged back in where an audible click could be heard.

This is less than half of the current advertised (with one motor the current values are lower than advertised but by not such a large margin; goes into overload at 2.6 amps when the sustained should be 4amps)

I know I am running motors it was not designed for but that should not affect the current/power it can output.

So I don't know if mine is defective, the current display is inaccurate or the tech specs on the website are a tad optimistic. 

What values are you getting from yours?

[Zerobricks]

What BuWizz are you refering to? 

BuWizz 2.0 can provide around a total of around 5A at almost 11V.

BuWizz 3.0 max current is 7A at over 12 V. 

I regulary reach over 3A per PF port while testing my models on my BuWizz 3.0.

[Aerolight]

Buwizz 3.0 and i just connected 4 pu motors to find one port does not work but still lights up, I don't need 4 outputs anyway so I don't mind much but if I could be getting 3 amps per channel that would be a large improvement as port 1 starts flashing red when both pf outputs only show 1.5 amps. Thanks for your help.

edit- just tried  stock lego motors on both outputs and the brick will flash red on port 1 then shut down at a sustained output under 1.9 amps for both. Not sure why but it does show a higher shutdown current for stock motors than my modded ones; about 20% 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Aerolight
stock test

[HectorMB]

On 7/31/2021 at 3:54 PM, keymaker said:

I put together a simple frame to test motors and buwizz 3.0. Power of motors is astonishing, but I have problem with return to center steering. Front of my frame is taken from 42124, so it should not be a problem of weak construction etc. But at the current state, even with calibration, Buwizz 3.0 with L C+ motor for steering is unusable. Did you guys come across similar problmes? I saw similar posts, but maybe something has changed since then?

I noticed that, indeed, even with calibrating it, I experience the same issue.

[Aerolight]

Just did some tests with a buggy, the steering works well but u need to restrict the movement at the motor for good results.

With my m motors the buggy is rapid about 20mph and faster accelerating than my old nitro rc, hard to control with a phone but makes up for it by spinning its wheels on tarmac. 

In this test I was still getting low sustained power (donuts on tarmac low lol), under 2 amps per channel. But saw the highest peak yet at 3.6 amps per channel but the brick instantly bricked and needed to be pluged in. 

I want to buy another buwizz to power my motors individually but will have to wait a bit for the coffers to replenish. And how do they control if you have multiple bricks; if u have one brick powering one wheel and another brick powering the other how in sink would they be?

@Zerobricks If u are getting over 3 amps sustained for a single channel then I guess mine is faulty (hard to believe as it is already so good) as even on a single channel I don't get a sustained current over 2.6. But if you mean a split second of over 3 amps then I would think mine is fine.

[Toastie]

On 8/7/2021 at 3:12 PM, Zerobricks said:

BuWizz 3.0 max current is 7A at over 12 V. 

That is insane!

This accounts to at least 120 Watts. How does the battery (in the BuWizz) do that? I am really curious, because that is a true game changer (not the electronics, that is fine, it is the battery/power supply I am interested in).

Also, what kind of wiring are you using? Pumping 7A through regular PF motor cable must be heating it up. Also, PF motors are natively protected by PTCs; do you take them out?

Or do I miss something?

Best
Thorsten

 

[wower]

I think at this point it's safe to assume that just "not all" of those marketing promises Buwizz made are true.

Steering doesn't work, the voltages are not there (mine also instantly bricks on a single buggy motor), people are having all sorts of issues.. and all official answers (not here, directly via Buwizz I mean) are kind of "yeah, we're working on it.. have faith".

You could't do this in a big firm but if all your clients are kids/nerdy adults who still play with Lego then apparently you get away with it. Shame.. personally I'm a big fan (still.. but that's the last thing I bought).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HectorMB]

Mines run regularly at 2A, and peak up to 3A, but just for a glimpse. They run fine, and deliver a lot of power, but I never get a regular run over 2.5A or similar. 

Edited August 11, 2021 by HectorMB

[Newest_Tech320]

Hi, my Buwizz 2.0 has been blinking red all day. I have charged it many times and it won't turn off or stop blinking red. What should I do?

[keymaker]

Testing my buwizz 3.0 with 2 buwizz motors and L C+ motor for steering I came across an interesting feature (It's not a bug, it's a feature! xD). Every time my MOC rollovers due to too tight turn, Buwizz loses center steering synchronization with L C+ motor. As a result wheels were locked in max left or max right position (I didn't check that carefully). After every such event center steering synchronization in buwizz app was needed.

Does anyone came across such behaviour? Or guys from Buwizz team, have you tested such scenarios? @Zerobricks are you familiar with such case?

[kbalage]

A similar anomaly happens with all of the apps (Control+, PU, BC2) so this might be a bug of the system itself.

[HectorMB]

44 minutes ago, keymaker said:

Testing my buwizz 3.0 with 2 buwizz motors and L C+ motor for steering I came across an interesting feature (It's not a bug, it's a feature! xD). Every time my MOC rollovers due to too tight turn, Buwizz loses center steering synchronization with L C+ motor. As a result wheels were locked in max left or max right position (I didn't check that carefully). After every such event center steering synchronization in buwizz app was needed.

Does anyone came across such behaviour? Or guys from Buwizz team, have you tested such scenarios? @Zerobricks are you familiar with such case?

Well, I just cannot synchronize the motor, so I'm afraid I cannot answer that...

[Gimmick]

1 hour ago, kbalage said:

A similar anomaly happens with all of the apps (Control+, PU, BC2) so this might be a bug of the system itself.

But since this occures on different sensor hardware, firmware, software and the motor by itself does not know anything about the models orientation, it sounds a bit like a wrong sign in the "go to position"-function when the angle exceeds the maximum calibration angle.

[gyenesvi]

1 hour ago, keymaker said:

As a result wheels were locked in max left or max right position

This happens to me regularly with the C+ app and the standard Technic hub, although I have not observed that it would correlate with the hub rolling over. Also, with the C+ app, no recalibration is needed for me, it is enough just to move the steering a bit, and then it goes back to center. Is that not enough in your case?

20 minutes ago, Gimmick said:

it sounds a bit like a wrong sign

By that, do you mean something like integer overflow in the software?

[Gimmick]

25 minutes ago, gyenesvi said:

By that, do you mean something like integer overflow in the software?

Not an overflow, more like a miscalculated direction of rotation, that occures when the reported current angle is above 100 % or below 0 % (who knows) of the calibrated area. But that's just a wild guess... However, if it happens to you regularly, it should be reproducible with a custom build/manually limited steering while calibrating - and reproducible bugs are likely to be fixed if reported with detailed information :) But again: Just a guess...

[kbalage]

The behavior is not that easy to reproduce, sometimes it happens, sometimes it does not. As I noticed it also happens when the vehicle does not get an input nor it is pushed beyond the "limits" so the cause might be something more complicated. I already reported it like ~2 years ago when it occurred with the very first sets like the Rally Car, but apparently it either did not get much attention or isn't that easy to eliminate. Or both...

[keymaker]

One more thing. I know it is nothing new, but I believe that we as Buwizz 3.0 and especially Buwizz motors users desperately need Buwizz to support some kind of manual, physical controllers (with proportional control ofc).

Touch screen isn't very useful when trying to control MOCs equipped with those monster Buwizz motors.

[wower]

On 8/17/2021 at 1:54 PM, keymaker said:

One more thing. I know it is nothing new, but I believe that we as Buwizz 3.0 and especially Buwizz motors users desperately need Buwizz to support some kind of manual, physical controllers (with proportional control ofc).

Touch screen isn't very useful when trying to control MOCs equipped with those monster Buwizz motors.

Yeah I asked them many times why they wouldn't have physical controls (like every other Lego clone these days).. or at least release bluetooth details so BC2 app could fix that.. but no proper response. 

Edited August 30, 2021 by wower
typo

[Johnny1360]

Hell yeah, if they did that I would immediately buy one. As of now I am waffling, get one or not, definitely a great product and I am glad for their success.

 

[Hrafn]

On 8/30/2021 at 4:58 PM, wower said:

Yeah I asked them many times why they wouldn't have physical controls (like every other Lego clone these days).. or at least release bluetooth details so BC2 app could fix that.. but no proper response. 

I would also love to have a physical remote.  Touch screens just don't work well to control BuWizz (2.0 in my case) powering a buggy motor on Ludicrous speed.  

[kbalage]

8 hours ago, Hrafn said:

I would also love to have a physical remote.  Touch screens just don't work well to control BuWizz (2.0 in my case) powering a buggy motor on Ludicrous speed.  

BuWizz 2.0 works perfectly fine with BrickController 2 and game controllers. Hopefully the BuWizz team will have time soon to share the details of the protocol used for 3.0 and it can also be included in the app.