Upgrading the Power Wheels Jeep

Charles has a Power Wheels Jeep that is about 2.5 years old.  It doesn’t get used much by just him, but when we have company or when the neighborhood kids are over, its not unusual to see kids piled all over it  till you can just about hear it cry in pain.

 

 

 

Like every other one, about 2 years in, despite good treatment, the battery started perform to only about 50% its rated capacity.   Earlier in the game, I had cut the wires to their proprietary plug, and added anderson power pole connectors Power Poles link so that I could connect and use my own computerized (faster) charger.

 

 

The Orig battery was a 9.5 ah custom everything battery making it impossible to find an exact replacement without going to them

 

 

In my desire to “upgrade” without actually going crazy.  I wanted run-time, not top speed.    The solution found was a pair of 10.5 ah batteries side by side on end.  This yields 2.21 times the run time of a factory battery, at about the same cost of the one they want you to buy.   Short custom cable ,and we’re good.  It worked fine.

Not willing to leave well enough alone, I had purchased some battery meters from ebay for 5$ish each.

So I added a momentary push buttom, and this to the top of the battery.

 

 

So now at any time, Charles can check his “Gas Gauge” and know what the battery status is.

 

 

And it looks good in the Jeep..

 

 

At some point I’ll consider moving the gauge and button onto the dash, but for now, this works just fine..