Sign up or log in to customize your list. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top Having learned that Mindstorms EV3 doesn't work directly with Power Functions, Q: Can you use Power Functions motors with the EV3 programmable brick? A: No, the connector does not match. I still wonder what could be possible workarounds to use them together? You can accomplish this with these two parts: As mentioned by @guestguy123 and @eficker, it is easy to combine an EV3 cable and a PF cable to make a custom cable that allows the EV3 to control. This can even be done without soldering - I just twist the wires together and tape them with electrical tape. The full schematic is here: All you need is 2 resistors (1x1kOhm and 1x10kOhm) which are cheap to get at your local electronics store (e.g. Radioshack or Maplin's) and the willpower to cut through 2 good Lego wires (1 PF cable and 1 EV3 cable).
But once you do, it recognizes a PF motor as an NXT style unregulated motor and you can send it commands. You can use 3rd party modules: HiTechnic NXT IRLink Sensor control PF motors using PF IR receiver MindSensors PF Motor controller for NXT (PFMate) No EV3 blocks (yet) Mindsensors GlideWheel PF Motor controller for NXT or EV3 can power PF motor directly from EV3 PF motor can be used as regulated motor (servo) Or third party cable NXT to PF Cable (however I am not 100% sure if it will work with EV3). Accoring to answer on lejos forum it should work with Lejos RCXMotor class. this explains how to make a conversion cable: You take a cable from the EV3 and a power functions cable, add some resistors and solder it up. Not a tough mod, but you do have to sacrifice two cables to the cause. Although, the possibilities are worth it imo, as you can now control a lego train or other power functions sets with EV3. You can connect the Power Functions motor to the EV3 with a LEGO 8528 cable and a LEGO 8886 cable.
In addition to the cables, you need to know how to trick the software. You can use the unregulated motor block, but it will stop after a short time (1 second or so). You have to constantly change the speed to keep the motor powered. Here is a simple example to run the motor at 75% of full power: Using a single unregulated motor in a block like this won't work because the power value does not change. It seems that changing the power value is what resets the timeout on the EV3. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password Post as a guest By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service. Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged mindstorms power-functions or ask your own question.LEGO® Power Functions XL-Motorproduct_label_list_price_accessibility 50 Reviews123451FIND MORE PRODUCTS LIKE THISTrainsPowerful rotation for your LEGO® Power Functions!Harry Davis and me built a cable to connect a LEGO Power Functions (PF) motor to a Mindstorms EV3.
The goal is to enable the EV3 to control PF motors. In particular I wanted to control a RC train motor through an EV3. LEGO produced a cable (8528) to connect old motors (RCX) to the NXT, but it is no longer in production. You can still get them through Bricklink, but it will cost you dearly. You still need a PF extension cable to convert the old motor plug (RCX) to the current PF plug. Firgelli produced a cable that allowed you to connect an modern PF to NXT directly, but it is also no longer in production. There are two more solutions but both are more complex and costly. First, you can use the PF Mate from Mindsensors (currenlty $35). It sends IR signals to the IR PF receiver and thereby allows you to control motors even at a distance. The second option is the GlideWheel PF (currently $38) that directly connects a PF motor to the EV3. It also features a rotation sensor so that you can control the PF just like you would control a Mindstorms encoded motor. Both of these solutions offer a great functionality but they are also expensive, in particular since the components necessary for a custom made cable only costs a few cents.
At Amazon you can get a book Make: Lego and Arduino Projects: Projects for extending MINDSTORMS NXT with open-source electronics that will show you how to do such projects, but for now it is time to pull up our sleeves and do it ourselves. TechnicRobot already showed that it can be done but detailed instructions were not yet available. We also built a casing for our cable so that it can be easily integrated into your model. Here is the final result: And here is a video that shows our solution at work: First, you need to have a look at the wiring diagram. You will need one 1k Ohm resistor and one 10k Ohm resistor. These will only cost a few cents in your local electronics store. Next, you need to have PF cable and an EV3/NXT cable. As for latter, you need to pay extra attention to the sequence of colors on the cables. They differ across brands. On the left you see an original LEGO cable with the sequence blue, yellow, green, red, black and white. The cable on the right has the opposite order.
The wiring diagram above uses the original LEGO coloring. In this tutorial I will use a third party cable and the coloring is reversed. I will therefore refer to the pin number and not the color in the following steps. The next step is to cut the EV3/NXT cable and free the inner cables. Then you twist the two resistors legs and solder them together. Then you need to cut the pin 4 cable shorter. Solder the resistors to the pin 4 cable. You can then twist the pin 2 cable onto the resistors. Next you solder the cable to the resistors. Next you twist the pin 3 and 6 to the end of the resistors and solder them on. Now you need to put the heat shrinking tubing over the pin 1 and 2 before soldering the pins to the PF cable. Use a hot air gun or a similar device to shrink the tubes. You can also use the tubes to insulate the ends of the two not used PF cables. Now it is time to build the casing. We used a very old 2×4 brick since it did not have any inner pins.