Hacking rc toys

OLD MAN

·when hacking a rc toy,at what point on the toy circuit board do you connect to in order to use the homework board. Trying to build a microcontroller to control· a toy car.· most toy rc (small ones) that have 4.5 volt dc motors. Have collected 8 different toy car boards. Most look alike. Suggestions?

Mike Green

You will need some kind of motor driver for the DC motor. There are plenty of examples on the Wikipedia (H-bridge) and from Parallax. The Stamp Professional Development Board has an H-bridge on it and there are some projects in the StampWorks Manual on the subject. The "What's a Microcontroller?" and Nuts and Volts Column #6 show how to control small motors / solenoids / relays using a switching transistor.

You'll have to come up with a schematic for the toy car to try to figure out the RC part unless you just want to sense what voltage is applied to the motor.

Parallax Tutorials: www.parallax.com/tabid/535/Default.aspx

Nuts and Volts Columns: www.parallax.com/Resources/NutsVoltsColumns/tabid/272/Default.aspx

RiJoRi

SUGGESTION:
TURN OFF THE CAPSLOCK KEY, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING AT US!

Hopefully, you'll get some answers. RC is not my cuppa tea.

--Rich

Timmoore

I haven't hacked a RC toy but I use some RC stuff for robots and hacked some cheap kits such as (http://superdroidrobots.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=484).
If you just want to reuse the mechanical side then one of the things that maybe helpful is to replace the motor. I have used stuff that uses a low voltage (3V) high current motor such as this one http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/77 . While you can build H-bridge to drive it its a pain to interface to a micro and pre-built H-bridge for that current are expensive. I find its cheaper to replace the motor with http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/604 . Its the same size as the other motor but takes a higher voltage (6-9V) and lower current so its easier/cheaper to build a H-bridge.
You will have to check if the toy you have uses the right size motor but if they use Tamiya parts then its pretty likely.

OLD MAN

Thanks to all who replied. i found helpful info in the "robot builders bonanza" book . thanks again.

aev.308

rip out the original board and wire the motor wires into your stamp.· most of the servos that I have seen on comercial rc cars are different than regular servos that we use.· I mean they have more than 3 wires going to them so I don't know what to tell you about them.· staying with the tank type rc cars solves that problem though.