Power Wheels Battery Mod

About two years ago, I was driving around my town and saw a kids battery-powered ATV in front of someone's house. I can't speak about the rest of the United States, but where I live, this means that the item is free for the taking. Now I know that children sometimes leave their toys in random places, so if I ever see a bike or something a kid rides around in front of a house, I like to check with the homeowner to confirm it's actually out there for anyone to take. Sure enough, it was, so I brought it home with me.

When I was a kid I always wanted a battery-powered car to ride. The closest thing I had was a red Jeep in my neighbors yard that did not have a working battery. I was thrilled to bring one home for my child. This model is the orange Kawasaki KFX Ninja Extreme. It was discontinued in 2007 so it's already had at least 19 years of use so far. Let's keep it going!

After I brought it home and tried it out, I learned that it was very weak. It worked okay on pavement but barely budged in the back yard. The plastic treads have been worn down so it's more difficult to grip the ground, but the real culprit was the old 12v batteries.

Apparently there is a whole community of modders that mod their power wheels toys in different ways. If this one gets any use, maybe I'll try updating the appearance. The main mod that people make, of course, is to give it more power.

It turns out it's not too difficult to do. What most people replace the stock battery with is a power tool battery: many people use Ryobi 18V batteries but if you've got a 20V Dewalt or Milwaukee, use what you have. I use my Dewalt batteries a lot, and I've got a few Ryobi batteries that can easily be swapped out for a recharge, so I went with that. Another reason I selected the Ryobi, is that it is a lower voltage.

There are many tutorials online about how to convert the batteries. Many of them just connect the battery and they're done. The problem is that you're supplying a higher voltage than the motor was made for. I am not familiar enough with electronics and electricity to explain the problem with this, other than that it risks burning out the motor and cutting its life short. Maybe there's a fire risk? I don't know. It's safe to say that most people modding their Power Wheels toys are not catching fire, or we'd be hearing about it!

There is a Youtube content creater called Dude Dad that has a series of Power Wheels mod videos. The actual video I used for reference on this project demonstrates using an extra part to control the voltage. You can find whatever battery adaptor you need on Amazon, and here is his link to the device that controls the voltage, a "Speed Controller." This device lets you turn it down so you don't burn out the engine too quickly. It doesn't have any markings on the dial so I used a marker to mark the low and high range I'd like to keep it at. Time will tell if all of the movement of using the toy will unintentionally adjust the dial.

Let's Get to Work