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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 motor wires (blue and yellow).

Warning

Unplug motor wires on the ESC.

  • Unplug two sets of 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

The bracket that embracing the servo motor will be revealed after the removal of the stock ESC.

remove_esc

1.3 Quicrun 1060 Brushed ESC Installation

  • 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).

Success

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

  • Mount upgraded ESC on top of the servo bracket.

Tip

You can simply tape the ESC.

mount_esc

2 Assemble Power Distributor

The core of the power distributor is a 2-input, 6-output wire splitter. The wires in the same color are connected together.

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).
Tip

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

Success

It is highly recommended to plug positive wires to the orange channels, and negative wires to the blue channels.

Danger

Finger pinch hazard.

power_distributor

2.3 Attach to the bed

Success

Need 2x M2.5x12mm screws and 2x M2.5 nuts

pd_on_bed

3 Stack Control Tower

3.1 Prepare

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

3.2 Set foundation

Success

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

tower_foundation

3.3 Stack power expansion board

Success

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

peb_stack

3.4 Stack Raspberry Pi

Success

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

pi_stack

3.5 Insert Pi camera

Success

Need 1x Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3

mount_camera

3.6 Stack relay board

Success

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

relay_stack

3.7 Stack Pico and IMU

Success

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

Success

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