Cheap PowerWheels Battery Upgrade: Double range, Half price!
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- I show you how I upgraded a 12v 9.5Ah PowerWheels Graytop battery to a 12v 18Ah standard sealed lead acid type battery. Twice the range, half the cost!! The branded batteries are a bit of a ripoff, of course. (Note: the battery I used might not fit the best in your particular PowerWheels - They are all different sizes):
Link to the battery I used on Amazon
-- amzn.to/3i2DZgl (12v, 18AH)
Link to smaller 12v 12AH battery a lot of people are using:
-- amzn.to/3g8Ohdo (12v, 12AH)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. So please use the link above if you want to buy the battery! It won't cost you any extra, but I get credit for the sale.
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FAQ:
1Q. Where do you get the battery connector?
1A. As I show in the video, I removed it from the old battery! But you can but such a connector with a fuse holder installed at the link below. Just make sure it fits your battery charger; this is for 12v systems only:
-- amzn.to/2E2MaLo (battery connector with inline fuse)
2Q. Can I raise the voltage to make it go faster?
2A. Yes, you CAN put a 12v battery where a 6v was before -- Or 24v where 12v was before -- and the PowerWheels will go a lot faster, but it's also very likely to burn out the motor or transmission. The transmission is plastic and is designed to break under excessive load. If you are going to increase the voltage, you should put a fuse in to protect the motor and transmission. Get a slow-blow fuse. But you'll have to gradually increase the rating until it just stops blowing the fuse under normal use. It's very hard to measure for the right fuse value ahead of time because there's a large current rush as soon as you push the accelerator.
3Q. Is 18AH faster than 12AH?
3A. No, 18 Amp-Hours is a rating for how long the battery can supply a given current; for example 18 Amps for 1 hour (18*1=18), or 9A for 2h (9*2=18), or 3A for 6h (1*18=18) can be obtained from the same 18AH-rated battery. To go a given speed, the motor is going to draw a fixed amount of current, so the larger "AH" number really means it will last longer. So if your motor draws 9A, an 18AH battery would last 2hr, and a 9AH battery would last only 1hr. It never really lasts that long in reality, and it gets worse as the battery ages.
4Q. Should I let my kids run the battery down until it's dead?
4A. NO!!! Lead-acid batteries, like most batteries, become irreversibly damaged every time you allow it to drain completely dead. You should leave it on the charger after/before every use to ensure it's always topped up, even if they only used it 10 minutes. Do this and the battery will last YEARS. What's so great about this mod is all the neighbor's Powerwheels die first, so my kid's one never gets fully drained! Actually, not even half-drained. So it should last a really long time.
5Q. Can I charge my new 12v 10ah battery using the same charger as my old 12v 7ah battery?
5A. Yes, you can charge a 10ah battery with the same charger as the 7ah battery since they are the SAME VOLTAGE. It will just take a little longer to charge the battery with higher capacity (10ah).
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We just had the Power Wheels out for about 30 mins of almost constant use, and the battery level is still showing full charge! Works great!
Dose the quad have a built in battery meter like mine? Was wondering if it will still work
@@wrencharoundandfindout8780 Yes, mine has a 4-LED battery level meter and it still works just as new. If you increase the voltage (I only increased the amp-hours; voltage is still 12v), however, that meter will be wrong or even burn out!
Thank you. Doing this for a power wheels jeep battery that just died, using your battery link.
Thank you!! Every click counts!
Joey you should add an affiliate link to amazon or the battery vendor so you can get a lil bonus money!
I definitely need to figure out how to do that!
Follow-up: Good advice! I'm an affiliate now, and it's worked! This is my highest-earning video. Do you have any other advice for making money? Wow!
if you look around you can find 12v batters if defrent sizes so find just how big the hole is and get one that fists in the hole bigger is better!
Couldn't have said it better myself. Bigger IS better! Get the biggest one that will fit!
Hi! I was trying to figure out what you did at last with the connector that you cut off from the old battery, how did you attach it to the new black battery? I missed that, and that was the most important part for me! 🤣
Thank you!!
Sorry, I guess I brushed over that. After removing the connector from the old battery and cutting the wires as close to the old battery as I could, I stripped about 1cm off the ends of the wires and used two screws with nuts to attach the connector's wires to the new battery. You just have to make sure you got the "+" on the battery going to the "+" mark on the connector, and "-" to "-".
Can you charge the battery with the power wheels charger?
Yes, I'm using the same charger because the voltage is the same (and it's the same battery technology, lead-acid).
would be nice if you could put that in parallel for even longer battery life
Yeah, you can if you can fit two batteries. But it would be cheaper to buy one battery with double the capacity.
Don't know if this is on topic or not, but I plan to replace the stock 12v 7Ah SLA battery in my son's Power Wheels Jeep with a 12v 10Ah Lithium one. Would I be able to charge it normally, or would that require a completely different method?
Good question. I should add that to the FAQ. Yes, you can charge a 10ah battery with the same charger as the 7ah battery since they are the SAME VOLTAGE. It will just take a little longer to charge the battery with higher capacity (10ah).
So basically we can use any 12v battery as long as it will fit? Doesn't need to be an SLA whatever the heck that means? Just bought a used one for my nephew and needs new battery. Great idea salvaging that connector off the old battery I was going to buy one online.
Oh yeah do we need to add an inline fuse? It doesn't look like you put one on in your video? Thanks!
Yes, any 12v battery, as long as you have a suitable charger with it. You could even use a Lithium battery (smaller, lighter, more $$$), like from a power tool, but that would need a different charger from the standard PowerWheels one. SLA = Sealed Lead Acid.... basically the only lead-acid battery type you can buy these days.
How long does it last. I was gonna upgrade the kids 4 wheelers for a longer battery life. The ones they have now run for about 1 1/2-2 hours.
Good question. It lasts longer than the neighbor's kid's Powerwheels do, and they all seems to get bored once someone's batteries die, so he hasn't run it long enough to find out! Since it's about double the capacity (9.5Ah vs 18Ah), it ought to last twice as long. But don't run your batteries until they die. It will shorten their useful life span.
I am looking to change my daughters 12v10ah battery with 12v35ah. My concern is about the auto reset relay fuse which is hooked to the old battery. It is 18a yt-01-a. Can I use it on 30ah battery or do I need to change it to higher a. Sorry if this is silly question:)
Not a silly question at all! I would keep the fuse that's in there now, because that's sized to protect the motor and transmission. Your larger 35ah battery will provide essentially the same current as the original battery, it will just last a LOT longer!! (this is because "ah" means "amps times hours", so same current means more hours).
JoyeMusic.com thank you for your reply. This was my thought too, but was not sure. Better safe than sorry :)
Do you have a link to the terminal connectors you used? Thanks!
In the video, I show how I salvaged the one connect by breaking the original Power Wheels battery open. If you don't have a dead PW battery, then you can probably find the connector online or use a different pair of connectors.
amzn.to/2E2MaLo (battery connector with inline fuse)
But can you charge it
Recharge it d same way as old one.
Yea. Its called a battery tender.
yeah that was my one concern. the old battery for the 10 minutes that I ran. took like 7 hours to charge. how long would it take to charge a battery this big?
@@salocin911 I'm running two 12v 28Ah Panasonic's in my daughter's. Trickle charger set to large battery takes 4-7 hours, depending on depletion. SLAs shouldn't be run to entirely dead and should absolutely never be stored that way.
If charging in parallel, hook positive charge cable to one battery and negative to other to ensure they are balanced.
Also, make sure they are fully charged individually before installing.
How do you charge the new battery?
Exactly the same way as the old one (same voltage). That's why I removed the connector from the old battery.
Do you really need to add a fuse? What is the fuse for? I've done about 10 harness modifications like this one. I did two last night but forgot to add the fuse smh
Great question. The answer is "NO"! It's really there for "safety", of course, and probably a requirement that the manufacturer install it. But it's also there to protect the motor in case of over-current -- Like too many kids on the Power Wheels at once. But the transmission is also designed to fail (don't ask me how I know!) under heavy load to protect the motor. Ideally, the fuse would pop before the transmission fails so you only need to replace the fuse, but I had one where the transmission failed first. Anyway, best of luck doing more mods! And thanks for supporting my videos!
1:00 *Repalcement*
btw I saw the new Gittler, why are we abandoning the minimalistic design ?
Minimalist Gittlers are still king, see GittlerInstruments.com . There is a cheaper, foldable guitar coming out, and I believe that's under the Gittler name as well - Maybe that's what you're referring to.
@@JoyeMusiccom I was talking about this model ua-cam.com/video/lv-OwRIJ67Q/v-deo.html but do tell more about the foldable guitar
@@N3ukenInD3K3uken Yep, that's the foldable model.
@@JoyeMusiccom lol that's what you get for letting audio play in the background. Cool stuff .. although the epitome of prog would ofcourse be a *gittler* *doubleneck*
Does it last double now ???
I didn't see you add an inline fuse holder? Is it ok not to add that ?
Also do you use the wall charger like the old battery or use a slow charger ?
@@jakeguardianship8881 I didn't add a fuse holder because there's already one in this PW. I used the original charger because it's charging the same type (voltage and chemistry) of battery. If I changed to a different chemistry, like lithium-ion, I'd definitely change the charger.
So Long story short I bought a power wheels for my son, one of those parent control ones. Well I bought it off someone told me it worked good and tested it but a after 2 days when we charge the battery it says it’s full charge (green light) after only 10-15min but I left for like 2hrs then when I went to try it the battery died with 10 mins of use. It’s a 12v car would this work?
Sounds like the battery is on its way out. Not all the PowerWheels battery holders are the same size!! The most important thing is to measure the space your current battery is in and find the largest new one that you can squeeze in there. The PW batteries are non-standard sizes to make it hard for you.
But it's worth it!! My son just used his today for >45 minutes and it was STILL SHOWED FULL CHARGE when he came home. All his friend's PW's were dying while they were out there.
JoyeMusic.com thank you brother, I just found one on a amazon 12v and 12AH, good thing I measured haha. I couldn’t find a 12v-18AH. So I got the 12v 12AH which is still better then the standard one also by the same brand that you used.
@@streetdream1726 Great!Hope it works out for you!
Next time use a Dremal to cut it open.
Can I use a 12v dc battery out of a UPS for this?
Yes, great idea. I hadn't thought of that because most of the UPSs I've seen used were dead! So if the battery doesn't last long, it might be just too old to use. But it's worth a try!
JoyeMusic.com
Thanks. I have some brand new never used UPS 12v batteries so I’m going to try that. I’ll also need to modify the charger to fit the UPS battery.
Also, if I want it to go faster I can makeup a 24v battery right? Double speed? And to extend the running time use a higher amp like you’re doing right? I’m new to electronics.
@@tonynsx It'll definitely go faster,at 24v (12v and 12v in series), but the motor was designed for 12v, so it could burn out faster, or the transmission could break. I converted a 6v mini Power Wheels to 12v, and with two kids on it the transmission gears stripped right away. I think the transmission is designed to break under high load "for safety", and the higher voltage is capable of much higher torque, which can strip the gears really quick. So it's risky, but doable. 18v would be safer, but that's difficult with lead-acid batteries (12v and 6v battery in series), but you could easily use an 18v lithium drill battery, for example, but those are quite expensive. Yes, higher amp-hour rating will last longer (and weigh more).
Whoops, I replied under my wife's account (Heidi J). That's my reply above.
NEEDS MORE POWER! Put an 18 volt in there!
Haha, it'll go faster alright at 18V, but you risk blowing out the plastic transmission gears and burning up the motor.