Hey Community , i really don't do enough fun projects. As you may notice many of my projects have a utility function. Squeegee mops, jarvis vacuums, smart marine fish tank is... well smart lol. So this is just for fun and I hope others enjoy it. I have already contemplated using it as a demonstration tool to get kids interested in technology. . Dang it! This is just for fun , ok I'll try not to get to serious with this. My friend Marty was talking about being able to drive the power wheels around while his kid was in it around the neighborhood. Or if his kid was driving and got to far he's just a button click away from stopping it. We found a free power wheels that had seen some rough years and we gave it a complete makeover. It looks better than new, new Gel cells from power sonic , smart charging and more. I gave it a cool high grass stripe camo.pattern and gave it to his son for his birthday. I'll post a couple pics. He's on the fence about doing the further mods so i searched craigslist.org for another power wheels that had been loved a little too hard. Searching for something with space and power I wanted I set my heart on a f150 , Toyota 4x or jeep 4x4. I didn't find a 4x4 model but f150 was the next best as it had dual gearboxes with rs585 motors. Also a good gel battery and charger was included. Here come some pics...
Other robots from Synthiam community
Wolfie's Scraps
Markthebotbldr's What Should I Name This Robot?
Ok , so now comes the difficult parts. Actually installing equipment in a functional manor. The most important part is the generator but I believe I will remove the original gas tank in exchange for a custom round one.
I pulled out the sawzaw ryobi and cut out the center console as it will never hold a drink for a 5 yr old agian! More importantly it will give a good low center spot for the 63cc generator.
You see the 900 watt battery backup and uninterruptable power supply. I had to test it with the generator and it appears to do its job. The generator produces messy power. I read 129 volts without a load at 60 hz , passing into this power scrubber I get a simulated sine wave output at 120 volts 60 hz. This is much safer for sensitive electronics. I love that this unit from Cyberpower has built in meters for every piece of data related to power consumption. Total watts input , hertz input, voltage input, battery level, battery load , estimated runtime, voltage out, hertz out, watts/amps out ect.
Oh man, this thing is looking better and better each day!
Thanks man! It is coming together , I really wish I kept on it over winter. It would be rolling by now! I bought a Corsair 600 watt psu to hack as a 120v to 12v volt bronze class high amp switching supply for the h bridge , servos and drive motors.
OK , here is the switching power supply that brings the 120 volt down to a manageable 12 volts to work with. I imagine I will be hacking most of this wiring harness off unless I install a desktop style PC in this thing...... not happening lol.
OK so after testing the generator inside the bottom of the car I don't like two things. Number one is it will shift weight to about 60 percent front 40 back. Second is I believe I will kill the generator without open airflow. So that being said I abandoned putting the generator low in the truck. Instead I will mount it in the "truck bed" area and make sure there are a few inches of open airspace all the way around the unit. I am building a wood frame and there will be 2.5 inch holes drilled for the rubber feet. This way the generator cannot slide around, but still keeps all the vibration dampening it was designed for.
This pic shows measurement's for a replacement fuel tank intended for a 4000 watt generator. It is a 5 gallon tank with petcock valve. The top has a vent and fuel guage as well. Given the comparison of the existing tank the new larger one could fuel the generator at 1/2 load 400 watts for 50 hours continously.
I believe I will completely unbolt the existing one and mount this one over the top instead.
As you can see there is a great deal of open space. Obviously there will be a single cord wrapping around to the front. I could hard wire the 110v but the obvious ability to unplug it gives me a manual safety feature to disconnect from the generator.