Halloween 2011

This is a remote controlled Halloween project. It can squirt water at you, then dry you off with a cordless blower, swing arms out to "grab" the kids that take too much candy, and a walky-talky through a PA to let them know what the clown is thinking. The clown and the truck have LED eyes and a strobe light making the clown a little more creepy. Its all remote controlled and I have most of the steps documented.

I have a video of it on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo3YHKa_hco

Step 1: Driving and steering your powerwheels

This has always been the most difficult part but I have done enough to know now that a linear actuator is by far the best thing to use for steering. A linear actuator from ebay is about 40 - 50 dollars if you look long enough. One with a two inch stroke will do. From another project I had a sabertooth 2X25 that will control the steering with one side of the motor controller (sabertooth) and the other side will control the existing drive motors on the powerwheels. Sabertooth motor controllers are very easy to work with. Wire both drive motors together and screw them into one side of the sabertooth and then land the other two wires from the linear actuator to the other side of the sabertooth. Now hook up the signal wires from the sabertooth to your receiver and you're almost ready. (Hobbypartz.com has a really inexpensive 6 channel 2.4 transmitter and receiver)

Comments

[MaddMatt1]

I have been searching for a linear actuator on ebay but they all sound slow at half and inch or so per second. Is that fast enough?

[dylanp1936]

what kind of battery did you use? is it possible to use the battery that came with the jeep?

[phwillys]

the jeep I used was really old and the battery was no good, so I used a lead acid battery. I think that was is a 12 volt 7 amp hour, but if you have to buy one I would get a 12 volt 12 amp hour battery to give you a longer run time

[Rioexxo]

Video?

[phwillys]

i have a couple of it on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo3YHKa_hco&feature=feedu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKo7fBGy4xw&feature=feedu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS0LRGfVGhc&feature=related

[c_madsen]

I haven’t really thought of what kind of vehicle Pennywise from Stephen Kings ”It”, was driving. – Now I know.

[phwillys]

haha Youre the third person to say that. Two separate trick or treater parents said that to me...I'll have to look it up

[ramkanwar55]

looks an awful lot like the car from the cover art for noisia's "friendly intentions"