3/16/2017 DIYRemoteControlCar:HowtoMakeYourOwnRCCar!

|DIYHacking

DIY Remote Control Car: How to Make

Your Own RC Car!
By Mayoogh Girish

Remote control cars have been the dream the toy for most kids. And you can never outgrow
them!In this post, Iwill show you step by step, how to make a simple Remote Control Car that
operates in RF (radio frequency). This is a very simple and beginner level robotic project which
can be made by anyone with interest. I will be discussing on the working of all integrated
circuits (IC) and modules used in this robot. And there is no programming required for making
this robot!

Required Materials
RF transmitter receiver module
prototype boardx2
HT12E encoder
HT12d decoder
L293D Motor driver
7805 step down regulator
12v dc motor(RPM depends on your choice, Ihave used 300 RPM)

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12v power supply

Robot Chassis (Optional) or try a DIY chassis :D

How Does it Work?

Here we will use a couple of ICs and a motor xed to a chassis to make a remote control car.
The brief idea is to transmit control signals through Radio Frequency and receive it through a
receiver module in the car. We will have two switches in our remote control to power each
motor of the car. The state of the switches (ON / OFF) is the control data. This data from the
remote control is encoded before transmission, received back and decoded again to be sent to
the motor drivers. This is achieved using an RF module and an encoder(HT12E)-decoder(HT12D)
pair.

This RF module consists of an RF

Transmitter and an RF Receiver.
The transmitter/receiver (TX/RX)
pair operates at a frequency of
434 MHz. An RF transmitter
receives serial data and
transmits it wirelessly atRF
through its antenna connected at
pin 4. The transmission occurs at
the rate of 1Kbps 10Kbps. The
transmitted data is received by
an RF receiver operating at the same frequency as that of the transmitter. The RF module is
used along with a pair of encoder and decoder. The encoder is used for encoding parallel data
for transmission feed while reception is decoded by a decoder.

Using the combination of dierent states f the two switches, you can control the direction of
motion of your remote control car. If both switches are o, both motors will be o and the car
will not move. If both are on, the car will move straight ahead. And to turn the car, switch ON
only the motor on the side to which the car has to turn.

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Making Power Supplies for the Remote Control Car

First we will start with the power

supply circuits. Both,
theRFtransmitter and receiver
circuits need separate power
supplies. The receiver circuit needs
to be powered using 12V supply and
transmitter circuit can be powered
using 9V battery.

You can see the circuit for the

receiver power supply on the right.
Using this diagram, wire up the supply circuit. You can also add an LED via a 1k resistor to
indicate the state of power supply.

IC 7805 regulates the 12V supply to 5V. (you can also use a 9V supply here)
You can also use 0.1uF and 470uF capacitors inthe circuit.
And 1k resistor for status led.

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NOTE:Use heat sink for 7805 because we are dropping 7v

(12-5) so lots of heat will be produced to burn the
regulator so use of heat sink is recommended.

Making the Transmitter (Remote

Control)

The transmitter circuit consists of

1. HT12E encoder(Pin Out)

2. RF transmitter module(Pin Out)
3. Two DPDT switches
4. Power supply circuit
5. And a 1M resistor

DPDT Switches for Remote Control

You can seeIhave marked A, B, C, D in
the transmitter circuit after the switch.

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The same has been marked on the DPDT Switch Diagram. Connect the A,B,C,D on the
transmitter circuit to the A,B,C,D on the 2 DPDT switches.

Making the Receiver Circuit

The receiver circuit consists of 3ICs:

1. HT12D decoder(Pin Out)

2. L293D motor driver(Pin Out)
3. RF receiver module(Pin Out)

Wire the circuit as per the above receiver schematic. There are2 LEDsin the receiver
board.One lights up when power supply is given to the receiver. The other one near the IC
HT12D should light upwhen power supply is given to transmitter circuit. This provides you with
a valid transmission (VT) when power is given at the transmitter. If not, there is something
wrong with your connection or your RF TX RX module.

The L293D is a Motor Driver IC. It allows the motor to be driven in both directions. L293D is a
16-pin IC with eight pins on each side,dedicated to controlling a motor. Itcan control a set of
two DC motors at a same time in any direction. It has2INPUTpins, 2OUTPUTpins and 1
ENABLE pin for each motor. L293D consists of two H-bridges. H-bridge is the simplest circuit for
controlling a low current rated motor.

NOTE:Use red wires for positive and black for negative. If there areany problems, it will be
easierto debug the circuit.

Choosing the Right Motor

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Choosing a motor is very

important and it totally depends
on the type of robot (car) you
are making if you are making a
smaller one use6v Bo motorIf
you are making a larger one
which need to carry heavy
loadthen use an12v dc motor.

Choosing the Right

RPM for the Motor
I have used a 12V 300RPM
motor. RPM stands for revolutions per minute. It is the numberof times the shaft of a DC motor
completes a full spin cycle per minute. A full spin cycle is when the shaft turns a full 360. The
amount of 360 turns, or revolutions, a motor does in a minute is its RPM value. You should be
careful not tochoose motors of higher rpm because it will be dicult to control.And remember
thatspeed is inversely proportional to torque.

Debugging the RC Car (Only if There is a Problem in the

Circuit)

In this section,Iwill be discussing on how to debug the remote control circuit. First of all, dont
be angry just keep calm!:)

For debugging, we will split the circuit into dierent sections.

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L293D IC

1. Place the IC on a bread board.

2. Give VCC(5v) and Gnd to the IC and then give the 12v to pin 8.
3. Connect the enable pins of the motors to 5v.
4. Now give power to the input of one motor and check the output pins with a multimeter.
5. If it shows nothing then there is problem with your motor driver. Replace it.

POWER SUPPLY
Most problems that arise in the power supply circuit is due to short circuit. So power o the
circuit and use a multimeter to check whether there is any connection between negative and
positive.

DECODER AND ENCODER(HT12E/Ht12D)

Debugging circuit for remote control car

For debugging the decoder and encoder IC:

1. Connect pin 7 of HT12E to pin 14 of HT12D

2. Connect push buttons at pin 10,11,12,13 of HT12E and connect 4 leds at pin 10,11,12,13 of the decoder
(connect as per Debugging circuit gure).
3. The led should light up when switches are pressed. If it doesnt,then there mustbe a problem with the
RF module. Try replacing the module.

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The nished remote control car!!

Thats it. Assemble the motors, circuit and wheels on the chassis. Rev up your motors and show
your DIY remote control car to your kin folks and friends!! :)

Watch the robot in action here:

DIY Simple Remote Control Car

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