can i run 6v ride-on motors on 12v battery? mattel power wh

K

kk

Guest
i have a mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks
 
kk wrote:
i have a mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks
Click to expand...
Replacing two 6 volt batteries with two 12 volt batteries will
probably damage the motors and possibly the switches, the wiring and
the driver and nearby pedestrians. Replacing the two 6 volt batteries
with one 12 volt battery will work, except there is no terminal to
connect to that will give you the 6 volt slow speed.

--
John Popelish
 
"kk" <kkkbeetle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:94cf2709.0405180317.2b01107a@posting.google.com...
i have a mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks
Click to expand...
Two 6V batteries gets you 6 and 12V.
Doubling the voltage to 24V doubles the current, and quadruples heating in
the motor, probably a very short life.

The low speed option is not well designed, because you're running one
battery down more than the other, then connecting the run down one in series
with a more fully charged one.

I'd just run it on 12V and be done with it.
 
kk wrote:

i have a mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks


You can buy 6 V 10 AH batteries at McMaster-Carr for about $15 each.
Click to expand...
Theyn are mostly for emergency lights, but should work well in this
application.

Jon
 
In news:40AA03F0.36385D0B@rica.net,
John Popelish typed:
Replacing two 6 volt batteries with two 12 volt batteries will
probably damage the motors and possibly the switches, the wiring and
the driver and nearby pedestrians. Replacing the two 6 volt batteries
with one 12 volt battery will work, except there is no terminal to
connect to that will give you the 6 volt slow speed.
Click to expand...
Isn't 6V too low for a 12V motor, likely not to run at all (under load)
rather than go slowly? It would certainly cause uneven discharging.

Remember, he said, "i am guessing that at low speed and reverse it runs
the motor at 6v", so he hasn't measured the voltages or traced the
connections.



--
-Reply in group, but if emailing add 2 more zeros-
-and remove the obvious-
 
"Dave VanHorn" <dvanhorn@cedar.net> wrote in message news:<q_2dnZV0a4kPijfdRVn-hQ@comcast.com>...
"kk" <kkkbeetle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:94cf2709.0405180317.2b01107a@posting.google.com...
i have a mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks

Two 6V batteries gets you 6 and 12V.
Doubling the voltage to 24V doubles the current, and quadruples heating in
the motor, probably a very short life.

The low speed option is not well designed, because you're running one
battery down more than the other, then connecting the run down one in series
with a more fully charged one.

I'd just run it on 12V and be done with it.
Click to expand...
One thing to keep in mind when doing a project like this is what is
known a ‘power density'. This is the amount of power (V*I) your
battery can supply safely. It is mostly a function of the battery
chemistry. For example, lead acid and ni-cad typically have a higher
power density than Li-ion.

So what happens if you over draw the battery? It could just fail to
recharge, or it could meet a more violent end. My opinion is I
wouldn't want my kid anywhere near this thing when I am finding out.
If you don't have a power density rating for the UPS battery, don't
risk it.
 
Tom Del Rosso wrote:
In news:40AA03F0.36385D0B@rica.net,
John Popelish typed:

Replacing two 6 volt batteries with two 12 volt batteries will
probably damage the motors and possibly the switches, the wiring and
the driver and nearby pedestrians. Replacing the two 6 volt batteries
with one 12 volt battery will work, except there is no terminal to
connect to that will give you the 6 volt slow speed.

Isn't 6V too low for a 12V motor, likely not to run at all (under load)
rather than go slowly? It would certainly cause uneven discharging.

Remember, he said, "i am guessing that at low speed and reverse it runs
the motor at 6v", so he hasn't measured the voltages or traced the
connections.
Click to expand...
My answer was based on his description and my recollection of a
similar car.
--
John Popelish
 
So what happens if you over draw the battery? It could just fail to
recharge, or it could meet a more violent end. My opinion is I
wouldn't want my kid anywhere near this thing when I am finding out.
If you don't have a power density rating for the UPS battery, don't
risk it
Click to expand...
Most UPS systems discharge in 5-30 minutes, which is probably faster than
they will in this sort of toy.
 
"Dave VanHorn" <dvanhorn@cedar.net> wrote in message news:<q_2dnZV0a4kPijfdRVn-hQ@comcast.com>...
"kk" <kkkbeetle@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:94cf2709.0405180317.2b01107a@posting.google.com...

i have a mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks

Two 6V batteries gets you 6 and 12V.
Doubling the voltage to 24V doubles the current, and quadruples heating in
the motor, probably a very short life.

The low speed option is not well designed, because you're running one
battery down more than the other, then connecting the run down one in series
with a more fully charged one.
Click to expand...

A simple automatic switchover can be used to run the motor at 6v off
each battery on alternative goes, so the energy draw approximately
balances. Or the batteries might even get paralelled. But what Mattel
have actually done is another question.

Replace 6v batteries with 6v batteries. Having a car that only does
top power is not a sensible option IMHO.

No need to buy them from Mattel, but you do need to ensure theyre
suitably rated.


Regards, NT
 
On Tue, 18 May 2004 22:46:29 GMT, "Tom Del Rosso"
<tdnews01@att.net.invalid> put finger to keyboard and composed:

In news:40AA03F0.36385D0B@rica.net,
John Popelish typed:

Replacing two 6 volt batteries with two 12 volt batteries will
probably damage the motors and possibly the switches, the wiring and
the driver and nearby pedestrians. Replacing the two 6 volt batteries
with one 12 volt battery will work, except there is no terminal to
connect to that will give you the 6 volt slow speed.

Isn't 6V too low for a 12V motor, likely not to run at all (under load)
rather than go slowly? It would certainly cause uneven discharging.

Remember, he said, "i am guessing that at low speed and reverse it runs
the motor at 6v", so he hasn't measured the voltages or traced the
connections.
Click to expand...
Not so long ago I traced the wiring for a ride-on tricycle which used
two 6V 10AH SLA batteries. It was wired exactly as the OP described.


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.
 
kk wrote:
i have a mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks
Click to expand...

You can get 6 v 10 Ah gel cells for ~ $18.00 each at Mouser -
maybe that is significantly better than Mattel batteries price?
 
ehsjr@bellatlantic.net wrote:
kk wrote:

i have a mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks



You can get 6 v 10 Ah gel cells for ~ $18.00 each at Mouser -
maybe that is significantly better than Mattel batteries price?
Click to expand...

Hi...

And could I respectfully add that if you do use
non-original subs that you fuse 'em as close to the
batteries as you can possibly get?

In addition to epoxy'ing or something the terminals?

The batteries will deliver an awful lot of hot and
hurt to tiny fingers that decide to "fix" the car
like daddy does - and use metal "tools" to work with :(

Yep, I've been accused of being over-protective :)

Take care.

Ken
 
kk wrote:

i have a Mattel power wheels kids ride-on jeep. it has two 6v
batteries, which have expired. the thing has a hi-lo speed and
reverse switch, which pretty much does what it says. i am guessing
that at low speed and reverse it runs the motor at 6v, and at high
speed it runs it at 24v? i have a battery i want to use to replace
(v expensive to buy replacement Mattel batteries 6v 9Ah) which is from
a PC's UPS, it's 12v and 12Ah. I can't see that it would be
possible to wire it as 12v/24v, as i would only have a total of 6
cells. but would wiring it straight in and using it as 12v/12v
damage the motor? any other suggestions? thanks
Click to expand...
Speaking as a former Mattel Engineer (I do not represent Mattel in
any way at present)...

How old is your power Wheels vehicle? Did you buy it before October
of 1998 when million of them were recalled?

There have been 116 fires and over 1,800 overheating incidents
involving short-circuiting, melting or failing with this toy. At
least nine children received burns, and there has been $300,000
of property damage to 22 houses and garages. Also, there were 71
incidents involving the products' failure to stop, resulting in
six minor injuries when the vehicles hit something. Mattel paid
$1.1 million and recalled 10 million Power Wheels vehicles, which
cost $27 million.

The battery chargers (even in the new models) do not stop when
the batteries are fully recharged, which is one reason why you
are shopping for new batteries. Pick the wrong replacement and
it could rupture from overcharging.


--
Guy Macon, Electronics Engineer & Project Manager for hire.
Remember Doc Brown from the _Back to the Future_ movies? Do you
have an "impossible" engineering project that only someone like
Doc Brown can solve? My resume is at http://www.guymacon.com/
 
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