Introduction: GoBabyGo Kids Jeep Modification (Gabriel's Car)

By WSU GoBabyGo
About: Students at Wichita State University run a program that modifies off-the-shelf ride-on toy cars for kids with disabilities. Our cars feature more technical builds with joysticks and arduinos. We post our instr…

Jeep used for these modifications

URL: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Costway-12V-MP3-Kids-Ri...

Step 1: Needs/Materials

Needs:

  • Ability to Make music/sound when in motion
  • Indoor/Outdoor Use
  • Seat Belt
  • Light at front of car (Helps keep attention ahead)
  • Control speed of device through a button
  • Remote Controlled Steering
  • Storage

Materials:

  • Toggle switch
  • 16-gauge wire
  • 7 x AA Batteries (Not Require, for aesthetic purposes only)
  • Big Red Switch Button
  • 12VDC Electromechanical Relay
  • 2 x LED Lights
  • Wire Connectors (specified type in each step)
  • Resistor (type depends on LED used)

  • Lanyarco 5 point harness

Tools:

  • Screwdriver
  • Drill
  • Wire cutters
  • Wire Strippers
  • Pliers
  • Spanner
  • Dremel
  • Soldering Kit
  • Glue Gun

Step 2: Assembly Out of the Box

The vehicle will come with instructions to assemble. The supplied instructions will be sufficient to accomplish this step. However, below shares a few tips and insight to the assembly process.

Tips:

  • The instruction manual has two different sets of instructions to assemble the vehicle one for the one wheel drive and the second for a two wheel drive. For these modifications We assembled using the two wheel drive instructions.
  • The back wheels have the labels 'L' and 'R'. When installing, the wheels are put on their respective side of the vehicle.
  • Refrain from fully installing the steering wheel and the seat as we will be needing to get to some wiring under the dashboard and seat in the future steps.
  • Recommend to not add the hub caps to the wheels at this time to be able to remove the wheels in later steps. (Edit: Remove if we do not end up needing to remove the wheels later in the project)

Step 3: Installing "Emergency Stop"

In this step we will be installing an "Emergency Stop" in order to turn of the vehicles power by flipping the switch on a toggle placed at the rear of the vehicle. The steps below will describe the location to install to ensure that even when the switch is set to off the vehicle can still be charged.

Materials:

  • 2 16-gauge wires (Yellow wire in image)
  • 1 Toggle Switch (2-Connector)
  • 2 Twist-On Wire Connector
  • 2 [Wire connector in image #1]

Tools:

  • Screwdriver
  • Wire Cutter
  • Wire Strippers
  • Drill

Steps:

  1. Locate the power cable
    • Remove the dashboard and seat from the vehicle
    • Behind the ignition button you will spot a red cable that will run to the cables beneath the seat
    • Follow the cable and locate it beneath the seat. This will be the spot you want to cut the cable.
  2. Cut and strip the power cable
  3. Grab the 2 16-gauge wires
    • Strip both ends and add a connector clamp [seen in image #1] to one end to both wires
  4. Connect the 16-gauge wires from the previous step to the cut power cable
    • Result shown in image #2
  5. Connect the other ends of the 16-gauge wires to the toggle switch
    • Refer to Image #5
    • The horizontal connection will correspond to the cable
  6. Drill a hole in the back of the Vehicle
  7. Install the Toggle Switch to the Vehicle

Step 4: Mounting the Power Button

In this step we will be mounting the button onto the steering wheel that will be wired in to control the pedal at a later step.

Materials:

  • Button

Tools:

  • Screw Driver
  • Drill
  • Wire Strippers

Steps:

1. Remove the screws and open up the steering wheel

2. Remove the speaker

3. Drill a whole through the steering wheel shaft as shown in image #13

4. Cut out the plastic within the steering wheel shaft

  • Reference image #16 and image #17 to see before and after

5. Run the cable from the button down the steering wheel shaft

  • The cable should come out at the button of the vehicle

6. Mount the button to the steering wheel using zip ties

Step 5: Installing the Relay

In this step we install the relay that will direct the power between the button and battery

Materials:

  • Cables
  • Twist-On Wire Connectors
  • Wire Connector Clamps [seen in image #2]

Tools:

  • Wire cutters
  • Wire Strippers

Steps:

1. Remove the plastic cover beneath the vehicle that will give you access to the pedal cables

2. Use a voltmeter to check which cable is supplied with a continuous 12V and which is running to the motor

  • For this specific vehicle the red cable is the continuous 12V and the black cable was the motor
  • The brown cable will just be cut and wrapped with electrical tape

3. Cut the cables from the pedal

4. Run the cable connected to the button and the cables that were attached to the pedal (excluding the brown one) to the back compartment beneath the seat

  • You will need to connect another cable to get the length needed to reach the back

5. Connect cables to specified pin on relay

  • Pin 87 - connect the cable that was receiving the continuous 12V (originally connected to pedal)
  • Pin 30 - connect the cable that was connect from the motor to the pedal
  • Pin 86 - connect to a cable that runs to ground
  • Pin 85 - Tear the double lined cable that is connected to the button. One of these cables will connect to this pin.

6. Connect the other part of the double lined cable to the power

Step 6: Installing 5-point Harness

In this step we install a 5-point harness to the seat adding extra support.

Materials:

  • Lanyarco 5 point harness

Tools:

  • dremel

Steps:

1. Use the dremel to cut two slits beneath the seat

  • One slit will be beneath the seat on the outside, the other will be inside the compartment underneath the seat

2. Inset the hip strap through the slit

3. Use the dremel to cut four slits onto the side of the vehicle right above the back wheels

  • Reference images #4 above

4. Insert the waist strap into the slits cut above

5. Connect the shoulder straps to the overhead light mount

Step 7: Connect Speaker to the Button Control

In this step we will be connecting the power going to the speaker to the power supplied by pressing the button mounted on the steering wheel. This will achieve the radio system activating only when the vehicle is in motion.

Materials:

  • Twist-On Wire Connectors

Tools:

  • Screw Driver
  • Wire Cutter
  • Wire Stripper
  • Multimeter

Steps:

  1. Remove the dashboard and hood from the front of the vehicle
  2. Locate the cable that runs from the button
    • Black cable that has two wires attached
  3. Cut, separate, and strip the cable found above
    • Wire is seen in image #4
  4. Use a multimeter to do a continuity check to find out which of the two black cables from above is connected to the pin 85 of the relay
    • Cable connected to pin 85 can be viewed in image # 6
  5. Once determining the cable label the cable with some table or marking to be used for later
  6. Locate the cable that is shown in image #1
  7. Cut the red cable as shown in image #2
  8. Connect the black cable without the marking to the other end of the cable that you cur off previously
    • This does not need to be connect back to the exact same wire that was cut from just one of the two black cables coming off of the button
    • Refer to image #5 (cable with the blue twist-on connector)
  9. Connect the black cable that you labeled to the red cable cur in step #7 and the other end of the black cable coming off of the button
    • Refer to image #5 (cable with the orange twist-on connector)
  10. Put the dashboard back onto the vehicle
    • Leave the hood off for the next step of the modifications

Step 8: Installing LED Lights

In this step we connected two LED lights to the windshield in order to keep the drivers of the vehicles attention to the front.

Materials:

  • 4 x 16-gauge wires
  • Resistor (use online formulas to determine the required resistor for your LED Lights)
  • 2 x LED Lights

Tools:

  • Screw Driver
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Soldering Kit
  • Wire Cutter
  • Wire Stripper
  • Drill

Steps:

  1. Disassemble the windshield of the vehicle.
  2. Drill a couple holes on the top of the windshield.
    • The locations are up to the desired location of the LED Lights
  3. Connect one of the 16-gauge wires to the short end of the LED prongs.
    • You will need to solder the cable with the prong
  4. Connect the resistor to the long end of the LED prongs
    • You will need to solder the resistor with the prong
  5. Connect another 16-gauge wire to the other end of the resistor
    • You will need to solder the wire to the resistor
  6. Repeat steps 3-5 for the other LED light
  7. Run the LED light and cables down each hole made in step # 2
    • Keep the cable alongside the inside and use hot glue to secure the cable within the windshield
    • Can be seen in images above
  8. Run the ends of the cable under the vehicles hood
  9. Connect the wire that is not connected to the resistor to a known ground under the hood
    • For this step we connected the cable to the ground being supplied to the headlight
    • Can be seen in images above
  10. Connect the wire that is connected to the resistor to a 12V supply
    • For this step we used the power being supplied to the headlights
    • Can be seen in images above
  11. Reassemble the vehicle
    • Put the windshield and hood back onto the car along with any other piece that may be removed at this time (modifications are complete)