Right guys ordered the plans for my sons grasshopper kitcar.
going on the dated right up on http://www.locust.org.uk/messages-guestbook/messages-guestbook.htm
the electrics are pretty basic running on just a
12v battery
Fusebox Footswitch (push bolton)
Cross over switch
Reverse isolating switch
12v motor

But i wanna make it a bit special for my son you know.
i was thinking of putting in a
CD player/MP3 player
push button start switch
and maybe some working dials

How would I go about it, Ifs shes just running on a 12v battery?
Is it do-able?
thanks guys

Just get a cheapo car stereo with mp3 ready and wire it in everything 12v bingo
As far as a start button again get one orf the doomsday swith panels that builders love

R brilliant, thanks mate didnt think It would work like.

a start button won't actually have anything to start (ie there won't be any kind of engine to start, since its an electric motor) but a switch as mentioned ablve that switches the power on to the radio and a few warning type lights will look the business for him

as above, stereo will work real easily, cd/mp3 will be easy, radio a little more complicated. but cd/mp3 is just as easy as connect power to 12v and earth, connect up 2 speakers to the speaker outputs. done.

dials will be expensive and hard to set up i think. you'll need the dials themselves, will have to be electronic too since you won't have a gearbox to drive a cable, so you'll need speed sensors etc. unless you got a bicyle speedo... that would be easy.

cools its gonna be wicked thaks for the help m8

if you wanted a key like affair then use a battery kill switch,would isolate/make safe too.

But surely to fit an Mp3 you need a flux capacitor as well ?

Depending on the size of motor you are going for you could always build a soft start with a speed controller..... There are loads of diagrams on the net for PWM controllers with soft start....

Be careful of space, you're making a scaled down version of something that isn't very big to begin with I would guess he would be more wowed by music rather than working dials, so I'd just print out and laminate some pictures of dials and keep space on the dash for the head unit.

Regards,
Dave

thats a good point really with regards to space, its a shame really cuz evan though its menna be a scaled down replica version, that it doesnt fir the ideal description of the locost. nevermind ey? as long as i get a smile from him when he first sees it ile know my work will be worth while.
thanks guys

I built a Toylander three years ago for my boys, they love it, but you do have to think about safety whilst building. Our car runs on 24v and has two 24v motors (one powering each rear wheel). This is all controlled via a speed controller from 4QD (not exactly locost, but effective), the car is limited to 4mph (the maximum allowed for electric vehicles on the pavement) but could do 10 mph flat out. The key to building electric kiddie vehicles is gearing, make sure that you work out the correct gearing for the size of wheel and power of the motor, if you get it wrong the car will either be too slow or won't pull up steep gradients. This is how it turned out.





After a few months my boys said they wanted a radio in the car, I had a few bits in the garage from my boy racer days and I used an amp from a computer speaker system which runs with an ipod.

very cool thanks for advice qaudra,
looking foward to starting now, my plans should arrive shortly and would like to get started before crimbo.
thanks guys