Author Topic: Powerwheels Fun (Read 436 times)

Chairboy · « **on:** August 29, 2005, 08:51:30 AM »

A friend of mine gave me an old (10+ years old) Power Wheels quad. These things are great, it's an electric vehicle for little kids. It's the kind of toy we didn't have as kids (instead we had bicycles which usually didn't even have wheels that we had to push uphill through the snow, both ways, etc) and probably one of the chief sources of tension between the generations.

One problem they have is that the little 6V batteries don't hold much of a charge, so fun on them is limited to a few minutes before they start slowing down.

The powerwheels I received had no batteries, so I took this as an opportunity to make a small change. I pulled out the wiring harness and re-wired it per some instructions I found to work properly with a 12V supply (it usually uses two 6V batteries in series, you can't just wire in a 12V without losing slow-mode and whatnot). In place of the two anemic type H batteries that where there, I put in a big marine deep cycle battery.

The thing now scoots, and I have to jog to keep up. The modification potential is now making itself known....

The plastic tires don't have great traction, so I'm thinking of ways to improve that. One thing I'm looking at is replacement tires from Harbor Freight that are inflatable rubber. In the meantime, I'm thinking of stuff to spray/apply to the tires to make them stickier.

I've found that I can replace the motors in it with beefier motors built for R/C monster trucks (the Traxxas E-Maxx) to get a 20-50% increase in torque and speed.

A master-kill switch on the back so I can stop a runaway kid might be handy too, but one thing that would really help is a radio kill switch. Anyone have any ideas for a cheap way to do this?

Yesterday, I took a couple of 1" PVC "T" connectors and cut slots in them so one would fit over the axle of the Quad and the other would fit over the front bar of our stroller, and my 3 year old was towing the stroller with my lounging 1.5 year old all around. This battery is great, it seems to go forever, but that's part of why I need a radio kill switch.

Anyone have ideas on the radio kill switch? Also, anyone else upgrade these things? It's a lot of fun.

Suave · « **Reply #1 on:** August 29, 2005, 08:58:57 AM »

What would Frink do ?

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 29, 2005, 09:01:01 AM »

Who is having more fun, the kid or you?

Chairboy · « **Reply #3 on:** August 29, 2005, 09:09:46 AM »

It's probably a tie. The kids are having a great time driving to the park. Both my 3 year old and 1.5 year old can drive it, the main difference being that my 1.5 year old will blithely drive into parked cars with the nonchalance of Chuck Yeager (and the hand-eye-coordination of JFK Jr.). My 3 year old has already figured out that it goes faster on pavement, so he'll bee-line to a sidewalk whenever possible and take off at around 6-7 mph.

PVC is great, btw. Now I'm thinking of whipping together a little canopy for rainy days. Also, the quad may be a perfect excuse to try out that new 'Fusion' spray paint that's supposed to bond with plastic.

indy007 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 29, 2005, 09:11:42 AM »

get a cheap rc toy, gut it for the electronics and put the little servo so it trips a kill switch when you turn it. probably have to manually reset it after you do that, but better than nothing.

Hangtime · « **Reply #5 on:** August 29, 2005, 10:05:05 AM »

my mom used to love to awe the neighbors and distant family with the story of my trek at the age of 2 1/2 on a toddler bike with training wheels to the local grocery store about a mile from our house.. early on a saturday morning while wearing my feety jammies complete with a trap-door bellybutton flap...where i shoplifted a hershey with almonds bar.

the store owner aked if i wanted a bag on the way out, to which I reportedly nodded and the geezer obligingly put the massive monster hershey bar in a bag and handed it to back to me. He then called Mom.

I then pedaled that thing home, crossing no less than two major roads with traffic lights where i proudly handed the bar to my mom, who was sick. (she loved hershey with almonds bars, not me) Up untill the moment the grocer called, she thought I was in bed.

Moral.. better have more than a kill switch on that Ride, Chairboy.

lasersailor184 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 29, 2005, 10:25:35 AM »

Quote

the store owner aked if i wanted a bag on the way out, to which I reportedly nodded and the geezer obligingly put the massive monster hershey bar in a bag and handed it to back to me. He then called Mom

I love small comunity environments. Not only did the guy know who you were, but knew your parent's phone number.

eagl · « **Reply #7 on:** August 29, 2005, 11:35:17 AM »

Yea. Try that sort of thing in a "modern" and "civilized" community and you'd get tazered, footie jammies or not.

Chairboy · « **Reply #8 on:** August 29, 2005, 11:40:43 AM »

As a federally licensed Net Marshall, I'm gonna take some steps to prevent this threadjack from continuing.

I'll try the RC car method. I've seen super cheap R/C stuff (eg, the $10 range) that should be adaptable.

Any suggestions on things to make the plastic wheels grip better? The wheel conversion is kinda expensive/tricky because of the differences in axel size, so I'd like to do something cheap in the meantime.

indy007 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 29, 2005, 12:00:36 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Chairboy
As a federally licensed Net Marshall, I'm gonna take some steps to prevent this threadjack from continuing.

I'll try the RC car method. I've seen super cheap R/C stuff (eg, the $10 range) that should be adaptable.

Any suggestions on things to make the plastic wheels grip better? The wheel conversion is kinda expensive/tricky because of the differences in axel size, so I'd like to do something cheap in the meantime.

Coat them in tooldip, build up a few layers, carve tread into it.
Won't last very long, but it'd do in the meantime.

Beats carving tread straight into the plastic tires. That'd stink really, really bad.

edit: Almost forgot, scuff it up pretty good with sandpaper, the plastic or tooldip.

RightF00T · « **Reply #10 on:** August 29, 2005, 02:31:44 PM »

Do a body lift, then put riding lawn-mower tires on it.

kevykev56 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 29, 2005, 03:37:34 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Chairboy
I'll try the RC car method. I've seen super cheap R/C stuff (eg, the $10 range) that should be adaptable.

Instead of trying to create a manual switch and linkage stop by radio shack. You should be able to pick up a nice relay that you can use to turn ignition power on and off with ease.

I would just find a receiver that is powerd off of 12v using the vehicles battery to power it, then use the RC car engine drive voltage to turn off the relay. To stop the 4x4 all you would need to do is push forward on the remote control. Maybe even adapt the remote to a manual switch so you would not need to keep forward pressure to stop the vehicle. A little soldering is all you would need to do.

Could even put the relay and components inside one of those nice project boxes RadioShack sells. Im pretty sure you can even get them waterproof. If you have an old broken RC car laying around maybe able to use it for your xmitter/rcvr.

Mustaine · « **Reply #12 on:** August 29, 2005, 03:44:46 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Chairboy
Any suggestions on things to make the plastic wheels grip better? The wheel conversion is kinda expensive/tricky because of the differences in axel size, so I'd like to do something cheap in the meantime.

some kind of adhesive, and a box of #64 rubber bands.

Dartman · « **Reply #13 on:** August 29, 2005, 04:01:02 PM »

Wow,
This is the first time I have seen somebody else other then myself modifying their (kids) power wheels for improved performance. Having 2 girls to begin with the oem powerwheels were fine. Now that I have a 3 yr old son everything must be go faster, higher, quicker etc..

One of my fixes for that traction problem, although it removes the possibility of doing roll backs which my son misses. Find yourself an suitable sized inner tube and cut about a 2 inch wide band out of it. You must cut it side ways and cut a complete circle out of it like making a doughnut. It must also be slighly smaller than the OD of your plastic tire such that u have to strech it out a little to fit it on kind of like wrapping a rubber band around the tire circumfrencially. I used an old ATV tire tube an it fit perfect. Don't try to cut a strip it won't work (my try #1 and 2 and 3). I glued mine (ours) on with some 3M Automotive trim adhesive.

Have Fun, they are only young once!
Dartman

Dartman · « **Reply #14 on:** August 29, 2005, 04:09:41 PM »

And I forgot this......

The 12 V Marine battery works great but its not sealed. I put about a 24 inch tygon hose on the vent and wrapped it in a circle and out the bottom. If he happens to roll it over my theory is by the time the acid leaks thru the hose I will be there to flip it back and/or he will already have bailed.

Some of the powerwheels (or similar) have a thermal cutout in the drive motor cicuit. Once tripped it seems they loose their ability to carry current, especially when the battrey starts running down and will keep popping. Bypass it if you have to continue carrying the kid and car from way down the street.