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...
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Hey Josh, That's great you are resuming work on this cool Power Wheels project. As you are probably aware, that are many possible wheel upgrades listed on the net. Some are simply cutting bike tires to go around the plastic tire and screwing them into the plastic. Other options are cutting the tread area off of old golf cart tires and slipping them over the plastic or just replacing the entire wheel, like you mentioned. Some people have had better luck going to 18 volts instead of 24 volts. They mentioned with increased power they realize more steering drift or push. It is wild what people do with Power wheels! I will be following your post. Thanks, Steve S
I may just stay with 12 volts. It will be easier to power and wouldn't be a strange battery configuration. 12 volt can be charged by an inverter or a 12 v car battery charger. That being said I did do some shopping and found perfect tires. Match the size and width of the original and they come with different options for bearings. I will be using a grease bearing insert. Check out the pics.
I pulled the original tire off to better size it up. One cotter pin and the tire slides off. When I install the new ones I may use a collar with set screw.Ok here is the exciting part , the comparison. .... drum roll please...
I know your thinking to yourself , " hey that's pretty close" so next I stacked them.Oh yea! That is golden! Other than the center strip bulge in the tire it is dead on the same diameter and thickness.
Ok so I am trimming the bearings because they are a tiny bit tight to easily slide on the shaft. The bearings are 3 piece teflon. The brass ring is a spacer that can be used on either side needed. There is a nipple on the bearing to inject grease for lubrication.
While thinking of how I will actually use the platform, I looked at some practical aspects. I like to go camping, but I cannot take much with me because of weight. If I had a mule to carry stuff and follow me as I hike how cool would that be right? Then I considered that batteries simply won't cut it for extended use. That being said I also do not want to change the whole system. So a potential compromise is a small generator that keeps the 12 volt batteries charged while in extended operation. Then once I arrive at the camp site even when the robot is not in use the generator is useful for charging cameras, ipads, phones or even power a grill or small heater if you really get into bad weather. That being said there are some generators that are 49 cc but I went with this 630 storm cat for 139.99. It claims to be able to run 400 watts ( half load) for 5 or more hours. Imagine the hiking range if you had a small 5 gallon jug with you? This generally speaking is efficient because using a actual 2 horsepower gas motor to drive the wheels could not go 5 hours without a fill up with consistent use. I will swap the gears and motors with all metal ones to eliminate the possibility of stripping.
agian the generator is portable so I would just drop it in and plug in 12 v charger/ power supply. No modifications would be needed to the generator and could be unplugged and removed once I reach a destination. Batteries only provide 20 to 40 min run time by themselves using two Power Sonic SLA 12 v 9 ah batteries. I have not decided if I want the 35 pounds of the generator in the back or the center.
I am leaning towards the motor being in the back , it looks at home there right?Any suggestions?
Hi Josh,
Glad to see you getting back to this one. I have always wanted to do this kind of robot. Kind of a yard patrol bot with water cannon or paint ball gun.....
I think your generator (great idea BTW) would be better in the back to help with traction.
Rex
If this becomes a longer term project I have considered modifying the generator to have a electric starter instead of pull start so the robot can kick the generator on when the batteries are getting low. Thank you for the rear position suggestion , I think that is the best as well !
Josh,
I was showing my assistant and she wants one. Are you going to modify them and sell?