How to Make LEGO Power Functions Motors Work With Lego Mindstorms EV3 WITHOUT MODS [2 Ways] [HD]

I have managed to find 2 ways to make LEGO Power Functions motors work with LEGO Mindstorms EV3.
The first(and worst) method involves creating something with LEGO that has a Mindstorms EV3 motor turn on and off a Power Functions battery box in both directions.
The second way is using a converter cable that was once produced by LEGO. This cable allows the motor to be controlled directly by the EV3 intelligent brick. It’s not as simple as just plugging it in and expecting it to work. First, you need to buy a LEGO Power Functions extension cable. You also need to program the motor in the EV3 software very specifically for it to work.
Search ‘Lego mindstorms nxt to rcx cable’ for the converter cable. THE BEST PLACE TO FIND THESE IS EBAY!!! If you are used to BrickLink, here you go.
www.bricklink....
Search ‘Lego power functions extension wire’ to find and purchase the extension wire required for the second method. The best place to find these is Amazon, but again, if you prefer BrickLink, here you go.
Short: www.bricklink....
Long: www.bricklink....
#LEGO #LegoEV3 #LegoPowerFunctions

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

Turn the volume up, it’s a bit on the quiet side. Also, there are two ways around the unregulated motor problem. Firstly, you could buy one of Lego’s rechargeable EV3 batteries and have it constantly plugged in charging. The downside of this is that the rechargeable EV3 battery packs are expensive, around 80 USD. You could probably find one used and thus cheaper on eBay. You could also power the EV3 brick with a 9v power supply that you plug into the wall. Make sure it’s a switching power supply also called a switching adapter. This is a kind of power supply that keeps its output voltage steady no matter the load. The adapter should say switching adapter on it if it is. Luckily, these are just as common as the adapters that contain heavy and inefficient transformers. If you were to do it this way, it wouldn’t technically be a mod to the EV3 unless you soldered wires to its battery springs. What you would need to do is cut the end off of the 9v wall adapter and find which wires are negative and positive. This can easily be done with a multimeter. Take two alligator clips and hook positive up to the positive battery spring and negative to the negative one. You are done. There are several online tutorials on this. Google “EV3 power supply from wall adapter” and you should find a few.

[@Sanzerizeli]

Perfect explanations thanks a lot

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@Tarrareismyrolemodel]

I’ve been looking for this!

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

Glad I could help!

[@asonaut6481]

I Would Subscribe but you have exactly 1000 subscribers

[@jakobpeschke1760]

now you can subscribe :)

[@minhbaolegosandgaming]

Can u show you how to make lego power functions light work with mindstorms?

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

As common as they are(were), I don’t have any of those, so that is something I can’t do.

[@hydroworld-soontobemigrate6160]

Thanks for the tips! I just have one question: Must you still use the Unregulated Motor blocks when you are programming LEGO Power Functions Motors to run for a certain number of seconds without using the touch sensor? I am using multiple EV3 bricks to operate third-party Buggy Motors that drive the lift fan propellers in my large hovercraft robot, and I am planning on controlling it wirelessly with an NXT brick.

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

Yes you must. If you don’t, it will run for about a quarter of a second before shutting down. I show this at 2:30. I show how to make what your asking about work at 3:26. But be aware that since it’s an unregulated motor, the EV3 will give the motor whatever voltage the battery is at and not keep it constant. This means that the motor will slow down and get less powerful over time. In other words, it won’t accomplish as many rotations as it would on a full battery on a low battery.

[@hydroworld-soontobemigrate6160]

​@@LegoTechnicsRule Got it! Thanks again!

[@hydroworld-soontobemigrate6160]

@@LegoTechnicsRule Got it. Thanks!

[@dinhtuan752]

i reply to @tcm0

[@wmp877]

Wow nice one but why are you showing the Pros and Cons

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

Because the first method is not really good as it uses too many parts and isn’t very efficient. I was trying to persuade people to use the converter cable method.

[@drjuit]

do you have a 4 motor on 2 wheel, 2 eye ev3 program for sumobots ?

[@julianvanderglas2619]

Can you use this method on nxt too?

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

Definitely.

[@Skrattoune]

Any idea how to get method 2 working with ev3 classroom?

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

I’ve always used the EV3 Lab software as it’s the original programming environment. The scratch based Classroom software is fairly new and SIGNIFICANTLY less powerful than the Lab software. With that being said, I don’t have much experience with the Classroom software and don’t really know how to help you there. However, I do know the Classroom software is a severely dumbed down version of the Lab software so younger kids can understand it. Thus, it’s definitely missing lots of the more advanced stuff like unregulated motors, so I don’t really have lots of faith in the Classroom software.

[@okboing]

we need lego nxt-compatible stepper motors

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

The ev3 and nxt motors are pretty precise already, but stepper motors would be cool. The only issue would be Lego designing a driver.

[@wmp877]

LEGO Technics Rule i am going to the Lego station to buy Lego mindstorms

[@wmp877]

at Saturday

[@HugoAugusto]

Your cable is not built correctly so that's why you have to apply that hack. You need to use 2 resistences to fool EV3.

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

The cable was originally made for NXT, so it would probably work without the unregulated motor block if I were using it with NXT. Anyway, the point of this video was to make PF work with EV3 without mods, but you bring up an interesting point.

[@HugoAugusto]

@@LegoTechnicsRule you can even make a cable that works with both regular motors and servo and control them with EV3. Works perfectly. If you want I can leave a link with instructions here.

[@Skrattoune]

​@@HugoAugustothat would be great!

[@kogedo9437]

how can i buy the port

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

You can find them on bricklink or eBay. They are known as RCX to NXT converter cables.

[@Djpatubeer33]

Anyone in 2024?

[@LegoTechnicsRule]

I’m still here lol