The FMX isn't a tipper? Oh, gimme a break!

15 minutes ago, Jundis said:

Begone, offtopic-talk! Back to 2024 line-up:

Posts discussing parts and suspension have been moved to the General Part Discussion.

We can keep discussing the 2024 sets in this topic

I wonder if the truck has a low loader trailer, or if the truck itself is a low loader?  A tipper with a trailer would be neat, but that also means less parts usage for the truck and excavator.  

A hub with USB-C sounds very intriguing.  Hopefully it will have more than 4 ports.

40 minutes ago, Jundis said:

Begone, offtopic-talk! Back to 2024 line-up:

In a german youtube discussion of the models there is a comment saying the following (roughly translated via deepl):

"The Volvo [42175] is a truck with a low loader and on it is the excavator with pneumatics... the Porsche [42176] is remote controlled and has a battery with a USB C connection. No, that's not a joke! And the lunar rover [42182] is really the one from the moon back then and is really relatively large. But it doesn't have an engine..."

I wonder how credible that is! A pneumatic excavator would be cool, but the real headline would be that new battery! It could signal a pretty dramatic change from the current electrical system (Or not; who knows!). That Porsche is the same one that was claimed to be the "most powerful yet" or something like that, right? Those two rumors could fit together interestingly...

6 minutes ago, dhc6twinotter said:

A hub with USB-C sounds very intriguing.  Hopefully it will have more than 4 ports.

Agreed. But personally, I'd be happy enough with only 4 ports, as long as there was a physical controller for it (similar to those CaDa and MK systems).

However, if it has a USB port and a battery, I fear that, when the battery reaches its end-of-life, so will the hub. Although there's always the possibility of third-parties stepping in, it's always harder for the consumer than fan-made replacements for discontinued software, and the precedent of (AFAIK) no unofficial alternatives to the SPIKE battery further worries me.

Plus, yet another pneumatic Volvo excavator? I love the EW160E (I know, technically it's a material handler) as much as the next witch, but come on! Plus, it would have been nice to see the CAT LAs being used.

I wonder if it'll use the DBG rams or the yellow ones.

1 minute ago, Maaboo the Witch said:

I love the EW160E as much as the next witch,

That's not saying much, because I don't think there are any other witches here.

6 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

I wonder how credible that is! A pneumatic excavator would be cool, but the real headline would be that new battery! It could signal a pretty dramatic change from the current electrical system (Or not; who knows!). That Porsche is the same one that was claimed to be the "most powerful yet" or something like that, right? Those two rumors could fit together interestingly...

Same occured to me, he seems to have the info from the nuremberg toy fair. But as we heard from Effe, Lego shut it's doors to public viewers and only let in a decent amount of selected persons :D

I asked the guy on youtube if he has more info on the 4x4 and the water vehicle. Let's see :-)

But as the Volvo has been announced, the was the word "Cargo" mentioned, so a low loader seem quite plausible.

4 minutes ago, Maaboo the Witch said:

Plus, yet another pneumatic Volvo excavator? I love the EW160E (I know, technically it's a material handler) as much as the next witch, but come on! Plus, it would have been nice to see the CAT LAs being used.

I wonder if it'll use the DBG rams or the yellow ones.

I think for an excavator (or for any earth-moving vehicle) without electric driven motors, the pneumatic option is always faster and more playable in this mid-scale.

6 minutes ago, Jundis said:

I think for an excavator (or for any earth-moving vehicle) without electric driven motors, the pneumatic option is always faster and more playable in this mid-scale.

Pneumatics offer less precision, though. I know LAs can take a while to crank, but that wasn't a problem back in the PF days.

50 minutes ago, AVCampos said:

Although there's always the possibility of third-parties stepping in,

Or just some good ole PF conversion. I know a guy who does that.

In some cases, functionality is lost when converting from PU into PF. An example is the Liebherr excavator's app-based reverse kinematics, which lets you tell it where to put the shovel and it figures out the necessary joint angles to do it.

35 minutes ago, Maaboo the Witch said:

...but that wasn't a problem back in the PF days.

With the USB battery box maybe Lego will introduce the *drum roll*:

Powered Up New Innovative Nimble Technical Electric Network Data Environmental Digitilization

or short: PUN INTENDED

1 hour ago, Jundis said:

"The Volvo [42175] is a truck with a low loader and on it is the excavator with pneumatics... the Porsche [42176] is remote controlled and has a battery with a USB C connection. No, that's not a joke! And the lunar rover [42182] is really the one from the moon back then and is really relatively large. But it doesn't have an engine..."

It'll be interesting to see if it is a completely new hub (I would be still very surprised), a Technic recolor of one of the Spike hubs, or simply a rechargeable battery for the Technic hub, similar to Phondly, that couldn't achieve a successful crowdfunding unfortunately. 

11 minutes ago, kbalage said:

It'll be interesting to see if it is a completely new hub (I would be still very surprised), a Technic recolor of one of the Spike hubs, or simply a rechargeable battery for the Technic hub, similar to Phondly, that couldn't achieve a successful crowdfunding unfortunately. 

The Spike hubs are micro-B ports though, aren't they? If it truly was a USB-C one, it would have to be something new, I think

10 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

The Spike hubs are micro-B ports though, aren't they? If it truly was a USB-C one, it would have to be something new, I think

True, but it's still cheaper to update the port on the hub than to make a completely new hub :)  

I'm not knowledgeable enough about USB ports; is it enough to replace the MicroUSB plug with a USB-C one (and change the case moulding around it accordingly), or are there electrical differences?

2 hours ago, Jundis said:

Begone, offtopic-talk! Back to 2024 line-up:

In a german youtube discussion of the models there is a comment saying the following (roughly translated via deepl):

"The Volvo [42175] is a truck with a low loader and on it is the excavator with pneumatics... 

To be correct:

He says" maybe it is pneumatic". I understand, that it is just speculation from his side. 

Edited February 6, 20241 yr by Frequenzberater
Typo

11 minutes ago, Frequenzberater said:

To be correct:

He says" maybe it is pneumatic". I understand, that it is just speculation from his side. 

The reviewer just speculates, but in the comments a user name @andynbg seems to be pretty sure about it ;-)

Original text: "Der Volvo ist ein Lkw mit Tieflader und auf dem ist der Bagger mit Pneumatik...."

50 minutes ago, kbalage said:

True, but it's still cheaper to update the port on the hub than to make a completely new hub :)  

That's true! It doesn't seem worth it to just update the charge port, though, unless it's required by law. I've heard rumors that was going to be an EU requirement--is that true?

45 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

That's true! It doesn't seem worth it to just update the charge port, though, unless it's required by law. I've heard rumors that was going to be an EU requirement--is that true?

From what I can find about it, USB-C charging port is mandatory in EU for new phones and other rechargeable electronic appliances, by the end of 2024. Guess TLG likes to come prepared in this case.

Edited February 6, 20241 yr by Rudivdk
Confirmed that it is a law for more than just phones

3 hours ago, Jundis said:

Begone, offtopic-talk! Back to 2024 line-up:

In a german youtube discussion of the models there is a comment saying the following (roughly translated via deepl):

"The Volvo [42175] is a truck with a low loader and on it is the excavator with pneumatics... the Porsche [42176] is remote controlled and has a battery with a USB C connection. No, that's not a joke! And the lunar rover [42182] is really the one from the moon back then and is really relatively large. But it doesn't have an engine..."

I believe the guy in the video is not so sure about teh FMX not being a tipper truck. I don't know for sure, I'm not a native German speaker, but he says something like "I'm not sure about the body of the truck" and "I like to be surprised" etc. Again, I'm not a native German, so it could be I misunderstood him. 

48 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

That's true! It doesn't seem worth it to just update the charge port, though, unless it's required by law. I've heard rumors that was going to be an EU requirement--is that true?

I've heard about that EU requirement too! It's actually sounds like one of the few practically useful ones :)

And a rechargeable hub would be amazing! About repurposing the Spike hubs, I don't think they would do that for technic use, because Spike hubs are just too smart (and I guess expensive) for that. Furthermore, I hope they realize that two ports are not enough for anything useful, while the 6-port hub is just way too big. So I guess the most probable ones are a rechargeable insert for the Technic hub, or a redesigned version of it, because once they move away from AA cells, the shape/size can be optimized for LiPo cells. 6  ports and a 9x5 base size would be amazing, but not sure if that's possible.

2 hours ago, AVCampos said:

In some cases, functionality is lost when converting from PU into PF. An example is the Liebherr excavator's app-based reverse kinematics, which lets you tell it where to put the shovel and it figures out the necessary joint angles to do it.

I don't mind not having inverse kinematics. It's a novelty that wears off after a minute and I don't see real excavators using inverse kinematics.

So we have two rumours, "most powerful yet" and "battery with USB c connection" I guess the simplest way to connect those two dots is that there's no new hub, just a new battery that plugs into the existing hub that has an 11.1v lipo rechargeable battery. I'm not convinced that 11.1v would actually equal more power in the real world, as the current motor driver chips are weak sauce and can cut out even with 9 volts, unless they have been upgraded to beefier driver chips. But this would also help with the question of "what happens when the lipo battery fails?". As there are already battery holders for the AA batteries, you can just swap out the lipo for a standard AA battery holder. It's not a perfect solution, I would still much rather have separate battery box, receivers (and a programmable physical remote!) and more powerful motors, and I'm still only speculating, but this hypothesis seems to make the most sense of these two rumours. Of course, it might be something else entirely, like the next system after PU/ control+ for all we know. Not likely I know, but given it's lack of love from fans from day one, expense, supposed difficulty adding support for physical remote and lack of development for both hardware and software, I really wouldn't be THAT surprised (and perhaps more that a bit relieved) to see the next system after PU/control+ introduced this year, or a soft reboot of it anyway.

2 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

I've heard about that EU requirement too! It's actually sounds like one of the few practically useful ones :)

And a rechargeable hub would be amazing! About repurposing the Spike hubs, I don't think they would do that for technic use, because Spike hubs are just too smart (and I guess expensive) for that. Furthermore, I hope they realize that two ports are not enough for anything useful, while the 6-port hub is just way too big. So I guess the most probable ones are a rechargeable insert for the Technic hub, or a redesigned version of it, because once they move away from AA cells, the shape/size can be optimized for LiPo cells. 6  ports and a 9x5 base size would be amazing, but not sure if that's possible.

Spike hub isn't that much bigger than C+ hub or PF battery box and it has 6 ports so size-wise I don't see a reason not to do 6 port hub. I'd be more concerned about people connecting 6 XL motors to it and then attempting to run them with maximum load - either it would cut power instantly or it would require pretty robust electronics and I don't think TLG is willing to have either.