Remote Control Finder/Locator!

Have you ever lost your remote controller, and it takes up to DAYS to find it. Well now you can find it in a matter of seconds with my one of a kind Home Made Remote Control Locator! This project will cost a little money depending on what tools you do or don't have. For me this project took 2 days, but for you, with my detailed instructions, this project could take only 3 to 4 hours!

*DO ONLY WITH PARENTAL SUPERVISION!

*What you will need:

- Nail Clippers or a Wire Stripper
- A working RC Car with the remote control that goes with it. (I used an air hogs zero gravity RC car.)
- Mini screw drivers
- Knife
- Glue Stick
- Cardboard
- Soap Box
- Pen Spring
- Scissors
- Tape (I used Masking tape)
- Electrical tape
- 12VDC Buzzer
- Red and Black wiring (Black is negative and red is positive.)
- 12V battery. (A23 battery)
- A Remote

First of all, you will want to take your RC car and unscrew all the screws that you see. Stop unscrewing when you come to see the circuit board.

From here, remove the screws from the center piece and take it out. (This is the fan that holds the car to the wall.) Then, pull the top of this fan off. (You may have to really pry this piece out.) Once this is done, the motor inside should easily come out. You can save this motor for future projects. Leave this motor connected to the circuit board for now. 

Now, you will want to start removing the wheels. For my car there was one wheel in the front and one wheel in the back. For a different car there may be two in front and two in back. If this is so, then remove the front two and also remove the back right wheel. For this car here, there were gears and a small motor inside to move the wheels in a circular motion. I had to use a knife for this part to separate the motor from the gears. If you have the same car as me then you may also keep this motor for future use. Keep motor on the circuit board for now.

Next you will remove the battery from it's place. For most RC cars there will be glue under the battery. Simply get some flat head screwdrivers and carefully remove the battery from the glue. Find a place on the platform to store the battery.

Now all the pieces to the car should be removed, but still attatched. (If there are more parts to your car then go ahead and remove them. *DO NOT REMOVE THE CIRCUIT BOARD!)

This step will save you room to make your locator less noticeable.

Here you will cut the platform in half. Make sure all the parts and wires are on the other side of the platform. Make sure nothing, but the platform gets cut. (If you would like you can cut some more, like the sides of the platform, to save more room. Just be careful not to cut anything off.)

Now you will want to cut the two motors shown below. Cut these wires in the middle so you don't harm the circuit board. Now just get your electrical tape and seal off the ends of those wires. I recommend keeping these parts for future use. (You may have more parts that you don't need for this project. If so cut them off and seal off those ends. The only parts you will have to keep is the circuit board, the battery, and one wheel.) 

After removing your unnecessary parts, you will now get your cardboard and tape. You will want to measure two pieces of cardboard that are a little bigger than the wheel. Once you cut these pieces out, you will tape one piece of cardboard to the wheel and the other piece on the side of the platform. Now when you turn on the wheel, the two pieces of cardboard should be sturdy enough to stop the wheel from spinning. 

Now you can put a spring on the platform piece of cardboard. This will make the wheel stop sooner and even absorb a little shock. Not necessary to put on. This is just a little bonus!

This part is a little tricky. Here we will start wiring. Get your wires, buzzer, 12 volt battery, and your electric tape for this part. What you will do here is first get 6 inches of black wire and strip both ends about a half an inch. Next, tape this black wire to the negative side of the battery and connect the other side of this wire to the end of the black wire connected to the speaker. Now, strip two pieces (one piece 6 inches and the other piece 10 inches.) of red wire and strip both sides about a half an inch long. Take the 6 inches of red wire and connect it to the end of the speaker's red wire. Take the other end of that same wire and connect it to the cardboard on the wheel so that the copper of the wire is still exposed. Next, take the 10 inches of red wire and tape that to the positive side of the battery. On the other end of that same wire, bring it over to the cardboard on the platform and tape it there. Make sure this end is open so that the two red wires (the one on the wheel and the one on the platform) can come together to sound the buzzer.

Now that all your wires are set up, you can go onto finding a case. (Before installing case, make sure that when you touch the two red wires together that the buzzer does sound. If the buzzer doesn't sound, then reconnect the wires to the battery and make sure all the wires are touching!) I used a soap container for this case. Since a lot of the material were so big, I had to cut off half of this box so everything could slide in easily. (If you have my car, you will have LED's. You can make two holes on the top of the box so the LED's can stick out. When the LED's turn on, you will know that your locator is on.) 

Finally, you will put glue on the spot where you want your speaker. Make sure the glue dries, and the speaker stays in place. Once this is done, you should be able to use this device. Now turn on the locator and the remote control that goes to the locator. (Make sure the locator is charged up!) Since the wire is now attached to the wheel, the wheel will spin and the wire will follow. The blockade of the piece of cardboard will stop the wheel from spinning which will make the two red wires come together. This action will sound the buzzer.

Now you will always find your remote in the blink of an eye with this special device. I hope you enjoy using this locator!

Please feel free to leave any comments or concerns below!