Philippe Hurbain (Philo) did an extensive and comprehensive research work (as usual) to help us getting the most of our PF assortment, using the new PF IR Receiver V2. 
As per his measurements and conclusions, we can take a lot more power to energize our models, using the newest version of this receiver.
However, now the limits rapidly clash with the PF Battery Boxes' protection resettable fuse. Nothing that Philo doesn't have a solution for.
You can find all the details through three new pages full of measurements, graphs and explanations.
- Power Functions Infrared Receivers: Comparison of V1 and V2 IR-Receivers.
- Power Functions Motors power curves: Curves showing mechanical power available from various motor combinations, as driven by Power Functions IR-Receiver
- Coupling Motors: Is it better to couple motors directly, or through an adder mechanism?
Of course, you have also his other valuable Power Functions resources
- LEGO 9V Technic Motors compared characteristicsx: Compare the performance of the several LEGO 9V motors
- Power Functions Presentation: Meet the PF family and its working principles (news PF elements still missing in this page)
- Power Functions Servomotor: Read about the behaviour and performance of this new PF motor
Below the video prepared by Philo to show the differences between V1 and V2 IR Receivers in a pratical example, and one sample of the graphics resulting from the measurements he made.
May the Power be with your models!
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7 comments:
Hmm, could this mean that there will also be new, more powerful "V2' battery boxes in the future, especially since upgrading the fuse is almost a trivial matter? Also, I wonder if the more expensive, harder to replace rechargeable battery can cope with the new receiver's requirements.
I'm afraid that the very limited current output depends on some regulatory safety issue for children market. I checked my photos of PF battery boxes, all three contain the same 750 mA rated resettable fuse...
Hmm... in that case, the old 9V battery box, which doesn't have any circuitry, is at a big advantage. No wonder the 8421 Mobile Crane, which uses an old battery box to power its RC motor, doesn't have problems!
Does the third version of the receiver has a V3 printed on it?
What version of the receiver does my 8275-Motorized Bulldozer have?
The V2 receiver is obviously much better than the V1. Thus than mean that the V1 is flawed and that we can ask LEGO to substitute it?
No, the newest version is V2, which has "V2" printed on it. Besides it, there's V1, which most likely your 8275 has, and "V1.5", which replaced V1. The way to distinguish between V1 and V1.5 is that the latter blinks its LED once when you power it up.
As there's essentially nothing wrong with the previous versions (V1.5 corrects a bug in V1 that you wouldn't find anyway), I really doubt TLG will replace your receivers.
Old 9V battery pack does have a resettable fuse too (a metal looking disk sandwitched between two contact blades). But I know nothing (yet...) of its rating.
Ah, I had noticed those some years ago, when I disassembled a battery box to run some wires to power it from an external power source (I didn't have any train controller at that time). But I never figured out what were they for (and the battery box worked fine without them anyway), and I think I lost them with the disassembly/reassembly...
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