scavenged power wheels

[UnixMonky]

I rescued some sort of power wheels vehicle from the curbside trash this morning (pics attached). If it's at all useful, I'll give it to the space and bring it over this evening. It looks like it's been outside (I'll dump the leaves out of it before bringing it in) and I know absolutely nothing about it other than someone was throwing it away.

~Matt

[Karen Corbeill]

AWESOME! Yes please.

~Cannonball

On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 12:05 PM, UnixMonky <unix...@gmail.com> wrote:

I rescued some sort of power wheels vehicle from the curbside trash this morning (pics attached). If it's at all useful, I'll give it to the space and bring it over this evening. It looks like it's been outside (I'll dump the leaves out of it before bringing it in) and I know absolutely nothing about it other than someone was throwing it away.

~Matt

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "i3 Detroit Public" group.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/i3detroit-public/-/N-uutNR1VcYJ.
To post to this group, send email to i3detroi...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to i3detroit-publ...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/i3detroit-public?hl=en.

[Jerry Bocci]

Speaking of PW...

My mother obtained (either via yard sale or "curbside reclamation") a currently non-functioning Power Wheels car "for the grand-kids".  There was no charging device/cable included, but the thing appears to be in decent shape.  Is there any way to test the battery pack, to see if it could take a charge?  Also, assuming that is successful, does i3 have a charger we could borrow?


Thanks,

JerryB

[Roger S]

Pretty sure they use either 6 or 12 volt regular gel or lead-acid
batteries, so you should be able to throw them on a charger and see if
they take a charge.

[Hank Pierik]

We get a few customer requests every week at the battery shop from people who have scavenged Power Wheel products. Usually, they put them back on the curb after learning it will require about a hundred bucks to get a new battery and charger. There have been several generations of PW batteries (Green, Blue, Red, and most recently Light Grey) all proprietary in design mainly, I believe, for safety concerns since kids are using the vehicles.

 

If  you crack the top off of a PW battery, you will find inside a standard 12 volt Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery usually 12-15 Ah wired up to the top cap with its unique cable interface. The PW system prevents any possibility of hooking up incorrectly or shocking the operator. Good for the kids but not so necessary if you are re-purposing the vehicle for robotics or other ideas. You can solder in a standard SLA ($30-$40) and use a trickle charger (2 amp or less) and save some money.  Some folks try to reassemble the cracked plastic casing but it ain’t pretty.

 

Fisher-Price has everything for PW on their website. Or stop in at Motor City Battery in Ferndale (9 Mile & Wanda) and talk to Greg or Pat. I’m currently laid off but hope to be back in May or June.

 

Thanx!

-Hank

[eric©]

I don't see any reason why you can't replace their battery with a regular SLA plus something like a Powerpole connector, or use a battery maintainer like setup with the semi permanently installed connector.

Eric

On Apr 18, 2012 10:22 AM, "Hank Pierik" <HankP...@wowway.com> wrote:

[Keith Mc]

If anyone spots any more kid's jeeps at the curb, PLEASE email me asap.
My Washtenaw County FIRST teams are seeking ANY style of
kid's riding jeep, for teardown, for the parts. See below...

As others have said, the main reason they are dumped are due to
failed batteries and/or chargers. I find that's true for over 90% of them.
Occasionally the plastic gears also break teeth, but that's more rare.
But a lot are perfectly good mechanically. They were sidelined because
either the kids grew tired of it, "outgrew it" or it broke some random
piece of plastic on its shell so the parents set it aside for safety.

Yea, more often than not, simply replacing the battery system with
standard SLA batteries and a small charger for it should get you
going again. If the old batteries have harnesses, you can even
steal them for attaching to the new SLA batteries.

However, for safety be SURE you also add in a blade FUSE holder
and a 20A-30A blade fuse (or thermally resettable breaker)
to the battery's harness. Most riding jeep batteries come equipped
with internal fuses, to protect you from short-out fires. You DO
need to replace that function when substituting a normal SLA or
other battery for the original ones. Thermal breakers are available
at most auto supply stores, or from AndyMark.biz
... http://www.andymark.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=snap+action+breaker
Inline blade fuse holders are available from Radio Shack, auto
parts stores, and most auto audio stores.

FYI, my FIRST teams **ALWAYS** love to get ahold of old kid's
riding jeep (eg Power Wheels) products! We tear them down
for the motor-gearbox assemblies, harnesses, shafts, wheels,
those hard to find "adapter hubs", and a few other key hardware parts.
Once ratted out, we then recycle the left over plastic shells.

We then use the parts, and some wood, to whip up "Jeep Bots",
a VERY cheap way to create a Practice Bot for FIRST. This is a
vital resource for my smaller, cash strapped teams, and my
rookie teams who do not have ANY "older bots" to part out yet.

So... If anyone EVER ends up spotting ANY kid's riding jeep
at the curb, whether Mattel, Fisher Price, Power Wheels, or whatever,
PLEASE email me its address asap, so we can pick them up!

Thanks!

- Keith Mc.
Founder of five FIRST FRC teams (so far) in the AA-Ypsi metro area.
Mentor/Adviser for FRC 470, 1502, 2627, 3638, and MANY others.