for the kid. :)
6v single motor audi tt. has FM radio with aux input and front headlights.
and for those who know me, i cant leave anything alone.
so i ripped out the stock single junky LED headlights... and replaced them with h3 LED bulbs for a real car. talk about BRIGHT.
there were no taillights, but there were holes for them. so i stuck some LED's in there.
then i glued a pink LED strip under the car.
all of which runs off of a 12v 8h sealed battery mounted in the back of the car. to keep an eye on it, i added a little digital gauge.
next comes power steering. im going to use an arduino along with a potentiometer mounted to the steering shaft. when you turn the steering wheel, it will turn the potentiometer which sends an analog input to the arduino, the arduino applies some math and then sends a digital signal to a heavy torque servo (still havent received it yet... grr) which then will be coupled to the steering arm which turns the wheels. the steering wheel should be effortless and my little girl can focus on driving. :)
heres a vid of my arduino in action with a test servo...
also once the arduino is in the car i can use the additional inputs and outputs for other things... like remote control via bluetooth to my phone. which is going to be awwwwesome.
for now the motor circuit (and the electronics for the radio, etc) will remain 6v. once she masters the car we can add a second 6v motor and gearbox for added traction. then the 12v battery can be applied to the motors for more speed. some people use a few 12v batteries wired together to get 48v and make a 25+ mph power wheels car. the motors are essentially RC car motors with a gearcase to add torque. a pair of RC motors at 48v would be amazingly fast. we have a few years before all of that stuff though.