My son's A123 powered Powerwheel

[snellemin]

Use to run 18-24V in my sons powerwheels. But charging them became a pain over time. I put in 6s1p A123 in there and he had a blast. 10s1p was just too much voltage for those poor motors. One run and you could smell them burn.

Here are the pics and Vid

[MTBikerTim]

Thats pretty amazing that little batteries like that can push a big plastic truck and a small child around so easily.

[snellemin]

He used up about 2000mah after he was done/tired of "Bashing". Batteries were at ambient temps.

[BL_RV0]

How long was the run? is it 1p or 2p?

[BL_RV0]

Just saw that it's 1p...
BTW: Baller ass rig he's got.

[snellemin]

I'll put the eagletree on it tomorrow. I'll see then how long he runs it for.

He had quite a few powerwheels before. People just throw them out and I pick them up for parts. They don''t last long when you start to double and triple the voltage.

[BL_RV0]

Yup. I had one that I installed a gas motor on, then sold it at a garage sale for $30. Pity me, that was so fun!

[snellemin]

My son and I did a 12 minute run onroad. Well I was biking beside him. Pulling around 3.8Amps average at 19.4V. Average was 73 watts with a peak of 1220Watts!

Check out the attached graph.

[Semi Pro]

wow im inpressed

how big would a lipo have to be to handle a powerwheel

[Sammus]

Thats awesome haha.

Semi Pro: the lipo would be smaller, they're a bit more energy dense than LiFe chemistry.

[snellemin]

I let my son drive a few more times using the same 6s1p A123 pack on grass and concrete. Power usage went up a bit, but not by much. After the pack dumped, he asked to go faster, so I swapped in 7s1p A123's. He was content after that. The great thing is that I can charge these packs up in half an hour with my cheapo charger. Once I get my "better" charger, the charge time will drop down to 15 minutes. The great thing is, that after he is done driving around, I take the same packs and stick them in my RC's.

This is the on-offroad graph





This is the onroad only 7s1p test.

[Sammus]

Haha thats awesome. Have you thought about trying 2p for a bit more punch? at 77A theres quite a V drop.

[snellemin]

naah, 1p is good as that is what it's averaging when he drives. I don't mind the voltage drop at all, as it "saves" those cheap plastic transmission/gearboxes which don't have clutches.

[Sammus]

Lol good point. Still, I'd look into getting the drivetrain replaced with hardened steel machine bits, then you push some real power through it

[TexasSP]

Hey snellemin, one of those cheapo Chinese 4-wheelers from Traders Village would be an interesting setup. They would probably hold up to power a little better.