[Dan], admirably rose to the occasion when his son wanted a new toy. Being a dedicated father — and instead of buying something new — he took the opportunity to abscond to his workbench to convert a Wiimote Nunchuck into a fully wireless controller for his son’s old r/c car — itself, gutted and rebuilt some years earlier.
Unpacking the nunchuck and corralling the I2C wires was simply done. From there, he combined a bit of code, an Arduino pro mini, and two 1K Ohm resistors to make use of an Aurel RTX-MID transceiver that had been lying around. Waste not, want not.
A TI Stellaris Launchpad is the smarts of the car itself, in concordance with a TB6612FNG motor controller. The two Solarbotics GM9 motors with some 3D printed gears give the car some much needed gusto.
In Dan’s own humble words: “nothing out of the ordinary, just a nice example of what one can do with parts mostly gathering dust around any hacker’s house.” If any new parents out there have a spare Wiimote stashed away, you can use the infrared LEDs to make a fairly effective baby monitor.
Now all it needs is traction.
Snarf an old innertube off a mountainbiking buddy and cut it some slicks to stretch over rear wheels.
Found better ones for the next verision https://wheelspinmodels.co.uk/i/125713/?gclid=CLz5g8WinNMCFUeeGwod7OEOQQ :)
Wireless Wii nunchuck remotes are pretty cheap already (2 for £5 on ebay), with battery built in, etc.
I’m using a set for my kids ride-on toys, which I’ve broken out the antenna for better range.
I chose these over the usual r/c remotes, which can be quite bulky!
I know this is old, but what do you mean broke out the antenna for better range?