Dual Motor Lego Locomotives 9v, PF and PU

[@celestek.b.5257]

Great video! I always love the niche topics you cover that are usually reserved for forum posts and whatnot. I have quite a few PU dual motor locos. I found the solution for me was to twist the control wheel around on one side of the controller and hit both top buttons at the same time to accelerate. It’s a little clunky, but it’s low tech and gets the job done.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Thanks! Now that I think about it that was kind of what made me want to start a channel over 5 years ago. I would find all of these cool ideas buried in forum posts but had never seen videos talking about them. As for the PU controller idea, Joey from Bricktrains said he does the same thing... before his comment disappeared 🙄. Not sure what happened there 😐

[@BrickTrains]

I use the powered up Train Controller and just rotate one of the dials 180 deg. You have to use both sides of controller, one for each motor but it works. Easiest option I have seen, except for 9V. For Power Functions I still use the PF Polarity Switch bb0339c01. Like you said, space becomes a problem. As far as the line of sight goes, we get pretty good results just pointing it at the ceiling. We have all LED troffers in the basement and the ceiling is not to tall, and is white... LOL Now I do like the Plug replacement for PF, pretty easy and cheap. I have used the RC motors with PF, seam to match up in speed ok. Modifying the power function motor with a 9V wire was pretty clever as well. I think my preferred method currently for a dual motor single locomotive train is the Powered Up system. Easy to get, easy to setup, works with no modification for both a 54 year old and a 6 year old. LOL My preferred method for multi locomotive with dual motors is PF, except when 9V is available. The PF option can be done with out modification to the LEGO parts, parts still available, but getting more expensive. With that being said, I have cut and pasted my share of 9V and PF wire together... LOL Great stuff, I like seeing your passion for the trains, and your interest in the 3rd party stuff. I really need to look into the Py Brick stuff for Powered Up. I also can't wait to see what PF Bricks comes out with in the 9V motor market.... I'm still waiting on my 9V wide radius switches from them.

[@pastajensen]

I also use the 180* dial method for PU, works fine when you just wanna run the train.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

All good solutions, I probably should have mentioned some of them 😅. Similar to using two dials on a PU remote I've seen people use gears and a chain to tie the PF dials together 😁

[@legotrainchris]

I have the blue PF engine dual powered - my best puller. I did it by flipping the inner two wires in the cable from the IR output to the second motor. A bit fiddly, but works fine. Also, it costs nothing! I have a bunch of 9V stuff as well, so my 3 dual-powered locos work fine. I've now got PoweredUp as well, but haven't tried dual powering yet. At a recent show we were at, folks there seemed to have interference problems. One was using the Lego controller, others were using one of the apps (don't know its name). I haven't had trouble here at home with 3 controller/loco pairs, but who knows what was going on at the train show!

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Awesome! Yeah conventions are something I don't have any way to test for but I always imagined BT interference could be an issue. If they were having trouble with locomotives disconnecting when out of range that's something that can be solved with PyBricks 👍

[@legotrainchris]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks At one point the regular Lego PuP train would just take off at full speed when turned on. The Lego controller couldn't connect. The large custom engines would fail to connect reliably (I think - they aren't mine and I wasn't there all the time.)

[@YR0117]

Hey I have the old RC cargo train (from between 9v and power functions), and it’s got bad battery corrosion and doesn’t work any more. I know the system is pretty lacking in features compared to others (and you’re not very into it), but nobody else seems to have done any videos about the topic, and a good tear down video would be incredibly informative. Just registering one person’s interest in the topic, maybe there would be others! I understand if you have other priorities. Your RCX reconditioning video showed me how to get my childhood 2.0 unit working again, thanks for that!

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

I think I have one of these battery box / base units somewhere I'm just not sure where 😅. The removable battery pack should make it much easier to clean. If the corrosion is further into the electronics it may be done for anyway. At a certain point it may be easier to just buy another from Bricklink

[@jacobroebuck5648]

Thanks for your extremely useful videos.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Sure thing! Thanks for your support 😀

[@pastajensen]

Love your excitement at 10:27 and what you did at 17:17 is quite nifty! Once again a excellent video, really like how you explain it.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Thanks! This was a fun one. I always hope I explain things well, when I watch them back I always second guess myself 😅

[@pastajensen]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks Well from my point of view you do. Easy going and interesting laid out.

[@Wingspan_5]

Using the modified PF motor with the 9v motor is an excellent solution for dual motor trains to reduce cost. Two 9v motors is like $100. 1 9v and 1 PF is closer to $70

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

I've found some good deals recently, 9v for as little as $40 and several PF motors for about $10-$12 each. I really like the mod I tried with them, it's just so clean. If I get low on 9v motors again I'll probably convert my dual 9v motor My Own Train loco

[@mattb.2359]

I do have a moc steam engine tender with 2 pf train motors, a battery box, ir reciever, and a pole reverser, but it’s a lot of wires to get in a tight space. I did manage to get it all to fit, but it was a pain. Now I just need to get the mini 9v motors wired in to the other channel and hope everything works when it’s done.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

That is quite a lot to cram into the tender!

[@BricksWorks]

Version 2.9 of Lok24's script works properly with large and XL motors. That's the one he posted in the thread in July and runs on the latest PyBricks releases.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Thanks, I went ahead and updated the description just in case. I hesitated to link it since I hadn't tested it personally and won't be able to for quite a while

[@BricksWorks]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks runs perfectly in my Crocodile.

[@monorailmanfred]

Thx for the great video. I run my Horizon Express with two motors, but without any polarity switch or China-parts. I don’t know if any of you know but you can rotate the plug of the second cable by 180 degree and put it on the top of the first one, so both run on the same control. Works like a charm, I will send you a pic on Insta then you know what I mean :) best regards!

[@peskybobcat]

All you have to do is change the polarity on one of the motets to get them to run in the same direction

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Not everyone is comfortable with soldering, the PF motor isn't too bad but the PU motor is a real pain since the motor is soldered directly to a circuit board. The goal was to offer multiple solutions to running dual motor locomotives most of which do not require special equipment.

[@bami2]

Really interesting that the 9v and RC motors are about the same if you power it directly, I guess the receiver just drops too much voltage. Nice video! Have you tried making a small inverter cable for the PF stuff, just do the same as you did to the PF train motor but to a small cable instead? Also I imagine if you then try to power a IR receiver with it it will most likely blow up.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

You can make a reversing cable with 2 power functions ends that face the same direction (official extensions were flipped on one side like an NXT cable). But it wouldn't power an IR receiver or servo since the 9v supply lines would be reversed. Also the plugs themselves introduce a bit of resistance. I've used a chain of extenders and the results were not spectacular 😅

[@knightsnigh4731]

Lovely and helpful as always :)

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Thanks 🙂

[@YzsForLife]

I have the 60052 and love it wish I had a second motor haha

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

It's one of my favorites. It was the first locomotive I used with dual motors and it helped a lot when navigating switch track backwards and forwards. I've been picking up PF motors for about $10 on Bricklink, looks like PU motors are about the same there. I don't know if PU motors are still available in Lego stores it was something you had to ask if they had in the back of the store. IIRC they were $13.99. For a while they didn't have any of the LED sets in store, idk if that was a supply issue or something

[@YzsForLife]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks I’m still sad that they killed power functions 😭 this was one of my first sets with the power functions expansion now I’m mostly into pneumatics as they are way better

[@lisiasty92]

Well There is a solution (and im not talking about switcher created by Lego). You can unscrew motor, switch cables (if u have soldering iron), and screw it back together

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

I've done it before and even mentioned it in this video. To me it's much easier to snap on a new connector, especially if someone doesn't already have soldering equipment / experience.

[@lisiasty92]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks true. I saw it latter and I was amazed that is was so simple to change

[@thetrainloverdk]

Nice!

[@GeometricGames-ep8np]

love the vid!

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Thanks!

[@alexthetrainlover1579]

is there a video of how to swop the lego 60052 power Funston to a power up motor?

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Not that I'm aware of. I could probably make instructions to do so 🤔

[@alexthetrainlover1579]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks yes plz

[@nkende]

I'm 8th! But the other coments aren't showing...

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

sigh, get it together KZbin 😤. Thanks for the test

[@coasterblocks3420]

I’m hoping that LEGO will be forced by the EU to standardise on USB-C data/charging ports to finally dispense with these pointless proprietary connectors which only serve to recreate the wheel - badly - and greatly limit users.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

At least they kind of standardized them between the Powered UP, Control + and Mindstorms (RIP) systems. But there are plenty of issues with them. I use PU for my trains but pretty much anything else will be 9v / PF

[@coasterblocks3420]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks kinda sorta but you have to wonder why they even bothered doing that when the components of Spike Prime are physically compatible but are kept incompatible software-wise with PoweredUp for no apparent reason. I see there is a small Spike hub with inbuilt rechargeable battery, considerably cheaper than a Buwizz PU hub, but I’d have to install and learn PyBricks to make it compatible.

[@BatteryPoweredBricks]

Lego certainly has a history of half baked or incomplete software solutions. Heck it took them like 2 years to really get the Powered Up app working after the components released. Thankfully the Lego community is full of smart people 😅. The WeDo 2.0 sensors are compatible with Brick Automation Project and PyBricks. In many cases PyBricks programs are already written by someone else. I use several and I'm not much of a coder myself

[@coasterblocks3420]

@@BatteryPoweredBricks it does feel like the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing at LEGO sometimes. Luckily there is a great community creating ingenious solutions. I will dip my toe into PyBricks now.