How to Make a Solar Powered Powerwheels

Tired of plugging in your kids battery powered vehicles each evening? It's hard to remember, and the toy never seems to be charged up when your kids want to ride it.  Well, here's a simple solution. Their powerwheels will always be charged when they want to ride it,  and you'll never have to drag out the charger again.

This hack cost me about $6 and took about 30 minutes.

Step 1 Supplies

You will need:

-a powerwheels or similar battery powered kid vehicle. I used this 6volt "baby injusa" quad.
-one or more solar cells, capable of powering the vehicles battery. I used 2 3volt solar cells from patio lanterns (wired together in series, to create 6 volts)
-some wire to connect the solar cells to eachother and to the battery ( I used speaker wire)
-a diode, to keep the battery from draining power back to the solar cells
-miscellaneous connectors to splice into the toys existing circuit (I used 2 scotch locks)


How it works:

The 2 solar panels are wired together in series to suck 6 volts of power from Mr. Sun. then they are spliced into the existing circuit, near the battery. A diode between the solar panels and the positive terminal of the battery ensures that electricity only flows in one direction (so that the solar panels won't drain the battery at night). Just park the toy near a window, and it will trickle charge the battery, directly from the sun...no more chargers!

Comments

[uberdum05]

You could always connect a trailer to the back of it and put a big solar panel and a voltage regulator in it so it can charge while the kids ride on it :)

[LuciferRex]

This is excellent!  Once my nieces are old enough to drive these around, I'll have to do this.

[Bongmaster]

kool :)
what about the very slim chance of overcharge?

[LDDR]

 then you start over... lol

[Knexpertkyle]

ya that would be fun :) lol

[l8nite]

will it run w/o the battery ? really cool idea