Advice needed for 6V to 12V conversion, Ride on kids car

[touring_style]

Hello all,

I'm hoping to convert a child's ride-on 6v car to 12v.

The car is manufactered in Italy by Toys Toys. They are licensed to make replicas of road going manufaturers vehicles for children.

They do 6V and 12V versions of many of their cars.

The one I have happens to be a 6V version and as such its a bit sluggish and can only operate on flat concrete surfaces - it doesn't have the torque to cope with grass or anything other than a very very shallow incline.

While looking on a stockists website I noticed that spares are available for these cars - including replacement 6V and 12V motors, batteries and their corresponding wiring looms.

http://totcars.co.uk/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=102

They don't specifically list an 'upgrade' kit and when I contacted them direct they weren't very helpful and didn't endorse the upgrade (as I suspected would be their response).

The 12V versions have 2 6V batteries and are advertised as being able to ride over grass so I'm keen to swap my 6V components for the more powerful versions.

However in doing this I don't want to damage other parts such as the main Forward / Reverse switch or the accelerator pedal.

These obviously work fine with the 6V battery, but COULD THE MAIN SWITCH AND ACCELERATOR PEDAL SWITCH COPE WITH 12V?

The motor and loom are straight forward to remove.

I've attached some photos of the car. The switch unit has "Schema No5 10A" printed on it, but nothing else. I do note that the LEDs on the switch are 12V rated.

Any help or advice with this would be gratefully recieved.

Thanks guys....

 

[daddles]

A key number you need is what will the current be with the new motor and batteries. I'd say it's probably a reasonably safe bet that they'd use the same components in the 6 V or 12 V versions to keep inventory down (if not, it's a bit stupid to have two designs in my opinion). Unless you can infer this from the spare parts or get it from the manufacturer, you're on your own.

It's also not clear how the speed control works. A reasonable design would be an H-bridge and if I was engineering it, I'd make the same bridge design work with both motors.

You also may be a bit disappointed with the 12 V version on grass. My youngest daughter had a little electric car about 20 years ago and it would go on the grass, but not all that well (and hers had a 12 V lead-acid battery).

 

[lookie4me]

switches

The forward/reverse switch and accelerator will handle the 12V battery just fine, as they are just switches which are basically just wires.
You can use a 12V battery with the motor you have now, but it may shorten the motors life span a little.
Since you are buying a new motor, you will be good.

Good luck!

 

[davelectronic]

Hi there. I would say to assume a 6 volts powered low voltage motor system will run just fine on 12 volts, playing the lottery ! the switch or accelerator is probably a type of regulated speed control, not to discimilar to how a variable speed cordless drill works. So i would not assume all will be fine at 12 volts. But you could try but keep a close eye on over heating. A simple switch would be unlikely, i would think a variable control system.

 

[lapistola]

+1 for the comment on the car will most likely be the same parts regardless of voltage version other than motor and battery. To be sure you would be better looking for a circuit or finding out how the pedals do there thing.

 

[Frankchie]

I know this is an old thread, but I want to add a warning for anyone doing this upgrade. I upgraded by grandson's riding car from 6v to 12v simply by changing the battery. It worked great, The car was faster but not dangerously so. But one time when leaning backward at startup the car did a wheelie and my grandchild bumped his head on the ground. Thankfully he didn't get hurt.

My message is always consider safety especially when kids are involved. Unexpected things can happen.

 

[Mummzy]

I’d like to add a couple of focboxes and a 10s3p battery to this jeep with a really big wheel pulley to reach max 10mph but with a lot of torque to be able to ride on the beach sand and take him with me to the woods.

Has anyone upgraded their kids toy successfully?

 

[kellys_eye]

and a 10s3p battery

10s? With 18650's you're looking at 40+ volts on the motor!!!! Those toys are usually 12V (it doesn't say) - are you sure you know what you're doing?