Answers.Body: <p>TLG was kind enough to send me one of these, so I've done my part and cracked it open to see what is inside. The teardown was fairly easy to do without damaging any components. The only tool I used was a brick separator. </p>
  <p>There are a few tabs around the edges that can be depressed to allow the main housing to come apart:</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/NvJWY.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/NvJWY.jpg" alt="bottom cover and battery box" /></a></p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/s3wAS.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/s3wAS.jpg" alt="top cover and pcb from behind" /></a></p>
  <p>I'm not certain what the purpose of the small rubberized button is, but it is accessible from inside the battery compartment. This may be related to detection of a future battery pack.</p>
  <p>The PCB simply lifts out:</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/oBbLe.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/oBbLe.jpg" alt="pcb bottom" /></a></p>
  <p>On the bottom side, we can see that the main processor is an <a href="https://estore.st.com/en/stm32l431rct6-cpn.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">STM32L431RCT6</a>. It's based on the Arm Cortex M4, can be clocked up to 80 MHz, and includes 256kB of flash memory.</p>
  <p>The top side includes the remainder of the components of interest.</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ufbxS.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ufbxS.jpg" alt="pcb top" /></a></p>
  <p>For Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication, the Control+ hub uses a <a href="http://www.ti.com/product/cc2640" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CC2640</a> from Texas Instruments. This is the same chip used by the Powered Up hub.</p>
  <p>The motor drivers are <a href="https://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/LB1836M-D.PDF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">LB1836</a> chips. They are dual drivers, and there are two on the board, one for each pair of ports. These are the same driver chips used for the Powered Up, Boost, and Robot Inventor hubs.</p>
  <p>Overall, this hardware is very similar to the other hardware in the current generation of products (Robot Inventor, Powered Up, Boost, etc).</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-12T12:08:21.363Z
Answers.Text: If I may hypothesize about the button. The EV3 had a button that was pressed when the rechargeable battery was equipped, so it didn't complain about the batteries being drained because of the inherent lower voltage of the rechargeable battery (7.2V vs 9V). So perhaps a rechargeable battery solution is also intended in the future for this hub...
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael Verschaeve
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-12T12:28:35.150Z
Answers.Text: @MichaelVerschaeve That was my hunch as well. I'd certainly love to see a rechargeable battery pack for this hub.
Answers.UserDisplayName: jncraton
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-12T01:04:31.060Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-03-12T15:07:06.130Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2021-03-12T15:07:06.130Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: jncraton
Body: <p>I'm interested in comparing to the other Powered Up hubs, which are already documented here:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Mindstorms v4 / spike prime <a href="https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/15057/what-internal-electronics-do-spike-prime-and-mindstorms-v4-use">What internal electronics do SPIKE Prime and Mindstorms v4 use?</a></li>
  <li>train 6AAA hub <a href="https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/10257/what-electronics-are-inside-the-lego-powered-up-hub">What electronics are inside the LEGO Powered Up hub?</a></li>
  <li>boost / move hub <a href="https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/9148/what-internal-electronics-does-lego-boost-use">What internal electronics does LEGO Boost use?</a></li>
  </ul>
  <p>Thanks!</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-11-08T13:23:52.673Z
Comments.Text: Welcome to Bricks! I contributed answers for the three linked questions, but I don't have 88012. I'm sure I'll get it eventually, and I'm happy to open it up and document it here when I do, but it would likely be months from now. Perhaps someone else will be able to provide an answer before then.
Comments.UserDisplayName: jncraton
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-11-08T21:16:46.360Z
Comments.Text: thanks @jncraton, appreciated.  What I'm interested in is driving the motors at a slightly higher voltage using rechargeables; with either alkaline or nimh AA, the actual driver voltage will be close to 7.x volts.  Using a 2s1p lipo would be an easy (moderate) increase, but I can't find a lipo that would come close to filling the volume (so energy capacity would suffer quite a bit).  OTOH it would be very easy to fill the 6AA slots with 6 14500 protected LiIon cells, re-wired to 3s2p and with a JST to hook the (removed) battery unit up to a balancing RC charger.
Comments.UserDisplayName: some bits flipped
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-11-08T21:19:37.060Z
Comments.Text: however this would be slightly above the lb1836 Vcc abs max of 10.5; so I'm looking for if it would be easier to haywire a different motor controller (unfortunately I can't find any pin-compatible IC's with a higher Vcc tolerance), OR cram in a small buck-boost to handle the 3s2p -> 9v, which would be an even 9v for the whole discharge or a ~30% increase in drive voltage.
Comments.UserDisplayName: some bits flipped
Tags: <electronics><powered-up><disassembly><control-plus>
Title: What internal electronics does the Control+ Technic Hub (88012) use?
UserDisplayName: some bits flipped
ThreadText: # What internal electronics does the Control+ Technic Hub (88012) use?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-11-08)
  
  I'm interested in comparing to the other Powered Up hubs, which are already documented here:
  
  * Mindstorms v4 / spike prime [What internal electronics do SPIKE Prime and Mindstorms v4 use?](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/15057/what-internal-electronics-do-spike-prime-and-mindstorms-v4-use)
  * train 6AAA hub [What electronics are inside the LEGO Powered Up hub?](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/10257/what-electronics-are-inside-the-lego-powered-up-hub)
  * boost / move hub [What internal electronics does LEGO Boost use?](https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/9148/what-internal-electronics-does-lego-boost-use)
  
  Thanks!
  
  **Tags:** electronics, powered-up, disassembly, control-plus
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Welcome to Bricks! I contributed answers for the three linked questions, but I don't have 88012. I'm sure I'll get it eventually, and I'm happy to open it up and document it here when I do, but it would likely be months from now. Perhaps someone else will be able to provide an answer before then.  
  > **username_0**: thanks @jncraton, appreciated.  What I'm interested in is driving the motors at a slightly higher voltage using rechargeables; with either alkaline or nimh AA, the actual driver voltage will be close to 7.x volts.  Using a 2s1p lipo would be an easy (moderate) increase, but I can't find a lipo that would come close to filling the volume (so energy capacity would suffer quite a bit).  OTOH it would be very easy to fill the 6AA slots with 6 14500 protected LiIon cells, re-wired to 3s2p and with a JST to hook the (removed) battery unit up to a balancing RC charger.  
  > **username_0**: however this would be slightly above the lb1836 Vcc abs max of 10.5; so I'm looking for if it would be easier to haywire a different motor controller (unfortunately I can't find any pin-compatible IC's with a higher Vcc tolerance), OR cram in a small buck-boost to handle the 3s2p -> 9v, which would be an even 9v for the whole discharge or a ~30% increase in drive voltage.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2021-03-12. Score: 5 | Accepted answer
  
  TLG was kind enough to send me one of these, so I've done my part and cracked it open to see what is inside. The teardown was fairly easy to do without damaging any components. The only tool I used was a brick separator.
  
  There are a few tabs around the edges that can be depressed to allow the main housing to come apart:
  
  [![bottom cover and battery box](https://i.sstatic.net/NvJWY.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/NvJWY.jpg)
  
  [![top cover and pcb from behind](https://i.sstatic.net/s3wAS.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/s3wAS.jpg)
  
  I'm not certain what the purpose of the small rubberized button is, but it is accessible from inside the battery compartment. This may be related to detection of a future battery pack.
  
  The PCB simply lifts out:
  
  [![pcb bottom](https://i.sstatic.net/oBbLe.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/oBbLe.jpg)
  
  On the bottom side, we can see that the main processor is an [STM32L431RCT6](https://estore.st.com/en/stm32l431rct6-cpn.html). It's based on the Arm Cortex M4, can be clocked up to 80 MHz, and includes 256kB of flash memory.
  
  The top side includes the remainder of the components of interest.
  
  [![pcb top](https://i.sstatic.net/ufbxS.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/ufbxS.jpg)
  
  For Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication, the Control+ hub uses a [CC2640](http://www.ti.com/product/cc2640) from Texas Instruments. This is the same chip used by the Powered Up hub.
  
  The motor drivers are [LB1836](https://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/LB1836M-D.PDF) chips. They are dual drivers, and there are two on the board, one for each pair of ports. These are the same driver chips used for the Powered Up, Boost, and Robot Inventor hubs.
  
  Overall, this hardware is very similar to the other hardware in the current generation of products (Robot Inventor, Powered Up, Boost, etc).
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: If I may hypothesize about the button. The EV3 had a button that was pressed when the rechargeable battery was equipped, so it didn't complain about the batteries being drained because of the inherent lower voltage of the rechargeable battery (7.2V vs 9V). So perhaps a rechargeable battery solution is also intended in the future for this hub...  
  > **username_1**: @MichaelVerschaeve That was my hunch as well. I'd certainly love to see a rechargeable battery pack for this hub.  
  
  ---
  
  