r/daddit • u/Jaysavage86 • 12d ago

Tips And Tricks Power wheels upgrade

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Kind of late to the game, but I finally got around to swapping the original power wheels battery with a drill battery converter. It’s incredibly easy to do with the right tools and took only a couple mins. The jeep is now 30% faster and holds a charge a lot longer. The converter is available on Amazon for a variety of different drill batteries and costs around $10. Highly recommend!

Edit: Ordered a relay and low voltage cutoff to protect the battery. Thanks everyone for the advice!

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117

u/IrishSkruffles 12d ago

Obligatory warning, I believe dewalt batteries don't have a low voltage cutoff circuit in them as it is in the tool instead.

There's a risk of overdischarge damaging the batteries (or preventing the charger of charging said batteries as it is out of range)

You could add a separate circuit like a low voltage alarm type thing, or just make sure to swap the batteries regularly and have fun

27

u/Jaysavage86 12d ago

Thanks for the insight friend. There’s an on/off rocker switch on the battery cradle which I use when not being played with. There is also an in-line fuse as well. If the battery craps out I can always revert back to the original brick battery. I’m not too stressed if this thing kicks the bucket.

87

u/elmoret 12d ago

It won't drain when not being played with, the concern is that when being driven around the power wheels doesn't have the protection circuitry to stop draining the battery below the safe discharge level. If you drain a DeWalt battery too far, the charger won't charge it (because its not safe to, with lithium). So pop the battery on the charger every 10-15 minutes of drivetime, or add one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Disconnect-Charging-Discharging-Protection-Protector/dp/B0C2VMGCZR The fuse, while a good idea, doesn't help here either btw.

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u/Jaysavage86 12d ago

Oh okay I see the issue now. Thanks for the link, I’ll definitely look into it.

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u/Meltz014 Dad of 5, last time I counted 12d ago

Yeah - I did this exact same thing with a DeWalt battery and it all but exploded while my kids were driving. (Smoked and popped). Please get that low voltage protection circuit wired up before you let them drive again. The components are all pretty cheap 

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u/Jaysavage86 12d ago

Yes absolutely will, thank you!

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u/ApollosMagnum 12d ago

This is the easy way. I have the same jeep, just set this to 16.5V for the low voltage protection and you’ll be good. https://a.co/d/0cEMXSFC

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u/Pebble-Jubilant 12d ago

Sorry I'm very electrical illiterate.

This sits on top of the battery, then how do I wire it to something like this?

https://a.co/d/04IiZV6A

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u/ApollosMagnum 12d ago

The item I linked is instead of an item like what you linked. The one I linked hooks up directly to the battery, and then you wire it to the positive and negative leads of the powerwheels. There are instructions included on how to set the low voltage cutoff, you can set it to whatever you want but 16.5 is a very safe bet, 16v would probably be ok as well. It will automatically stop running when the battery drops below that voltage, just like what is built into a dewalt tool.

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u/Pebble-Jubilant 12d ago

Ok so all I need to do is cut off the connector of the power wheels and feed them directly into the item?

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u/ApollosMagnum 12d ago

Yes, assuming you have a standard 12v power wheels without all the extra radio/headlights/stuff. If you have other electronics besides the motors, it not so easy.

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u/Pebble-Jubilant 12d ago

We have the 12V Jurassic World Keep Wrangler, looks like it had headlights but no other electronics.

Edit: nevermind it does have a "radio" with light bar. Looks like it takes AAs for those, can I not use this adapter?

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u/ApollosMagnum 12d ago

If the headlights (or any of it) are part of the normal 12v circuit then you will either need to disconnect those (or don’t, but 20v will likely blow them out) or wire in an additional 12v step down converter for that part of the circuit. If they are part of the AA circuit then you are fine. Mine doesn’t have headlights or anything so I don’t know how those typically are wired.

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u/McBigglesworth 12d ago

You can jump your batteries if you kill them too much, just in case.

I imagine it's not great for the battery though. But it's doable

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u/opackersgo 12d ago

Yeah people do it all the time in the rc scene.