How to Connect LEGO Power Functions Motors to a Micro:bit Without Cutting the Connector
If you've seen any of my LEGO coding projects before, you'll probably recognise this setup: a Micro:bit, motor controller and LEGO motor.
Until now, I've always had to cut the original LEGO connector off the motor and wire it directly to the motor controller. For my own projects this hasn't been a problem, but I know a lot of people understandably don't want to permanently modify or sacrifice their LEGO motors.
Today I think I've found a much better solution.
As you can see above, I've attached a LEGO Power Functions connector to the motor output on my motor controller board. This creates a simple adapter that allows a LEGO Power Functions motor to be connected directly to the motor controller without cutting the original LEGO cable.
I've only carried out some initial testing so far, but the early results are very promising. I can now connect a LEGO Power Functions motor directly to the motor controller using my homemade adapter.
The first test
Here is my first attempt at running a LEGO motor through the new adapter:
https://x.com/ChrisPenn84/status/2091255420975223166
This could make things much easier for anyone who wants to combine LEGO Power Functions motors with Micro:bit projects, particularly if you don't want to cut or modify your LEGO motors.
The great thing is that there should be no need to sacrifice LEGO motors anymore. Even better, the connectors needed to make these adapters cost only a few pounds from places such as AliExpress.
What's next?
This is still an early prototype, so I haven't tested it extensively yet. I'm going to try it with some different LEGO motors and use it in some of my upcoming Micro:bit projects.
I'll also write a separate post explaining exactly how I modified the connector and made the adapter. It's actually surprisingly simple, and I'll show the steps involved so you can make your own.
Hopefully this will make it much easier to combine LEGO, Micro:bit and Power Functions without having to destroy perfectly good LEGO motors.
And if you like this project, check out my other LEGO and Micro:bit projects for more experiments and ideas.
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