BuWizz - High Performance LEGO Power Functions Controller and Battery

[wower]

On 4/8/2023 at 10:35 PM, amorti said:

Your focus absolutely should be making it work for simple functions, straight out the box. It doesn't make any sense to even consider a 3-rotation gearbox module which one user wants, while servos aren't calibrating and centering properly which every user wants.

 

Couldn't agree more! That's why I gave up on my Buwizz (not after sinking hundreds of € sadly) altogether.. out of the box (with real remote - like cheap Mould King) is what kids need (and also what most of adults need I am sure). If you want to spend all that time programming overly complex buwizz (and steer with touchscreen which still sucks) then honestly you might aswell solder together a real radio remote with electronics, separate battery, steering chip etc and get something much more powerful and versatile (worth your time spent). 

[aFrInaTi0n]

I am with @amorti in regard of ease-to-use of the product in the default state. But also on the other hand I would like to have more options in kind of an "expert mode" which would allow more detailed configuration for the users who need / want it.
 

As complaining is easy, at least some idea to have it intuitive but maybe working with the calibration for the different types of motors: Give the possibility to select the type of PWM motor in the centered steering module for the calibration and maybe general output to be adjusted to the fitting values for the selected type.

Also regard the BT upgrade: Still have a Samsung S20 FE with BT5 stack - so as already pointed out, it would be a nice to have feature to somehow get the information about the connection state between Buwizz and the phone.

Edited April 12, 2023 by aFrInaTi0n

[Toastie]

2 hours ago, aFrInaTi0n said:

it would be a nice to have feature to somehow get the information about the connection state between Buwizz and the phone.

Which translates to "almost" bare metal BLE communication - provided you don't refer to RSSI and related parameters in the much higher abstraction layers. Let's assume you want close to hardware info: That pretty much completely contradicts any "ease of use" functionality - it means full-blown programming efforts (been there, done that using Windows compatible BLE stacks). Which (of course) can be invoked by entering any kind of "expert mode". But at that point, there should be a very big warning popping up: Whatever you do behind this point, is up-to you. And yes, then it gets easily to: My BuWizz brick ran into oblivion - who to blame here ...

I am all in for any bare metal approach - with taking on full personal responsibility, though, when things go (terribly) south. No complaints at all allowed. It was my fault.

You can't have one or the other. You can have both. But then don't whine/complain/sue/heckle/..., when smoke appears ...

Best,
Thorsten

 

[aFrInaTi0n]

@Toastie you got me wrong. Expert mode and the BT conn info I see as two different things.

 

the conn info shall just be an informative one, reading out the bt functionality of the phone (highest supported bt protocol-version).

 

Without such informative box the only feedback for range issues one may get is "depends on the phone"  - which is a very helpful statement getting more details about the 60m range claim being false and what the real limit of the product is..

[amorti]

I think that would be like that icon in the corner of your phone which says 4G or 5G? Would be useful to know whether to send it 25m or 50m away from the controller.

[Zerobricks]

From what I was able to gather BuWizz 3.0 indeed uses Bluetooth 5.4 and we will look into the requested lower level commands for an even higher control distance.

Regarding Center steering and gearbox parameters I can choose the parameters I usually change from my experience (Kp, DeadBandOut, DeadBandOutBoost and Reference Limit) and add aditional description for them. Others can be left hidden for custom.

Regarding motor detection and presets, yes the BuWizz does know what device is connected to it (there's an idea to have a photo of the devices connected shown in the app), but creating centering presets for each motor is really difficult if we don't know what's attached to it.

I would kindly like to ask for feedback regarding current limiters, did anyone have any more issues with BuWizz 3.0 shutting off when driving and reversing at full power? That was one of the biggest complaints and I trully hope it's resolved now.

Edited April 13, 2023 by Zerobricks

[aFrInaTi0n]

Feedback regarding current limiters: I only had one occurance with a very light motorcycle model with the new beta, so insights may not be that helpful - but the Buwizz operated totally stable over the whole time and there wasn't any recognizable effect like the model starting with some delay or something.
 

[EvilEnderman]

On 3/1/2017 at 8:36 PM, Kim72 said:

Received mine but it keeps on blinking red, can't kill the light. Anybody any ideas?

Had this problem yesterday while driving, BuWizz 2.0 stopped working and now will only blink red. I managed to get it to blink faster when experimenting with stuff on the app but nothing has worked.

BuWizz support say to wait for it to fully discharge,  then try again. this will take a few days...

They do however say there is a firmware update planned to fix this.

I'm very disappointed, after just dropping over 100 quid on this, I expect it to work reliably.

Perhaps I should have got the 3.0 instead 

 

 

 

 

[aFrInaTi0n]

27 minutes ago, EvilEnderman said:

They do however say there is a firmware update planned to fix this.

Please read the last two pages of this thread, then you may get a clue how to get into the beta program to have a possible long-term fix & also you can reply to Zerobricks, as he asked if their fix is working out for ppl like you and me..

Generally for me it helped to "reset" the buwizz into a useable state by just putting it onto a charger - sometimes it helps for the fast blinking mode to stop.. some times not.

[EvilEnderman]

I see, I'm now registered on the beta so let's hope it's smooth sailing.

 

Tried connecting to a charger but no luck, i guess it's just a waiting game 

[aFrInaTi0n]

Good luck then - what you could also do is opening the case and disconnecting the battery's connector from the PCB socket. But to be clear: with doing so YOU WILL VOID ANY WARRANTY!

I just want to mention the possibiliy that there is a plugable connector for the batt of the Buwizz 3 (not sure about the Buwizz 2!).. So please really consider this only if you have the skills to not screw it somehow up and then blame the vendor or me!

Edited April 14, 2023 by aFrInaTi0n

[EvilEnderman]

https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/14872/what-is-inside-buwizz-2-0

Looking at this link the battery is directly soldered to the board.

I've decided to go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over

[gyenesvi]

1 hour ago, EvilEnderman said:

I've decided to go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over

Have you tried charging it for a whole day? That's what helped for many people, including myself.

[aFrInaTi0n]

From the Buwizz mail, the updated UserGuide in Version 1.9 as a PDF: https://buwizz.com/UserGuide_1_9.pdf

[gyenesvi]

On 4/13/2023 at 2:04 PM, Zerobricks said:

I would kindly like to ask for feedback regarding current limiters, did anyone have any more issues with BuWizz 3.0 shutting off when driving and reversing at full power? That was one of the biggest complaints and I trully hope it's resolved now.

Thanks a lot for the fix!

I was wondering if these current limits get saved in the firmware and transfer to other apps? For example, if I connect to the Buwizz unit using the Buwizz app and set the current limits, and then I quit and connect using the BC app, will it preserve those limits? Or does the app need to set it again?

I updated the firmware and did a quick test, left the current limits on the default values. With the Buwizz app I haven't yet managed to shut down the Buwizz, but with the BC app it does still shut down. That suggests that the limiters are working but don't transfer to other apps but need to be reset by every app.

Does the firmware apply some default limits or is the default that there are no limits?

Are these limits actually applied by the firmware itself or by the app? I'd guess it needs to be done in the firmware to be fast enough.

[Zerobricks]

36 minutes ago, gyenesvi said:

Thanks a lot for the fix!

I was wondering if these current limits get saved in the firmware and transfer to other apps? For example, if I connect to the Buwizz unit using the Buwizz app and set the current limits, and then I quit and connect using the BC app, will it preserve those limits? Or does the app need to set it again?

I updated the firmware and did a quick test, left the current limits on the default values. With the Buwizz app I haven't yet managed to shut down the Buwizz, but with the BC app it does still shut down. That suggests that the limiters are working but don't transfer to other apps but need to be reset by every app.

Does the firmware apply some default limits or is the default that there are no limits?

Are these limits actually applied by the firmware itself or by the app? I'd guess it needs to be done in the firmware to be fast enough.

Current limits are saved in the app profile. There are also default current limits implemented in FW, but they are higher - set at 3,0 A for PF and 1,5 a for PU.

Edit: FW does remember the current limits, but you have to disable LUT (Look Up Table for PF servo positions).

Edited April 15, 2023 by Zerobricks

[gyenesvi]

Thanks for the info!

8 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

Current limits are saved in the app profile. There are also default current limits implemented in FW, but they are higher - set at 3,0 A for PF and 1,5 a for PU.

Wouldn't it make sense to set lower default limits (at least for the PF ports) for more failsafe operation? And then if someone / some app wants to maximize performace at the risk of shutting down it can increase them.

Quote

Edit: FW does remember the current limits, but you have to disable LUT (Look Up Table for PF servo positions).

So how do I do that? I only found info about the LUT in the Buwizz 3 protocol, so I guess that's another thing that any app could set. In the Buwizz App I did not find anything about it.

Moreover, when do I have to disable the LUT? When I set the limits, or when I want to use the already set limits?

By the way, PF servo positions seem orthogonal to the limits. What if I want to use limits with a PF servo? Can that be done? Or does that not make much sense?

Edited April 16, 2023 by gyenesvi

[gyenesvi]

BTW, I guess the Buwizz API will also be updated with a new command to set the current limits? Will that be published soon so that other apps can also implement the feature?

[Zerobricks]

21 minutes ago, gyenesvi said:

Thanks for the info!

Wouldn't it make sense to set lower default limits (at least for the PF ports) for more failsafe operation? And then if someone / some app wants to maximize performace at the risk of shutting down it can increase them.

So how do I do that? I only found info about the LUT in the Buwizz 3 protocol, so I guess that's another thing that any app could set. In the Buwizz App I did not find anything about it.

Moreover, when do I have to disable the LUT? When I set the limits, or when I want to use the already set limits?

By the way, PF servo positions seem orthogonal to the limits. What if I want to use limits with a PF servo? Can that be done? Or does that not make much sense?

That's why it's a test and beta update, originally we thought 3 A and 1,5 A would be good enough, but real life testing showed we needed to lower them. I'm not sure if there will be another FW version just to have lowered default values, when it's really easy to just set them to any value with a single command.

I'm not totally sure, but I think you have to disable LUT for limiters to work, but the FW remembers the value regardless.

PF servo motor uses PWM lines only to get positions and is actually powered by the other 2 PF lines just like the PF receiver which have a direct power supply only. That is why you will not see any current usage when using a PF servo.

5 minutes ago, gyenesvi said:

BTW, I guess the Buwizz API will also be updated with a new command to set the current limits? Will that be published soon so that other apps can also implement the feature?

Yes, I already requested it to be updated and uploaded to support site before the public release. But to speed up the developing, tomorrow I can look up the command and put it here

[Zerobricks]

As promised:

0x38 Set current limits

Setups current limits for the motors. By default, the current limits are configured to default values of 1.5 A (for PU ports 1-4) and 3.0 A (for PF ports 5-6) on every BLE connection start.
If the motor current is above the current limit, the PWM duty cycle of the affected motor is reduced until the current falls below the limit. PWM duty cycle will increase if the motor load is reduced.

Byte                   Function / value
0 (command)     0x38 - Set current limit data
1-6                     Current limit in steps of 30 mA

No response is generated

Edited April 17, 2023 by Zerobricks

[EvilEnderman]

the BuWizz is back alive...

Tested it and all seems well

Edited April 17, 2023 by EvilEnderman

[shroomzofdoom]

Am I missing something? Opted in to beta on Android. Couldn't see the gearbox button as described in the user guide 1_9.

Tried fw update on the BW 3.0, deleting/reinstalling the app from play store. No joy. 

Anyone have the same experience? 

 

EDIT: For some reason, I had to uninstall/reinstall the Buwizz app from Play store and completely delete data and cache from my Samsung in order to get the Buwizz beta app to present the 'update firmware option'. No matter how many times I tried prior to doing this it kept re-flashing Nordic 3.18/Tajnik 1.8. I now updated all of my BW 3.0 Nordic 3.22/Tajnik 1.8.

Edited April 24, 2023 by shroomzofdoom

[keymaker]

I have problem with setting return to center steering mode  back to work after update ;/ My profiles survived the update (with which I had many problems...) and when sliders for drive of the MOC still work, then this one for the steering is not. Calibration is doable, testing it in Link BuWizz outputs taps also works, but when I want to drive my MOC, the motor - PU L motor, doesn't react on my commands. Anyone knows why this happens? Why PU L motor doesn't react on the slider?

[Zerobricks]

Could be a bug with importing. Try reimporting or in worst case remaking the affected profile.

[Zerobricks]

On 4/8/2023 at 10:19 PM, aFrInaTi0n said:

I would hope for at least some good default values for the different PWM motors setups possible with Buwizz.. like "for the angular thingies, this and that needs to be set to x, y, z". Do they have the angulars available at Buwizz HQ for further testing?

Small update. I actually built a model that uses this motor for center steering and also noticed an issue, which I will of course be forwarding to the dev to have it fixed. This motor needs a lot of current just to start turning let alone do some useful work (over 75% PWM). There is something limiting the current the BuWizz can put out (it's not the current limiters) in the beta version to a maximum of 400 mA in the center steering module. I'm glad this issue was found and will be fixed.

Edited May 3, 2023 by Zerobricks