Kids love their Power Wheels and other ride-on electric cars. Indeed, [Ashwin]’s son was digging his little ATV, but soon found that some care was needed on the pedal. It had no proper throttle control, instead turning the motor hard on or off and scaring the poor kid in the process. The solution? A bit of an upgrade from some off-the-shelf electronics.
Inspiration came from—where else—the /r/PowerWheelsMods subreddit. The main tweak was to install an off-the-shelf soft-start circuit to stop the motor banging hard on when the accelerator was pushed. Instead, when the accelerator is pushed, the module gradually ramps up its PWM output to the motor to smooth out the acceleration curve. This would make the ATV much easier to ride.
Implementing this off-the-shelf solution did take some doing, though. The first attempt ended with a short circuit and a blown fuse. However, [Ashwin] wasn’t deterred—a trip back online to do some research did the trick. With some careful wiring that took into account the crude forward and reverse circuit, [Ashwin] had a much smoother running ride-on for his son.
While most of the mods we see for these little ride-ons are all about power and speed, we do appreciate the occasional attempt to make the things a bit safer for younger drivers. If you’re brewing up your own fancy kidmobile at home—don’t hesitate to let us know!
Quadbike without ROPS, it’s tottaly safe trust me bro 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😛😛😛 /s
Oh come on, that thing is not even gonna squish a 3-year old. Not everything has to be cushioned as infinitum.
Can verify, will not crush a 3 year old—even one that actively tries to get crushed by turning up a steep hill and rolling over backwards multiple times during a riding session…
I went through this exact process myself. Ended up designing my own circuit board for it and repairing it several times to beef up parts that failed. Eventually worked though. Ive been meaning to post it someday.
I used a pic mcu + a diode and a large cap so it could run for a few seconds with the throttle off. Then I had the MCU ramp up and down a pwm signal to a mosfet at the output. Worked decently but electrical noise was an issue with all that switching of the throttle.
I eventually built a second power wheels using the same shell, but tearing out the whole power system and replacing it with an electric skateboard motor and ESC. A lot of work but that thing is a monster now. And unlike the old one its almost silent. I used a belt drive and low kV motor. The stock gearboxes scream after you submerge them in mud and put a few miles on them, as my son does. He’s driven through puddles so deep the seat got submerged. Some day I’ll post that too.
I don’t get the soft start for a quad, you can buy real e-bike throttles and Speed control for $20-40. They even come with volt display on the handle. Let kid learn throttle control.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084H96MM3
For example.
The circuits on these are simple and EG endless sphere forums have schematic where to add multi tien POT to adjust battery voltage threshhold etc.