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Assembling Guide

Tip

It is recommended to follow the order of the steps below.

1 ESC Upgrade

The RC car comes with a receiver integrated ESC, which is not ideal for hacking the drivetrain (Thank to DonkeyCar's FAQ). Therefore, we need to put a microcontroller-friendly ESC on the board.

1.1 Remove Stock Cover

Expose the components under the hood by removing the clips as shown below.

remove_clips

1.2 Remove Stock ESC

  • Disconnect and remove the battery.
  • Unplug the (blue and yellow) motor power wires (on the ESC) .
  • Unplug two sets of PWM signal wires with Futaba connectors on the ESC 3x3 pin connector.
  • Cut the zip-tie on the signal wires.
  • Remove two screws locking the stock ESC.
Tip

Servo motor is underneath the ESC.

remove_esc

1.3 Replace (Quicrun 1060 Brushed) ESC

  • Set the driving mode to F/R by removing the jumper cap on the top row of the 3x2 header pins.
  • Notify the ESC that LiPO battery will be used by placing the jumper hat on the bottom row of the 3x2 header pins.
  • Connect the motor wires (yellow and blue) to the new ESC (matching the color is recommended).
  • Mount (tape) the new ESC on top of the servo motor.

Success

It is recommended to mount the new ESC as shown below.

mount_esc

2 Assemble Power Distributor

The power distributor is a 2-input, 6-output wire splitter. The wires in the same color are connected together (orange to orange, blue to blue).

2.1 Prepare

  • 1x 2-in, 6-out wire splitter.
  • 1x Male T-Plug wires (input).
  • 1x Female T-Plug wires (output).
  • 1x Male JST-XH wires (output).
  • 1x Female JST-RCY wires (output).
  • 2x M2.5x12mm screws
  • 2x M2.5 nuts

Success

Peel extra skin off the wires. Or the levers may bite the skins instead of the exposed metal (broken circuit).

pre_power_distribution

2.2 Assemble

Danger

Finger pinch hazard.

power_distributor

2.3 Attach to the bed

pd_on_bed

3 Stack Control Tower

3.1 Prepare

3.1.1 Fasteners

  • 4x M2.5 nuts
  • 4x M2.5x6mm screws
  • 4x M2.5x6mm+6mm standoffs
  • 8x M2.5x16mm+6mm standoffs

pre_control_tower_bolts

3.1.2 Electronics

  • 1x Yahboom power expansion board
  • 1x Raspberry Pi 5
  • 1x BearCar relay board
  • 1x Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3
  • 1x Raspberry Pi Pico 2
  • 1x GY-521 MPU6050 IMU breakout board

pre_control_tower_electronics

3.2 Set foundation

Note

Need 4x M2.5x6mm+6mm standoffs and 4x M2.5 nuts

tower_foundation

3.3 Stack power expansion board

Note

Need 1x Yahboom power expansion board and 4x M2.5x16mm+6mm standoffs.

peb_stack

3.4 Stack Raspberry Pi

Note

Need 1x Raspberry Pi 5 and 4x M2.5x16mm+6mm standoffs.

pi_stack

3.5 Insert Pi camera

Note

Need 1x Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3

mount_camera

3.6 Stack relay board

Note

Need 1x BearCar relay board and 4x M2.5x16mm+6mm standoffs.

relay_stack

3.7 Stack Pico and IMU

Note

Need 1x Raspberry Pi Pico 2, 1x GY-521 MPU6050 breakout board and 4x M2.5x6mm screws.

pico_imu_stack

4 Assemble (Handled) Shield

4.1 Put camera in case

Warning

Careful with camera cable's facing.

camera_case

4.2 Assemble handle

Note

Need 3x M4x16mm screws.

shield_assemble

5 Car-Shield Integration

integrate_car_shield

integrate_car_shield2

ESC and Servo Wiring

  • White - SIG
  • Red - VBEC
  • Black - GND

portrait_clean

BearCar Boot-Up

  1. Plug in a Raspberry Pi OS flashed micro-SD card to Raspberry Pi.
  2. Connect monitor, keyboard and mouse to Raspberry Pi.
  3. Connect battery.
  4. Turn on the switch on the Power Expansion Board.
  5. Turn on the ESC switch.

System Shutdown

Whenever you are done with the BearCar, remember to: 1. Turn off the ESC. 2. Shutdown Raspberry Pi. 3. Turn off the PEB. 4. Disconnect the battery.