Adding Batteries to Motors

[Bewildered]

Hi folks,

I'm a total noob when it comes to RC kit and electronics so I've got a really basic question which will probably have you all rolling your eyes, but I'm going to ask anyway cause I really need some help!

My son and I have dismantled an old toy RC car in an attempt to convert it into an RC boat. The parts we removed from the car are:

* battery holder for 3x AA batteries
* PCB attached to the battery holder which has the receiver and 2 connectors for electric motors
* 2 electric motors

I have managed to undsolder the electric motors from the connectors and attach the motors from this boat kit.

It essentially looks like this.

The small plastic connectors on the PCB have 2 small cables going to the motor.

It seems to be OK so far, but here is the question... the power from the AA batteries isn't great and the boat doesn't go very fast. Is it possible to put a battery in next to each of the motors to give them extra power? It appears that each motor can each run on a 9v PP3 battery which gives them more power, but I don't want to blow the circuit board by putting too much power into that.

Rather than replacing the 3x AAA batteries powering the receiver PCB, is it possible to do something like this?

Putting a 9v PP3 battery powering the motor but still controlled by the PCB.

Any advice or suggestions to get more power to the motors would be gratefully received. If I have missed any useful info, please let me know.

Sorry for the really stupid, basic question but I've not done anything like this before and I don't really want to see our boat go up in smoke!

Thanks!

TL;DR : Is it possible to add a battery after the controller to power the electric motors from a toy car, and if so how?

 

[tntpoof]

these motors are designed to handle 4.5volts not 9. Id go with a single cell li-ion cell. they charge to 4.2volts. if your going to customize a rc stay within its designed voltage range..
a single cell lipo will also work .

1 cell lipo full charge 4.2 volts
1 cell li-ion 4.2 volts
you will need to add some type of alert so you dont run the battery down and destroy battery like a lipo buzzer also a lithium battery charger...
fell free to contact me directly id be glad to help.

 

[Bewildered]

Thanks for your time and thoughts. I've sent a PM.

 

[Greywolf74]

these motors are designed to handle 4.5volts

Where did you come up with this number from? The spec sheet on Amazon clearly says that the motors run on 3V. Which would make sense seeing as how the specs also say it will run on a 4 cell AA battery pack which is 6V and I'm betting that the ESC splits that 6v in half so it has 3V for each motor.

Hi folks,

I'm a total noob when it comes to RC kit and electronics so I've got a really basic question which will probably have you all rolling your eyes, but I'm going to ask anyway cause I really need some help!

My son and I have dismantled an old toy RC car in an attempt to convert it into an RC boat. The parts we removed from the car are:

* battery holder for 3x AA batteries
* PCB attached to the battery holder which has the receiver and 2 connectors for electric motors
* 2 electric motors

I have managed to undsolder the electric motors from the connectors and attach the motors from this boat kit.

It essentially looks like this. View attachment 126478
The small plastic connectors on the PCB have 2 small cables going to the motor.

It seems to be OK so far, but here is the question... the power from the AA batteries isn't great and the boat doesn't go very fast. Is it possible to put a battery in next to each of the motors to give them extra power? It appears that each motor can each run on a 9v PP3 battery which gives them more power, but I don't want to blow the circuit board by putting too much power into that.

Rather than replacing the 3x AAA batteries powering the receiver PCB, is it possible to do something like this? View attachment 126479
Putting a 9v PP3 battery powering the motor but still controlled by the PCB.

Any advice or suggestions to get more power to the motors would be gratefully received. If I have missed any useful info, please let me know.

Sorry for the really stupid, basic question but I've not done anything like this before and I don't really want to see our boat go up in smoke!

Thanks!

TL;DR : Is it possible to add a battery after the controller to power the electric motors from a toy car, and if so how?

The short answer is no you couldnt add battery packs like you have shown even if they were 3V packs. The reason is that A) if the battery power isnt flowing through the speed controller then there would be no way to to control the input of power to the motors which would just make the motors spin at max RPM until the battery is removed and B) You would backfeed voltage into the speed controller. The energy is designed to flow out of the speed controller and to the motors. Hooking them up like youve shown would feed power directly to the motors but also to the ESC in a manner that it wasn't designed for. If theres no protection circuitry built in then your speed controller goes up in smoke.

You said that you had a 3 cell AA battery pack you could swap that out with a 4cell which would give you a bit of extra speed (amazon description says it wll run on a 3 cell or a 4 cell AA battery pack) but even if you could put a 2 cell lithium battery on it at 7.4 volts that thing is never going to be very fast. Also just to be clear I'm not recommending you use a 7.4V battery I have no idea if the electronics could handle it.