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The stock lead acid battery that comes with Power Wheels ride-on cars for kids is weak and often dies. A better replacement is a Lithium (LiFePO4) rechargeable battery. A LiFePO4 compatible battery charger must also be used (read below) BATTERY These LiFePO4 batteries come with a Power Wheels connector and inline fuse. They are plug-and-play, so you can install them into your Power Wheels. WHERE TO BUY 12V 12Ah LiFePO4 Battery For Power Wheels WHERE TO BUY 12V 15Ah LiFePO4 Ba

BIKE The build will start with a TREK Roscoe 20" mid-fat kids bike. The goal is to have a lightweight electric bike that is torque-sensing and can augment the child's strength for riding further with less fatigue and better hill climbing. MOTOR A mid drive motor is a better choice for a kids electric bike due to the torque sensing ability. I do not want the bike to have a throttle. The child has to pedal in order for the bike to move forward. I don't want a PAS system either,

I wanted to use the IDECH Power Rotary Scissors with the Expand-It universal-style attachments that Ryobi uses on a Ryobi 18V brushless trimmer or the Greenworks corded trimmer. The Ryobi 18V trimmer did not have the torque or battery life needed to use the power rotary scissors. The Greenworks corded trimmer has a ton of power and torque and has no issues running the power rotary scissors. However, I would like to ditch the cord and have the ability to feather the throttle f

When your playing gel blasters, airsoft, NERF, paintball, or arrowsoft archery in an open area with no cover, it's nice to have some bunkers available to make it more fun by being able to hide for cover. There are inflatable bunkers that can be purchased, but those take a lot of time to inflate and deflate. ARCH BUNKER This is an interesting design posted on Reddit. It uses tent poles for the arch, PVC for the legs, and a sewn sheet for the cover. Some stakes or sand/water ba

Self-heating LiFePO4 batteries are necessary for use in non-climate-controlled areas that go below freezing. Charging LiFePO4 batteries below freezing will damage them and reduce their capacity and lifespan. At a minimum, the batteries should have low (and high) temperature cut-offs (the BMS should control this, but not all do). Even with a low temp cut off, the battery can't be charged without heating it up first, so you need to add a heater pad or some heat source to the ba

Rivnuts (rivet nuts) are the most popular way to add threads to sheet metal, but in mobile applications like the sheet metal on a vehicle (aka van) are thin enough that rivnuts can pull out or get loose and spin. For stronger retention in thin sheet metal, Plusnuts are a lot better. Plusnuts are very popular for Sprinter, Transit and Promaster van to campervan conversions. I've used them all over the Sprinter van to attach things inside and out, and they have worked perfectly

The Flowtron bug zappers I've had always die after 1-2 years of use. The coil burns up and it stop zapping. I found a zapper replacement on Etsy that uses a higher quality circuit and should last longer than the original. One issue is that this only replaced the zapping grid circuit, but not the bulb circuit. You'll need to find another solution for that, the easiest being to use a UV LED strip, or UV LED bulb to replace the florescent bulb. Link to Zapper circuit on Etsy. Th

HOW TO CHARGE THE STARTING BATTERY FROM THE HOUSE SOLAR PANELS (OR HOUSE BATTERIES) OF AN RV Ok, so we're successfully keeping the house batteries charged up using the solar panels. Now, how can the starting battery be kept charged when the RV or van is sitting unused for some time, or to prevent accidentally discharging the battery? The solution is a 12V to 12V DC-DC charger that goes from the house batteries to the starter battery. If there's already a 12V-12V DC-DC charger

It's time to upgrade the solar power and house battery charging system. Technology has improved since I first installed it and the charge controller I was using was designed for lead acid batteries, with too few settings for LiFePO4 batteries that I use now. This article focuses on mobile solar power for RV, camper, van and trailer use. Most of the electrical system components that I'll be recommending below are VICTRON brand. Their products might be a little more expensive t

Self-heating LiFePO4 batteries are necessary for use in non-climate-controlled areas that go below freezing. Charging LiFePO4 batteries below freezing will damage them and reduce their capacity and lifespan. At a minimum, the batteries should have low (and high) temperature cut off (the BMS should control this, but not all do). Even with a low temp cut off, the battery can't be charged without heating it up first, so you need to add a heater pad or some heat source to the bat