{"id":4844,"date":"2019-01-24T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T17:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/?p=4844"},"modified":"2019-01-23T18:26:14","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T23:26:14","slug":"reviewing-powered-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/24\/reviewing-powered-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviewing Powered UP!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recently, to allow for testing and\nreview, The LEGO Group supplied Brick Model Railroader with a number\nof components from the newly released LEGO Powered Up line of\nelectronics. Powered Up is TLG’s update to the popular Power\nFunctions line of motor, battery, and remote systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Powered Up! Elements<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As \u201cmostlytechnic\u201d mentions in his review on EuroBricks<\/a>, the components have been released in the newer Boost and Train sets, which started in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The post on EuroBricks is excellent (and recommended), so rather than write another straight up review of something you can read elsewhere, I concentrated on playability as it concerns us train fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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88006 – LEGO Move Hub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First up, the components. BMR was\nsupplied with a large 6 x 16 x 4 (studs x studs x bricks tall) hub,\nnumbered 88006, that, in the paperwork enclosed in the bag, is\ndescribed as the LEGO Move Hub. It combines, motors, ports, battery\nbox, and receiver all in one piece. For train building, it’s pretty\nlarge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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88007 – Light Sensor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next up was part number 88007, which\nappears to be a light sensor. The size is 2 x 4 x 2, with a 29\nstud-long power cable, terminating in one of the new Powered Up\nelectrical connections. Without a way to program this, I wasn’t able\nto really review it other than to plug it in to confirm that it\nworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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88008 – Powered Up! Motor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

88008 is a new motor, roughly the same\nsize as the medium Power Functions motors. Again, the cable is 29\nstuds long, with an element footprint of 4 x 6 x 4. What stood out\nmost upon opening it was that it has stud connections! I believe\nthis will make it easier to include in train builds, and the motor\nwill be able to snap in place with no extra fiddling of adding\nTechnic pins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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88009 – Powered Up! Hub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the main components is 88009,\nthe basic Powered Up Hub. The Hub has the same dimensions as the\nPower Functions battery box, but includes the Powered Up receiver. \nThe good news for train builders is that this eliminates the need for\nallocating space for an RC receiver, which again should make it\neasier to use for train builds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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88010 – Remote Control<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Component 88010 is the Powered Up\nRemote Control. First up, it’s tiny! At least compared to the old\n9V train controllers and the old Power Functions remotes. \nTruthfully, though, it’s about the size of a game controller, and\nhandling it was no problem. I actually liked using the push buttons\nfor control instead of rotating dials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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88011 – Train Motor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally, there’s the newest incarnation\nof a standard Train Motor, component 88011. As expected, the motor\nis the same size as previous train motors, though the electrical\ncable is shorter than those used in Power Functions. The good news\nis that this should allow a basic swap of motors to upgrade from\nolder systems to the newer one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, my overall first impression? I’m intrigued. I like that some of the components are more compact. I think this will allow for easier builds of locomotives, especially for those who build in 6-wide. Fewer and smaller parts mean more space for design, and less for engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have mixed feelings on the electrical\nconnections. Mostly, I like the size, shape, and locations of the\nnew type plugs. However, new connections mean a loss of backwards\ncompatibility with older systems. I really didn’t care for the bulky\nsingle-direction connections in the Power Functions system, but for\nfolks that have been using PF for many years, switching to a new\nsystem could be a burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My main dislike of the new system? \nBatteries. Lots of them. For a basic hub\/remote setup, 10 AAA\nbatteries are required. 6 for the hub and 4 for the remote. The\nbattery covers on both are held in place by tiny screws, which in\nturn require tiny screwdrivers to open. These tiny screws are a\ngeneral dislike of mine, as they tend to get stripped easily, and are\ntroublesome if you don’t have the proper sized screwdriver. As a\nfather of five with lots of toys in the house, however, these type of\nbattery covers are pretty standard across the toy industry, so I’m\nused to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what about playability for train\nfans? The train motor, battery\/receiver, and remote give a pretty\nstandard experience for those familiar with the 9V and PF systems. \nOne click forward on the remote, and the train motor takes off at a\nfairly high speed. Not ideal for folks looking for prototype-like\naction, but definitely suitable for model trains designed for\nchildren. With the train motor connected to the hub, speed is a set\nit and forget it affair. The motor will continue to run until the\nspeed changes, the stop button is hit, or power is lost.

The\nnon-train motor is a different story. The Powered Up hub apparently\nrecognizes what type of motor is plugged into, and behaves\ndifferently depending on what it senses. While the train motor will\ncontinue to run after a single button press, the Powered Up motor\nruns only while the user is holding down the control button. This\nlimits the use of that type of motor for continuous running of trains\nunless the user is constantly controlling the motor’s speed and\ndirection.

With two ports on the Powered Up hub, it is\npossible to plug in and use both the train and non-train motors\ntogether. This does bring up some possibilities. My first thought\nwas to build a motorized crane, using the train motor on the\ncarriage, and the 2nd<\/sup> motor to activate the arm. Another\nthought was a snowplow with working wings. Perhaps a locomotive with\na working decoupling mechanism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My overall feeling after playing with\nthe new system components is that it has some potential for train\nbuilders. There are some drawbacks, but there are drawbacks to any\nsystem. Overall, I liked what I saw, especially with having less\ncomponents necessary to make an operational locomotive. Visions of\nrevisiting the Matson’s Landing locomotive have come to mind. With\nthe Powered Up system, and 3rd<\/sup> party track components that\nhave been released over the last couple of years, that project could\ntake a different turn and come to fruition. I’ll definitely be\nplaying more with the new Powered Up system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, to allow for testing and review, The LEGO Group supplied Brick Model Railroader with a number of components from the newly released LEGO Powered Up line of electronics. Powered Up is TLG’s update to the popular Power Functions line of motor, battery, and remote systems. As \u201cmostlytechnic\u201d mentions in his review on EuroBricks, the … Continue reading Reviewing Powered UP!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[352,4,669],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lego-train-news","category-lego-news","category-products"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/pup01.jpg?fit=1000%2C563&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8egNP-1g8","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4844"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5179,"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4844\/revisions\/5179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}