BuWizz - High Performance LEGO Power Functions Controller and Battery

[Aleh]

Hello there! Need some help - my Buwizz 3.0 pro is not been recognizing by smartphone anymore. Buwizz app (Red logo on the white background) see it but almost no info available. I saw Nordic firmware need update. May ths help? How to update this?
Importnant: Device is been visible only when conencted to charger.

"Checking device firmware" is showing infinitely. Update button is unabled.

When disconnected - it's invisible, pushing button on the device does nothing

 

UPD: Firmware 3.16
Thank you in advance!

Edited February 3, 2024 by Aleh

[aFrInaTi0n]

@Aleh Sometimes the bricks are stuck... Maybe try putting it into the charger and then give it a long press several times (10-12secs). As I had this occationally it helped to get it shut down to be started afterwards with a clean start.

As you are still on firmware 3.16 -> As the latest Buwizz App has the need to run the 3.18+ firmware, this would be the next step (if it boots regulary again, it should somehow show up in the app again to update the firmware OTA).

I am assuming here the battery was latest / is working and not already end of life.. But could be an possible isse in the worst case. But give it some trys with long presses etc..

Another "more intrusive way" may be to open the 4 screws and unplug the batt connector from the PCB to really have the PCB unpowered and then replug after 1 minute.. - but Disclaimer here: ⚠ With this you will void any warranty of your device and it should only be considered if you are experienced with electronics)! Better wait for other possibly good tipps or get in touch with the vendor before considering this!

 

Hope you will get it back to life! Best regards

Edited February 3, 2024 by aFrInaTi0n

[Aleh]

@aFrInaTi0nThank you for your advieces! But I/m afraid the battaery is dead. In case turning of charging cabel the bywizz device demonstrates nothing. 

Pressing the button several times for 15 seconds made no effect.
If I'm not wrong while charging I was able to update Nordic firmware to 3.22, but still have issues with Tajnik firmware. 

While charging the red led indicator is running agains the clock way

Edited February 3, 2024 by Aleh

[aFrInaTi0n]

Another tipp is, to leave it connected to charging over night, in situations where the LiPO is deeply emptied.. but yeah, could be it is dead already.

[Aleh]

13 minutes ago, aFrInaTi0n said:

Another tipp is, to leave it connected to charging over night, in situations where the LiPO is deeply emptied.. but yeah, could be it is dead already.

A bit scaring to leave this device plugged overnight..

Ok, reconnecting the bettery from devide also changed nothing. Will consider battery replacement

[dustblue]

On 1/29/2024 at 3:27 AM, dustblue said:

 

I found a solution to dead BW3 in high load. I always build my mocs very big so each wheel is generally driven by 2-3 buggy motors, and each BW3 can drive 2 Buggy, but if load is high(say gear ratio too bold), I would encounter a dead BW3 in high load. @Zerobricks suggested to use current limits but that never works for me. Today I was building a small moc in which each wheel(lego audi red wheel) is only driven by one Buggy, but there is no gearing down, using one BW3 to drive 2 wheels always give me a dead BW3. So I wonder what if I use only one BW3 to drive one buggy(leaving the other PF channel empty)? And yes the problem is solved! the currents were as high as 3.9A, but never again did any BW3 die on me, even the low voltage one!

So my conclusion is a dead BW3 is caused by total power output, not per channel. Since the battery core inside is pretty pathetic, the best way to deal with dead BW3 would be more BW3....

This one BW3 one buggy method worked fine for me in normal terrain(pavement or similar), however today I ran my moc into grassland and drove there for maybe half minutes, it was very slow because of the resistance, and I found all 4 buggy motors were fried...Those were made by mould king and I have like 100 of them, dirt cheap and very reliable, never fried before. This incidence tells me maybe a dead BW3 is better than fried buggy motors, not because the desdroyed motor itself but because motors were generrally built inside, very hard to replace, better choice would be build a new one ground up.

 

So that's my update, it seems BW3 power bottleneck is also buggy motor power bottleneck, maybe I shouldn't blame buwizz for this.

16 hours ago, aFrInaTi0n said:

Another "more intrusive way" may be to open the 4 screws and unplug the batt connector from the PCB to really have the PCB unpowered and then replug after 1 minute.. - but Disclaimer here: ⚠ With this you will void any warranty of your device and it should only be considered if you are experienced with electronics)! Better wait for other possibly good tipps or get in touch with the vendor before considering this!

This worked for me everytime when bw3 is completely dead like a rock.

[Aleh]

Does anybody know is battery from BW2 is suitable to BW3?

[aFrInaTi0n]

If you already ask THAT question, I can just recommend to not do anything further in regard of working at the electronics on your own....

Here the answer to your question: No!

You need to buy this (To answer your next question: No it seems the exact batt with that connector is not available below a quantity of 20k units, so you have to go with Buwizz' offer.)

Edited February 4, 2024 by aFrInaTi0n

[Aleh]

6 hours ago, aFrInaTi0n said:

You need to buy this (To answer your next question: No it seems the exact batt with that connector is not available below a quantity of 20k units, so you have to go with Buwizz' offer.)

Thank you, appreciate your help!

[aFrInaTi0n]

You are welcome

[NoEXIST]

23 hours ago, Aleh said:

Does anybody know is battery from BW2 is suitable to BW3?

Actually these two units have completely different battery. BW2 has 2 cells, but as it has a slow mode I think it's 1S battery with bigger capacity. Then voltage is increased by mode you choose. So no, you can't suit BW2 to BW3, also in BW2 battery is soldered to the board 

[Aleh]

1 hour ago, NoEXIST said:

Actually these two units have completely different battery. BW2 has 2 cells, but as it has a slow mode I think it's 1S battery with bigger capacity. Then voltage is increased by mode you choose. So no, you can't suit BW2 to BW3, also in BW2 battery is soldered to the board 

Got U! In case 19 Euro of the new battery comparing to the 200 Euro price of the whole device - new battery is the solution, definitely.

Their supports didnot offer something vauable at the moment.

[Aurorasaurus]

Something people overlook, were you using usb c on both ends? USB c on both ends usually means the charger will only charge if it knows a device is present, you may need to charge it using a USB A to USB C cable. This also works when buwizz used to cut out when overloaded.

[Mikdun]

17 hours ago, Aurorasaurus said:

USB c on both ends usually means the charger will only charge if it knows a device is present, you may need to charge it using a USB A to USB C cable.

Interesting note.

I am/was under impression that a charger will always put out 5V as a "safe starting voltage" and increases it only after handshaking with some other device.

Looking for some sample IC description on TI site I may be wrong! So using USB-A charger can be better indeed.

[Aurorasaurus]

8 hours ago, Mikdun said:

Interesting note.

I am/was under impression that a charger will always put out 5V as a "safe starting voltage" and increases it only after handshaking with some other device.

Looking for some sample IC description on TI site I may be wrong! So using USB-A charger can be better indeed.

Yep, I'm pretty sure thats also why an A to C cable is included rather than C to C.

[aFrInaTi0n]

Charging devices have the datapins shorted imho on usb

[Mantarri]

I'm considering investing in some Powered Up parts and had some questions. I currently own a BuWizz 2.0 + a collection of PF motors, and am looking at buying a Powered Up set - the only catch is if I can control both at the same time. BuWizz's support section lists an APK for a version of the app that apparently supports Powered Up, but I just wanted to confirm it still works, and also if it supports taking advantage of the "smart" aspects of Powered Up motors. I am aware of BrickController 2, but my good bluetooth controller died, so it's not a super good option for me at the moment.

[NoEXIST]

1 hour ago, MisteryMan said:

I'm considering investing in some Powered Up parts and had some questions. I currently own a BuWizz 2.0 + a collection of PF motors, and am looking at buying a Powered Up set - the only catch is if I can control both at the same time. BuWizz's support section lists an APK for a version of the app that apparently supports Powered Up, but I just wanted to confirm it still works, and also if it supports taking advantage of the "smart" aspects of Powered Up motors. I am aware of BrickController 2, but my good bluetooth controller died, so it's not a super good option for me at the moment.

Well, depends on what are you on "fast" cars or something functional. As you want some PU motors I think you're going for a second situation. Anyway for both is always better to have a real controller instead of screen. I never had a problem with BrickController2:)

[gyenesvi]

13 hours ago, MisteryMan said:

and also if it supports taking advantage of the "smart" aspects of Powered Up motors

I'd say partly. Of course it takes advantage of position encoding for servo steering and gearbox control. However, as far as I know from usage and the user guide, the app does not support using speed servo mode of the motors (meaning that the Buwizz would automatically adjust power to keep the motor running at a specific speed depending on the joystick position); it only supports direct power mode. For full throttle, it does not make a difference, it would make a difference for low speed crawling for example. I believe this is a missing feature in the app itself, while the Buwizz firmware would actually be able to do it, according to the firmware documentation. So hopefully in the future it will be added to the app as well. Similarly, there might be other smart features missing..

On another note, I have just tested the app with an Xbox controller. Even though the documentation said that it would only work from Android version 12 and up, mine has version 9 and it still works fine.

However, one strange behavior I observed with the latest app version, is that the Back button does not work inside the app. Does that happen to others as well?

[Mantarri]

15 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

I'd say partly. Of course it takes advantage of position encoding for servo steering and gearbox control. However, as far as I know from usage and the user guide, the app does not support using speed servo mode of the motors (meaning that the Buwizz would automatically adjust power to keep the motor running at a specific speed depending on the joystick position); it only supports direct power mode. For full throttle, it does not make a difference, it would make a difference for low speed crawling for example. I believe this is a missing feature in the app itself, while the Buwizz firmware would actually be able to do it, according to the firmware documentation. So hopefully in the future it will be added to the app as well. Similarly, there might be other smart features missing..

On another note, I have just tested the app with an Xbox controller. Even though the documentation said that it would only work from Android version 12 and up, mine has version 9 and it still works fine.

However, one strange behavior I observed with the latest app version, is that the Back button does not work inside the app. Does that happen to others as well?

I realize I wasn't as clear as I'd meant to be when I posted; I'm hoping to use the Powered Up hub with the BuWizz app until I can get a BuWizz 3.0.

[Aurorasaurus]

2 hours ago, MisteryMan said:

I realize I wasn't as clear as I'd meant to be when I posted; I'm hoping to use the Powered Up hub with the BuWizz app until I can get a BuWizz 3.0.

To my knowledge this functionality was removed.

[Zerobricks]

A version of the app with that functionality is available on support website. 

[HectorMB]

1 hour ago, Zerobricks said:

A version of the app with that functionality is available on support website. 

That's cool, but I couldn't find it, sorry. Could you please provide a direct link?

[Mantarri]

5 hours ago, HectorMB said:

That's cool, but I couldn't find it, sorry. Could you please provide a direct link?

Here's the direct APK link: Legacy App – support for Powered UP

It's on the support page: BuWizz support

[dustblue]

Encountered another big bug of the app:

Yesterday when playing the buwizz app, it suddenly forced quit(on iphone), after started it again, it wouldn't drive anymore. I can still calibrate servo but just cant drive anymore, even creat new profiles didn't work. 

When I drive it stays in connecting buwizz even when all buwizz 3 are solid green light:

Notice I have gauges in this layout but all disappeared, no matter in controller mode or phone mode.

Anyone encountered this? Do I have a choice other than reinstall the app(recreating all the profiles is pain in the megablocks, save profile and importing just desn't work properly)? @Zerobricks Sent support email yesterday no reply yet. Thought here maybe quicker, and you guys deserve to know this issue anyway.