BuWizz - High Performance LEGO Power Functions Controller and Battery

[Zerobricks]

6 hours ago, dustblue said:

controller beta is not working now(says expired), emailed customer support twice with no replies. anyone knows how to make buwizz app working again?(with a controller) @Zerobricks

That's because it's the weekend........

4 hours ago, nerdsforprez said:

Hello Everyone.... quick question... I researched online but was unable to find an answer, and  my memory does not serve me well.  

Can anyone remind me of the distinction between these two BuWizz models?  

BW 1.0 didn't have Ludicorus mode and other small differences.

[Lego Tom]

What am I Missing here? Buwizz 3.0 is rated at 2200mAh. Decent AA rechargables often go 2800mAh and cost far less than the Buwizz unit, even when you include the cost of a charger. Is not having to open the battery box to remove, recharge and replace 6 batteries really worth the cost difference? Or is the big draw it uses a different interface? Inquiring minds want to know!

Edited January 8, 2024 by Lego Tom

[nerdsforprez]

13 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

BW 1.0 didn't have Ludicorus mode and other small differences.

TY Jerry.   And the unit off to the right is BW 1.0 - correct? 

[gyenesvi]

54 minutes ago, Lego Tom said:

What am I Missing here? Buwizz 3.0 is rated at 2200mAh. Decent AA rechargables often go 2800mAh and cost far less than the Buwizz unit, even when you include the cost of a charger. Is not having to open the battery box to remove, recharge and replace 6 batteries really worth the cost difference? Or is the big draw it uses a different interface? Inquiring minds want to know!

There are quite a few differences. 6x AA rechargeable batteries usually supply 7.2V, while the Buwizz 3 supplies 11.1V. A Technic hub with 6x AA batteries weighs something like 200+g, while the Buwizz weights 70g. Last but not least, the size: a technic hub is 9x7x5 studs (plus the mounting handles, with which it's more like 9x9x5), while a Buwizz 3 is about 9x4x4 struds. And yes, it can even matter that you don't need to be able to remove the batteries, because it can be hard to build the Technic hub into a model in a way that leaves the bottom open or allows the whole hub to be removed (it means that the huge hub may not be used as a structural element). If you can charge it inside the model, it can make things much easier.

About the mAh, I have actually been thinking the other way round. 3s LiPo batteries at the size that would fit into that casing are usually rated around at most 1000mAh, ones above 2000mAh are usually much longer, so I have been wondering how the Buwizz 3 is capable of squeezing in a battery of 2200mAh..?

[Zerobricks]

24 minutes ago, nerdsforprez said:

TY Jerry.   And the unit off to the right is BW 1.0 - correct? 

Correct, the expansion port has only 4 pins.

[2GodBDGlory]

1 hour ago, Zerobricks said:

Correct, the expansion port has only 4 pins.

What are those ports used for? I don't recall ever seeing them in use

[Zerobricks]

15 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

What are those ports used for? I don't recall ever seeing them in use

It was a plan to use them in the future, but nothing as of now.

[Lego Tom]

7 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

There are quite a few differences. 6x AA rechargeable batteries usually supply 7.2V, while the Buwizz 3 supplies 11.1V. A Technic hub with 6x AA batteries weighs something like 200+g, while the Buwizz weights 70g. Last but not least, the size: a technic hub is 9x7x5 studs (plus the mounting handles, with which it's more like 9x9x5), while a Buwizz 3 is about 9x4x4 struds. And yes, it can even matter that you don't need to be able to remove the batteries, because it can be hard to build the Technic hub into a model in a way that leaves the bottom open or allows the whole hub to be removed (it means that the huge hub may not be used as a structural element). If you can charge it inside the model, it can make things much easier.

About the mAh, I have actually been thinking the other way round. 3s LiPo batteries at the size that would fit into that casing are usually rated around at most 1000mAh, ones above 2000mAh are usually much longer, so I have been wondering how the Buwizz 3 is capable of squeezing in a battery of 2200mAh..?

Thanks for the info!

[dustblue]

On 1/8/2024 at 7:12 AM, Zerobricks said:

That's because it's the weekend........

 

Weekend? I sent the email 2 weeks ago how does weekends affect that? BTW still no replies. Can you use beta now? Or no one can use it now?

[Zerobricks]

4 hours ago, dustblue said:

Weekend? I sent the email 2 weeks ago how does weekends affect that? BTW still no replies. Can you use beta now? Or no one can use it now?

The controller support will be released in a stable, public version soon, I just tested it today and it's almost ready and it supports all functionality including power and gearbox controls. Please have patience, thank you.

[aFrInaTi0n]

6 hours ago, dustblue said:

Weekend? I sent the email 2 weeks ago how does weekends affect that? BTW still no replies. Can you use beta now? Or no one can use it now?

I think you want to get into the beta program again, right?

My recommendation: Try uninstalling the app, go to the playstore, navigate to buwizz, shortly unsubsribe from their beta program offer in the details and re-apply. afterwards give it a install and check the version and report back here with the version it told you has been installed.

Edited January 9, 2024 by aFrInaTi0n

[dustblue]

18 minutes ago, aFrInaTi0n said:

I think you want to get into the beta program again, right?

My recommendation: Try uninstalling the app, go to the playstore, navigate to buwizz, shortly unsubsribe from their beta program offer in the details and re-apply. afterwards give it a install and check the version and report back here with the version it told you has been installed.

Thanks bro! Will try later, kind of used to the beta and don't want to flip-flop between beta and brick controller...

[aFrInaTi0n]

31 minutes ago, dustblue said:

Thanks bro! Will try later, kind of used to the beta and don't want to flip-flop between beta and brick controller...

I tested 2 days ago the Brick Controller app (last updated on 07.01.) and it was working with the 3.18 firmware version (think the current beta ha no higher firmware than that, so currently both can be used in parallel with the same firmware).

[NoEXIST]

On 1/8/2024 at 1:25 PM, gyenesvi said:

About the mAh, I have actually been thinking the other way round. 3s LiPo batteries at the size that would fit into that casing are usually rated around at most 1000mAh, ones above 2000mAh are usually much longer, so I have been wondering how the Buwizz 3 is capable of squeezing in a battery of 2200mAh..?

Never heard about 2200mah in buwizzes, maybe 800

Also noticing that it is 5c, so there's no wonder why it is  that small. I was trying to research the lipo battery market, the best one I found was something like 3s 450-600mah 45c. Or some expensive 1s 800mah 60c, so you need 3 of them, which is quite complicated

[gyenesvi]

1 hour ago, NoEXIST said:

Never heard about 2200mah in buwizzes, maybe 800

Also noticing that it is 5c, so there's no wonder why it is  that small. I was trying to research the lipo battery market, the best one I found was something like 3s 450-600mah 45c. Or some expensive 1s 800mah 60c, so you need 3 of them, which is quite complicated

Oh, thanks for that info, good to know!

I took the info from the Buwizz website, the tech specs for Buwizz 3, here:

https://buwizz.com/tech-specs/

• Battery capacity: 2300 mAh 8.5 Wh

So wonder what that means, how is that to be understood..

[aFrInaTi0n]

It adds to my assumption of most of their advertisments just being "a little overconfident". Same for the "we will do better communications for future app updates" thingy after the latest update going into silent mode again.. 🤷‍♂️

[NoEXIST]

12 minutes ago, gyenesvi said:

Oh, thanks for that info, good to know!

I took the info from the Buwizz website, the tech specs for Buwizz 3, here:

https://buwizz.com/tech-specs/

• Battery capacity: 2300 mAh 8.5 Wh

So wonder what that means, how is that to be understood..

Oh... Well, even if this doesn't  seem true I hope they just found a better solution for the battery and didn't tell... Screenshot is from Sariel's video, so it's pretty old 

[Aurorasaurus]

14 hours ago, NoEXIST said:

Oh... Well, even if this doesn't  seem true I hope they just found a better solution for the battery and didn't tell... Screenshot is from Sariel's video, so it's pretty old 

I just opened a buwizz 3.0 that I received under a month ago, and inside it is an 800mah battery that is identical to the one in Sariel's video.

Sorry for the vertical photo, apparently my phone didn't correct the rotation.

Edited January 15, 2024 by Aurorasaurus

[NoEXIST]

5 hours ago, Aurorasaurus said:

I just opened a buwizz 3.0 that I received under a month ago, and inside it is an 800mah battery that is identical to the one in Sariel's video.

Sorry for the vertical photo, apparently my phone didn't correct the rotation.

It has voltage modes as 2.0 do right? I found out that 2300mah is calculated for 3.7v:) I mean what a great description if it doesn't have voltage modes

Edited January 15, 2024 by NoEXIST

[aFrInaTi0n]

@NoEXIST There are no more "normal,fast, ludicrous" modes for BW3, basically you are constantly on the ludicrous.

I reckon they "accidentally" weren't aware of how to calculate it correctly when the cells are put in serial instead of parallel.. 🤷‍♂️

 

btw even then it would be 2400, not 2300.. 

[NoEXIST]

14 minutes ago, aFrInaTi0n said:

@NoEXIST There are no more "normal,fast, ludicrous" modes for BW3, basically you are constantly on the ludicrous.

I reckon they "accidentally" weren't aware of how to calculate it correctly when the cells are put in serial instead of parallel.. 🤷‍♂️

 

btw even then it would be 2400, not 2300.. 

This difference is from that they also wrote 8.5Wh instead of 8,88Wh on battery

[Aurorasaurus]

I'm not going to pretend to have a comprehensive knowledge on this. If the website says something and the physical product says another thing, I think there's something wrong. However, I have never personally had an issue with the battery not lasting long enough, so I'm not really mad.

[dustblue]

15 hours ago, Aurorasaurus said:

I'm not going to pretend to have a comprehensive knowledge on this. If the website says something and the physical product says another thing, I think there's something wrong. However, I have never personally had an issue with the battery not lasting long enough, so I'm not really mad.

It's supposed to be powerful, that's why we buy it. I have 8 Buwizz 3 and I always feel it lasting not long enough, double the mAh would be perfect.

[NoEXIST]

46 minutes ago, dustblue said:

It's supposed to be powerful, that's why we buy it. I have 8 Buwizz 3 and I always feel it lasting not long enough, double the mAh would be perfect.

Unfortunately the only way to do that is go for 2s battery or a bigger brick

[gyenesvi]

Well, for me it's informative, this way I don't keep looking for a 3s LiPo with 2000+ mAh in the same size as a Buwizz.. I'll be okay with a 800 mAh one, and will know it will probably last about as long as a Buwizz would.