Hello! Pardon my first post being an issue and not an introduction.
So the story goes like so~
I have two boys, 1.5 years apart, oldest almost 5 now. A year ago we got them a power wheels, and they absolutely loved it, whereas I hated it mechanically. It was so shoddy, so weak, the motors burned out left and right, steering didn't have proper geometry, wheels were hard plastic. They burned out motors and control boards left and right by racing it around in dirt and grass.
So I redid it with dual 350 watt bicycle motors driving their own rear wheel via chain with a pwm controller for each inputted via a single potentiometer pedal. And the original pedal off/on clicks the controllers off/on as to "brake" (abrupt but does the job). It's pretty solid if I say so myself, welded frame and everything with the original plastic shell of the powerwheels on top to look kiddy. I ride it with them occasionally, very fun.
The controllers are great, motors are great, pedal is great. At 36v battery it can crawl or go fast as a normal car. But herein lies the issue. I had to put a switch to toggle input to the pwm controllers from either a 36v source or a 12v source. Kids are kids, they go pedal to the metal, though the oldest is trying to learn the pedal a bit. Definitely easier to just hammer it down. The switch to 12v is needed to go slower since they don't have the footwork down yet.
I don't like having the switch from 36v to 12v, as I'm sure it heats up the motors more than it should, is less efficient, and a lot less power than same rotational speed on 36v. ( I may be wrong). And having different voltage sources on the car just weighs it down, makes it a pain to charge, and there just isn't a lot of places to put batteries on this thing.
What I want to do is somehow limit the potentiometer pedal output electrically. Maybe with resistors or another potentiometer in line with pedal? Though maybe that will just give a dead zone to the pedal travel. I just don't know. Searching these forums came to no avail to doing something of this sort. And googling online doesn't help much either.
I need to somehow, at the throw of a switch or turn of a knob, have the pedal output different resistance as to simulate lower speed ceiling for the motor controllers. All while still keeping the full sweep of the pedal working with no dead zones.
It feels as if there is a super simple solution, but I can't get my head around it.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Here are some pics of the car when it was starting to get work done. It's been a tad bit updated since then but the electronics remain the same.
So the story goes like so~
I have two boys, 1.5 years apart, oldest almost 5 now. A year ago we got them a power wheels, and they absolutely loved it, whereas I hated it mechanically. It was so shoddy, so weak, the motors burned out left and right, steering didn't have proper geometry, wheels were hard plastic. They burned out motors and control boards left and right by racing it around in dirt and grass.
So I redid it with dual 350 watt bicycle motors driving their own rear wheel via chain with a pwm controller for each inputted via a single potentiometer pedal. And the original pedal off/on clicks the controllers off/on as to "brake" (abrupt but does the job). It's pretty solid if I say so myself, welded frame and everything with the original plastic shell of the powerwheels on top to look kiddy. I ride it with them occasionally, very fun.
The controllers are great, motors are great, pedal is great. At 36v battery it can crawl or go fast as a normal car. But herein lies the issue. I had to put a switch to toggle input to the pwm controllers from either a 36v source or a 12v source. Kids are kids, they go pedal to the metal, though the oldest is trying to learn the pedal a bit. Definitely easier to just hammer it down. The switch to 12v is needed to go slower since they don't have the footwork down yet.
I don't like having the switch from 36v to 12v, as I'm sure it heats up the motors more than it should, is less efficient, and a lot less power than same rotational speed on 36v. ( I may be wrong). And having different voltage sources on the car just weighs it down, makes it a pain to charge, and there just isn't a lot of places to put batteries on this thing.
What I want to do is somehow limit the potentiometer pedal output electrically. Maybe with resistors or another potentiometer in line with pedal? Though maybe that will just give a dead zone to the pedal travel. I just don't know. Searching these forums came to no avail to doing something of this sort. And googling online doesn't help much either.
I need to somehow, at the throw of a switch or turn of a knob, have the pedal output different resistance as to simulate lower speed ceiling for the motor controllers. All while still keeping the full sweep of the pedal working with no dead zones.
It feels as if there is a super simple solution, but I can't get my head around it.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Here are some pics of the car when it was starting to get work done. It's been a tad bit updated since then but the electronics remain the same.