Volt meter for Powerwheels

thingiverse

As many of us dads strive to be the coolest dad possible and upgrade our kids' toys, we find that a lot of toys are in desperate need of upgrades. My son wanted real headlights, a horn, and a trailer for his F150 Powerwheels toy. I made the modifications and installed a dual battery power supply, giving him a longer-lasting ride with a smoother fade than the stock setup. Still, I was always wondering how much charge was left on the batteries when we were out playing. Would we make it back without draining the batteries at a low charge? I took a closer look at the dashboard and decided that it needed a voltage readout. So, I ordered some tiny digital displays and picked up a momentary on switch from the auto parts store. However, the fake satnav display wasn't going to work out as planned for housing my components, so I designed a better-fitting, stronger module that would also securely house the electronics while using the original screws and mounting system on the back of the dashboard. A simple loop circuit connects positive to negative with a switch to prevent it from being on all the time.