Help with 2.6 mod

[joeNuggetz]

Man, I spent 12 hours trying to get this to work yesterday. I've successfully moved a Microsizer board to a ZipZap chasis with great results. Then I read about the dual battery mod. I try to do it and connect everything serially. That was a no brainer. The harder damn part was getting the 2nd battery connected to the wires. I tried soldering to the battery, almost melting it away, then I tried just electric taping the leads to both ends, no dice, it would work for a while and then loose contact. I dont wanna wrap the battery too much or else it wont leave much room in the chasis.. Then when I think its all working fine, I stick my multimeter on and it reads 2.4volts but the engine is really slow. Maybe I fried it? I dont know. It was so kewl when it worked becuase this thing smoked. Actually flipped over when it turned. But I guess I really need some tips on how to make sure that 2nd battery stays on and has good contact. I tried soldering both ends and then taping the entire battery. now I cant rememer if I'm still getting the 2.4 volts and the motor is slow, or I'm not getting good contact. Just shoot me. I spent 12 hours playing with this. Help!!

[Axel]

I recently had a similar problem. IT started out flying, but then it slowed to nothing. What's happening is only one of your batteries are charging. I'm still not sure how to fix this besides taking out the uncharging battery and recharging it manually. Maybe more voltage would fix this? Not sure.

Can anybody help us with getting both batteries to charge under the 2.4v mod?

[joeNuggetz]

I think we have to build a standalone 3volt charger or just mod the zipzap on. I destroyed my ZipZap controller but I does put out 3volts. THe mod bypasses the circuitry. All you have to do is take the + and ) wires that are attached to the charging statation and solder the terminals on the back of the batter compartment. If you do what I do, then there is no on/off switch.

I've basically given up on this mod. Wasted too much time and didnt get any feedback here when I really needed it. So, I put a Microsizer board in the zip with 1 battery and the performance is great. Only issue is that steering is slower to one side than the other. I don't know why this would happen. Almost like a delay between the time you press "left" and the time the car responds. Any insight to this would be much appreciated.

[Axel]

Ya, I modded my controller the same way. It puts out the 3v. (or close to). It seemed to work for like two charges, then it just stopped charging the second battery and only the first one charges. Sorta sucks. Now I have to take it all apart and manually charge the second battery or else it barely does anything.

[joeNuggetz]

Im thinking that it has more to do with the connections then anything else. That was my problem, or at least I'm guessing. For 12 hours I tried figuring out a way to attach the 2nd battery so it makes good contact. I would test each time with a multimeter and everything read ok. But as soon as I solder the last wire to the board, BAM. Still only 1.3 volts. I must have taken everything apart 10 times. I finally said screw it and put my trusty old microsizer board in there and I'm happy with it.

[Axel]

Nope, my connections are fine. I hooked up the car incorrectly for charging though. It was only reaching pos and neg ends on one battery, not the second (only pos end there) so that's why. I'll fix it tomorrow.

How's the micro board treating you?

[joeNuggetz]

My Micro is just fine, thanks. Just a little problem with a delayed reaction with the steering in one direction. Have no idea what that's all about.

Man, I really wish I was successful in modding a 2.4 rig. It was so damn fast I got goosebumps. However, I had a bullet motor in it.

While I was building it, I had the "charger mod" in the back of my mind only applying to a parellel configuration.

My problem could have been a combination of a whole bunch of things. Bad contact, not knowing that I needed to mod my charger, bad readings from my multimeter at odd times, similar to your scenario.

I will most likely attempt it again. How did you manage to get your leads to securly stick to the battery. That was definatly one
of my problems. Please keep me posted with regards to your car.

Another big problem was trying to figure out how to mount it and being able to close the plastic lid. I got rid of the little tab in the bottom of the chasis. After my 10th try, I decided to use really thin magnet wire which I burned the ends off so it would make contact and was hoping that using less bulky wires would mean more room I'll have in the chasis. I will be using a bit board next time since its much smaller.

So, if anyone has successfully done this, please let me know how you did it and what you used to make contacts tight and most of all, charge the darn thing correctly, fit in the chasis, and info relating to driveability and motors.

Blah blah bla

[joeNuggetz]

Just bumping this back up to the top. Can anyone help with this problem. How are things with your car, Axle? Any luck/progress?

[prooney]

joeNuggetz,

It is possible to buy battereis with solder tabs already attached. I don't have a source handy right now, but I'm sure I saw one linked on the microsizer/bit charg board recently.

These batteries with tabs have the tabs resistance welded on instead of soldered, so you can solder to the tabs without the tab bond to the battery coming undone.

Maybe someone can post a link to the batteries with tabs.

I give you credit for the work you'be done already! I have a spare bit board and a zz I'd love to make faster, but every time I look inside at all the small wires (especially the steering ones) I chicken out on trying to do a swap. I'm all thumbs when it comes to working on things that small.

Good luck with your mods!

[lowerdfool]

Well first I modded my controller to run the charger station directly off the battery. I took out the original wires running between the board and the charging station. then I soldered a wire from each side of the battery tabs to the soldering station makeing sure to keep the red with the red and the black with the black. I then soldered a wire from the negative side of the original battery to the positive side of a new 120 mah battery. after that I soldered a wire to the negative side of the battery terminal and the negative side of the new battery. I slid a peice of plastic between the negative terminal to block the current from the first original battery. I must say THIS CAR HAULS BUM!!! only thing is it only runs for about 60 seconds at full power then drops off like it's only running off of one battery. Any body have any ideas on how to fix this problem. This is a series wired circuit and I found that a parallel wired battery didn't work it just made the car lose the signal. anyone, anyone at all?

[go_zz_go]

well idont know if this wll help but i think our prob could be that the juice is going straight to the origanal battery while charging, could this be because electricty finds the shorts route and stops in the new battery. again i dont know as much as you and this is my thoughts.if you had the batteries the same distance(the wires the same length)the juice would flow evenly to both. i just use a stand alone charger and it works good. i am going to try to get the batteries the same distanceand see how it works on the stock charger

[Bunta]

Hi Everyone

Well I had similiar problems attempting to solder wires straight to a battery,,,, (someone told me solder flux would work,, but I didn't try it) So I didn't connect my wires directly to the battery,, I soldered the wires onto a little metal contact (like the car's charger contacts). Then I went and cut some styrofoam out and wedged the 2nd battery into the body with the styrofoam. Then I stuck my leads against the appropriate battery terminals and used the strofoam to hold the contact (as well as the battery) in place. This is working really good, I had to mess with the styrofoam a little until I got enough of it to hold the contact in place. If you don't get it,, I can post some pics after I get home. I hope this helps you out,,,,,

Bunta out-

[Bunta]

Oh yeah,, I forgot to mention that I am running my 2 cell car alot for the last 1.5 week and have not had the problem Joe or Axel have been haveing with the charge problem.

But I am using 3.6 volts,,,, (hmmmm)

Bunta out-

[Axel]

Hey, thanks for letting me know that you're not having the problem with the batteries not charging. That gives me a little encouragement that I may be able to get this thing working!!!

As far as the connecting the batteries goes.... I've been soldering the wires directly to the batteries. I started out having the problem that a lot of you are probably having... the solder won't stick to the battery metal and just falls or breaks off very quickly. But then I found that for some reason if I got enough solder right above it to let it drip onto the battery, for some reason it formed a better seal and sticks very well. So let it drip on and it will work!! :-)

I'm still working on getting these batteries to work right... this is such a strange problem that it has to be bad batteries or something like that, but I can't figure out why they're working fine by themselves if they are bad! Oh well :-P