Power Wheels 12v to 24v Upgrade: Adding a Soft Start

[@PatchBOTS]

The kids really love this one!

[@dougshaffer5524]

You can install 13 x 5 x 6 lawn mower wheels, with some minor welding. It definitely improves traction and steering. 3/4 inch steel tube, with 1/2 polyethylene tube to wrap the original axles.

[@rhyboy1]

I feel like this is the hardest way to go about all of this 😂 I just ran through a variable speed controller and a soft start wires in line…

[@albertpatron8868]

As a coder, I actually feel like this is way easier.

[@Killcycle]

What hardware fo you have this in detail? Bought or self build?

[@itsme_davie]

I am wondering how Choppers going, it’s been a while since you have had a video of him lately. I hope he’s doing fine.

[@rayh.9926]

Hi - I’m just looking for a way to soft start so that I don’t keep blowing the circuit (have a separate voltage controller). Can you help on the easiest way to do this?

[@Killcycle]

Yes, I only want a soft start also!

[@chrislizon7483]

Is there any reason you couldn't disconnect the factory pedal switch from the motors, and instead use it as an input for the Arduino and let the arduous control the motor on/off as well as ramp rate? I guess the most obvious problem would be the loss of the resistive brake.

[@PatchBOTS]

Yes, what you are saying is totally possible and probably simpler. The reason I didn't go that route was for a fail-safe. Considering the jeep left outside in the heat/cold/moisture a lot of the time, I didn't want the safety of the vehicle to be dependent upon a cheap components wired together by someone with no formal training(me). This way if anything goes sideways with the digital controller, taking your foot off the pedal is still cutting power.

[@isaacalvarado2568]

Hey! Where did you go? It’s been 4 months.

[@majorkurn]

maybe a nerf turret mounted to the hood, or from behind on the bars? able to be fired from the passenger seat?

[@RavenHawkTech]

Not sure anyone has mentioned this but what about Ninja Flex tires?

[@tiffanymorris3633]

How do you remove the soft start? I bought my daughter the Mercedes Benz Zetros 24v and would like it to accelerate faster and go faster. Your 24v seems to go faster than ours. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@MiguelRodriguez-nt5eq]

At the end the little one almost fell out.. 😆

[@dieseldood]

I'm not sure if you still monitor this or not.... The jeep my son has is a little different. It had a "soft start" controller built in, but sadly it died. Meh.. no biggie... except my yard is all hills. Point the nose of that jeep up the hill and it WILL roll all the way over. So I found my way here. I ALMOST hit the order button in my Amazon cart, but then looked at the wiring. His jeep has a controller that does forward and reverse as well. The switch/shifter only sends an input. From a bit of reading I understand that the IBT can do this functionality. Is there an easy code to add? Pin x is forward and pin y is reverse type of thing? I'm JUST starting to attempt to learn coding, so pardon me if I sound ignorant. Also, as a "prep" to moving him into a Go-cart (he's only 3.5 now), I'd like to add a variable throttle. I was looking at the potentiometer you have in the Lightning, could this coding be used, but changed to the throttle control? Could I set the current on/off throttle pedal as a brake, where if it sees that input it shuts the other functions down? Thanks for reading. I can be found everywhere as DieselDood. Gmail, FB, Insta, etc.

[@PatchBOTS]

What you're basically suggesting is switching it from analog control to a digital controller. I didn't want to do that. Our jeep mostly stays out in the garden. Hot in summer, freezing in winter. The idea of putting an Arduino through that and then put it in charge of my kids safety

[@KT1459]

How do you get that to run that fast without burning out the motors?

[@jacoblamb1078]

When will I be making another chopper video????

[@chale4u566]

Wow nice work, thanks for sharing

[@joshcagle5904]

If you want the gas pedal to work using the DC DC step down converter you will have to change your code a bit. PinMode (Switch, Output); You will also have to invert your bits for the gas switch in the two while loops. While (gasSwitch == 0 && speed2 == 0; //this while loop stops everything while the gas pedal is open. While (gasSwitch == 1) //if Gas Pedal is pressed. I still cannot get the IBT_2 to work as it will not register any voltage on the M+ or M- side.

[@PatchBOTS]

Thanks Josh. Not sure why you would want the Switch as an Output, but maybe you're thinking of something I'm not. I uploaded the code I used for the DC/DC stepdown to my github today. It's basically what you're saying here, maybe it will be helpful. Not sure why you're IBT_2 isn't working. The Input/Output for batteries and motors is a little counterintuitive. I know I fried a couple of them by wiring those up wrong in the past. Also check to make sure your sending signals to 'enable' pins as well as the PWM pins. Feel free to email me if anything comes up, or if you need any clarification on my code.

[@pinotfilmnoir]

@@PatchBOTS Yeah. Setting the Switch to output was the only way I could figure out how to get the switch to debug correctly. I think it is because I am sending 5 volts to pin 5 instead of using the onboard pullup resistor and just going to ground. I don't know. I will take a look at your code soon. Also, thank you so much for doing your project. Once I figure out what is going on I will let you know how it works. I think my IBT_2 may be a knock off or something. I have two of them and both do not show a sign of life. I am going to some suggestions in the link below and see if it helps. forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=148482.0 Thanks again. I am sure my kiddo will love it once I get it going.

[@pinotfilmnoir]

@@PatchBOTS Hey I got it to work. I had to make some minor modifications to the code and add another wire from pin 6 to the EN_L on the IBT_2. For some reason it would not work without both the L_EN and the R_EN connected to pins. I changed the variables a bit for these pins. #define enR 7 // This gets wired to R_EN on the BTS7960 motor controller. #define enL 6 // This gets wired to L_EN on the BTS7960 motor controller. I also saw that the motor was turning while gas petal was not being pressed. So I changed the code to where it was 0 in the first while loop before the gas pedal is pressed. rampSpeed = 0; //Changed this 0 so we don't draw power when the gas pedal is not pressed. I changed the location of the rampSpeed to 20 just before the second while loop is being called after you press the gas pedal. rampSpeed=20; //Our goal is to ramp up to "pwmWrite." I chose 175 as a starting point for that ramp based on the fact that I've run that value a lot without problems for the gears. while (gasSwitch == 1 ) { //if Gas Pedal is pressed.... I used 20 because I was using a small motor to test with. I put my modifications on my github. Thank you so much for all your hard work making such a nice video and writing code. My kiddo is going to love it. github.com/vintagegamingsystems/soft_start_kiddo_car/blob/master/soft_start_kiddo_car.ino

[@pinotfilmnoir]

@@PatchBOTS I also forgot that I had to set the pinmodes for the IBT_2. pinMode (enR, OUTPUT); pinMode (enL, OUTPUT); pinMode (RPWM, OUTPUT); // pinMode (LPWM, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(enR, HIGH); digitalWrite(enL, HIGH);//enable the Microcontroller. This will need to reamin high in order to work. //analogWrite(RPWM, HIGH); Thanks again!

[@chrislizon7483]

Did you ever get your IBT_2 working as expected? I've put together a proof of concept but I can't get voltage across M+ and M-. If I wire the power wheels to M+ and B- it goes. I'm not sure if this is user error or if it can be attributed to ebay components. I may just wire it up that way permanently and only use half of the H bridge since I don't plan to reverse my motors electrically anyways. I tested it using L_EN and LPWM and I could get voltage from M- and B-.

[@bobx3646]

I'm excited to try this! Don't have c++ language under my belt, thanks! Link to the Arduino board? Or pretty much any Arduino board works? Thanks much!

[@PatchBOTS]

Sure, any Arduino will work but in the video I am using an Arduino Nano (knockoff).

[@TravisFabel]

Cool, but your coding could use a bit of help. You only need one loop for adding the speed.. and if you use millis instead of delays, you could have it do other things as well.

[@PatchBOTS]

Oh man, no doubt about that. I'm not a great coder. If you want to branch of my GitHub and make it more legit that would be great!

[@BShermer321]

Any chance you can help? I have everything complete but at max pwm or with 5V, I get an output of 10v DC to the motors with a 24v DC supply. I cannot even move the wheels without L_EN and R_EN wired. You sure you only have R_EN?

[@PatchBOTS]

Glad to help. Send me an email with pics of your setup and we'll get it figured out

[@BShermer321]

@@PatchBOTS I guess if you can answer this foremost, do you need the L_Enable and R_Enable both wired and set to high? I need both or motor won't move.

[@PatchBOTS]

@@BShermer321 Yes, it looks like I have both of them tied to pin 7 of the arduino and then the PWMs of each going to pins 9 and 10

[@BShermer321]

@@PatchBOTS Thanks, turns out when I have one bts7960 and two motors it stays half speed. When it's only one motor (either one) it's full speed. I don't get it. Suppose I can try wiring 2 7960s in parallel I guess.

[@BShermer321]

@@PatchBOTS with one motor in parallel off the bts7960 I get 20 amps. With 2, I get 10 amps. I am buying a sabertooth model instead to see if that helps. I don't get it.

[@YouTubeCommentator.]

Cant you get a speeder pedal with an inbuild speedcontroller? that way the kids could control the speed and acceleration with their foot

[@PatchBOTS]

I could, but I wanted to keep it analog. Having the hard cutoff of the gas pedal is a good safety feature for a kids toy.

[@YouTubeCommentator.]

@@PatchBOTS Do you happen to know where to get one? Or just the name? I guess it’s called a variable speed controller pedal?

[@PatchBOTS]

@@KZbinCommentator. Yeah. you'd need a whole kit. What you're looking for is an "electronic speed controller" or an "ESC" which is made for a powerwheels. They definitely exist. Those will have a variable speed pedal as the input.

[@longhorn8459]

Looks like the abrupt stopping was fixed too, was that intentional?

[@Sebastian-69420]

That is so cute :D

[@baileyshah2730]

Might need new wheels with better traction

[@cf1823]

Hey, I know that it‘s been like 2 years since you worked on your L337 robot but I just wanted to ask if it‘s possible to switch from a female to a male voice (I am trying to recreate J.A.R.V.I.S. from Iron man)

[@halo_odst2616]

Just found this channel. Looks like he's gone though...

[@PatchBOTS]

Not gone.

[@halo_odst2616]

@@PatchBOTS *Return of the Jedi*

[@bryan360424]

@@PatchBOTS no more videos? still waiting on that arm piece lol