Could I Put a Car Battery in Power Wheels?

Power Wheels is a brand of ride-on toy automobiles that are powered by a battery. They can be ridden by children aged 5-7.

Power Wheel’s ride-ons are constructed with kid-sized and realistic features that you can find in regular cars.

Could I Put A Car Battery in Power Wheels

In some of their models, you will wind working features such as FM radios, opening and closing doors and hoods, and forward and backward motion.

Power Wheels come with one rechargeable battery, so as your wait for it to charge your kid can’t use the car, which may be quite annoying.

You may be wondering that, given that a Power Wheels car is just like a real car but smaller, could you put a car battery in it?

We answer this question and many more in this article, so keep reading to find out all about Power Wheels and their battery needs.

Table of Contents

Will a Car Battery Work in a Power Wheels Car?

Yes, it’s possible to use a car battery in a Power Wheels vehicle.

While adding a car battery to the Power Wheels vehicle is not too hard, making the necessary changes to the vehicle to fit the larger car battery takes a significant amount of time.

A vehicle battery will not make the Power Wheel go any faster, but it will allow your child to ride it for a longer time before the battery needs to be charged again.

Keep reading to find a step-by-step guide on how to swap out a Power Wheels battery for a car battery.

How to Swap Batteries

Remove Old Battery From Power Wheel Car

This is the easiest step in this whole process. When you are removing the battery you need to check a few things.

First, make sure that the color of the positive and negative wires are correctly identified.

Next, after making modifications to the battery compartment, you should measure the area to ensure that there will be enough for the replacement battery.

After you have finished taking the necessary measures, it is time to move on to the following stage, which is to provide space for the replacement battery.

Create Room for Battery

Even in Power Wheels that have space in the back to accommodate a battery, most people still install it at the front of the vehicle.

The weight of the children is already distributed throughout the car, so adding any more weight at the front will make sure that the car states balanced.

You will probably need to remove the front component of the car to do this job.

Changing the batteries around is a two-part job. The first is swapping the batteries, and the second is how to keep the new battery in place.

The following items are going to be needed for both of these steps:

Use a bungee rope or some other device to prevent the hood from shutting while you are working on it.
An instrument specifically designed to cut plastic. Due to the confinement of the area, it will be helpful to have a Dremel tool.
A section of sheet metal that’ll be used to construct a new grill. Instead of a completely flat piece, the ideal option would have some ridges on it. It needs to be long enough to wrap around the battery on all three sides and front, so it can’t be too short.
The replacement grill requires either screws or bolts to be fastened into place.
Drill or screwdriver driver for screws
Terminals for the Batteries
Electrical Pliers

When you have all of the necessary items, it’s time to get started on switching out the battery.

Swapping the Batteries

Stop the hood from coming down by using a bungee cord or something similar.
Take the grill off the car.
Using your Dremel tool, remove the cover of the front battery box. If you have a grinder, it is quite unlikely that it will be able to fit in the area, and cutting plastic with a hand-held saw will take an extremely long time.
After you have completed everything, you can swap out the batteries.

How to Keep the New Battery in Place

You will need to construct an additional grill to secure the battery in place.

Remember that won’t be cutting the sheet metal used to cover the front. In its place, you are constructing a container with three sides, quite similar to a box.

Your first cuts should be made to simplify the bending process of the metal.

Here’s how to do it:

First, take measurements of the battery’s front face, and then of the sheet metal.
Make cuts along the top and bottom of the metal, as well as another cut through the center of the piece.
Create a right angle by bending each side of the metal back by 90 degrees.
After that, cut each side, leaving about two inches of space between them. You’ll build a flange out of these two sides by folding them to attach the sheet metal to the battery compartment of the car.
After you have completed the necessary cuts, install the new grill in its location. Mark any changes that need to be made before proceeding with the cutting of the final pieces. Keep in mind that you will need a small bit of room for the flanges.
To build your flanges, fold the ends so that they form an angle of 90 degrees.
Check that it is the right size. After that, drill holes into the front or sides of the battery box, and then slide the grill into position.
Drill holes into the flange as well as the housing.
When attaching the grill to the housing, bolts should be used.

If the casing for the battery is securely in place, then you have successfully completed the most difficult step of this job.

It’s important to note that these instructions are based on the assumption that the front of the battery enclosure of your Power Wheel features a lip, as almost all of them do. If this is not the case, you will need to make some adjustments to the battery housing.

Hooking up the Battery

This step is not hard and it will go quickly.

However, the motor harness (or coupling) will need to be replaced before the Power Wheel can be connected to your battery.

Check the polarity of the wires before you cut them off with the scissors.

The positive terminal on some cars will be black, while the negative terminal on others will also be black (or red). This is going to be shown by the coupling.

Following this step, you will need to attach the battery terminals to the cables.

Remove about a quarter of an inch of insulation from each of the wires, then feed the bare ends of the wires into the terminals and crimp them shut.

It’s time to put the battery in place. After you have it positioned where you want it, connect the wires to the battery. Adjust them till they have a secure grip on one another.

And just like that, your kid’s Power Wheel will be ready for a test drive!

Does Using a Car Battery Change the Vehicle Performace?

Don’t anticipate that the Power Wheels will go at a quicker speed once a car battery has been installed.

This modification is not intended to make the car move faster, but your child will be able to ride it for longer between charges.

Can I Put a Stronger Battery in My Power Wheels?

If you want your vehicle to drive quicker, you are going to need a more powerful battery.

A battery with 12 volts will allow you to go longer before needing to be recharged, but it will not make you go any faster.

To do this, you will need to make even more changes to the car.

To begin, you are going to have to find some more space to accommodate two batteries.

You will also need to be familiar with the process of connecting many batteries in a series.

It is not a tough task, but you will need to do some research on it either by reading or watching videos on YouTube.

After that, you’ll need to deal with a few difficulties that a lot of the tutorials on YouTube don’t show you how to handle. Changing the gears and the motors is one of these.

You have to do this because the gears that come standard with your Power Wheel are intended to function with a voltage of 12 volts.

When you increase the voltage, the gears will wear down much more quickly than before.