How to Make a Solar Paneled Toy Car
Toy cars remain a staple of any child's arsenal of diversions, and in a lot of ways, a solar-powered toy car can top a regular, battery-powered one; it saves on batteries AND it gets them out of the house!
Building a solar-powered toy car is a simple project requiring no more than an hour of your time and some basic tools and materials. A well-stocked hobby shop or department store should be able to provide you with everything you need.
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Things You'll Need
- Plastic index card box
- Electric drill
- Two 9-volt hobby motors w/ detachable rubber wheels
- Double-sided sticky tape
- Soldering iron & 2% silver solder
- 9-volt solar panel
- Free-rotating axle w/ detachable rubber wheels
Instructions
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1
Drill four 1/4-inch holes in the sides of the index card box, 1/2 inch from the bottom. Put the holes opposite one another on the long ends of the box and as evenly as possible.
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2
Remove the rubber wheels from the hobby motors. Put the motors inside the index card box and poke the wheel-less shafts through two of the holes you drilled, opposite one another on one end of the box.
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3
Attach the motors to the inside bottom of the index card box with double-sided sticky tape so they're immobile and don't shake easily.
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4
Position the box so that the motors are horizontally parallel to one another on the end of the box nearer to you.
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5
Solder the negative wire from the right motor to the positive wire from the left motor. Solder the positive wire from the right motor to the negative wire from the left motor.
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6
Use double-sided sticky tape to mount the solar panel to the top of the lid of the index card box, facing directly upward. Drill a hole for the panel's wires and thread them through.
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7
Solder the panel's positive wire to the connection between the right motor's negative wire and the left motor's positive wire.
Solder the panel's negative wire to the connection between the right motor's positive wire and the left motor's negative wire. -
8
Remove one of the rubber wheels from the free-rotating axle, and thread it through the other two holes you drilled. Reattach all rubber wheels to the axle and the motors, and set the car in bright sunlight.
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References
- Photo Credit solar cell research image by Albert Lozano from Fotolia.com
