How to Bluetooth Enable a Remote Controlled Car

Remote controlled cars offer uncommon freedom, enabling hobbyists and fans to control their favorite vehicles from hundreds of feet away. Bluetooth enable your remote controlled car if you want a quick and amusing way to bring it into the digital age, giving you the option to control it using a cell phone, Wiimote or countless other devices.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Digital servo converter
• Wire strippers
• Batteries
• Electrical tape
• Bluetooth serial adapter
• Soldering iron

Prepare Your Parts

1. Create a connector for the Bluetooth serial adapter. This may require stripping an existing phone cord and attaching the green and yellow leads by hand.
2. Create a power supply for the Bluetooth adapter.
3. If you have knowledge of batteries and how to connect leads, you can simply bundle everything with electrical tape.

Connect Everything Together

4. Wire the analog servo together with the digital servo adapter, being sure to get the polarity right. Consider shielding these connections as well, as vigorous controlling could loosen wires and muddy the signals as they pass from one device to the next.
5. Solder the Bluetooth serial connector to the digital servo board. Again, you want to double-check your polarity here and be sure you are hooked up to the correct pins in the serial adapter.
6. Power up the Bluetooth adapter. If you have purchased a version that gives you some indication (with LED lights) of proper activity, be sure and wait until all the blinking has ceased. If not, wait at least 90 seconds for the Bluetooth adapter to enable its radio and power up.
7. Power up the Bluetooth digital converter with its battery as well. This circuit board should activate almost immediately--if it doesn't, you may need to rewire the source plant.
8. Handshake with your Bluetooth-enabled controller using the default code on your adapter (usually 0000). If you don't have a full Bluetooth controller, you can use anything from a laptop to a Wiimote to send the car signals as you wish.

Get Ready to Drive

9. Practice getting the best performance out of your remote controlled car. Responses should be instantaneous, giving you all the torque you need to perform advanced leaps and turns.
10. Find an area clear of radio interference to enable optimal performance.
11. Depending on the strength of your transmitter, you may get several hundred feet of flawless response.

Tips & Warnings

• Understand how to enable Bluetooth switching and pins before you attempt this modification.
• Find an area free of Bluetooth interference for optimal performance.
• It is essential to get the power leads right when you are wiring your Bluetooth adapter to the servo controls--otherwise you can damage the servo itself.