The Energon Pub

Last month we posted prototype images of RC XMODS Barricade here

Some in package shots have now surfaced on eBay. The XMODS are radio controlled vehicles with removable weapons and come with lighting kits. The cars are being offered through Radio Shack. This toy is different than the ZipZaps and the Micro I/C RC cars that Radio Shack is also offering.

Check out the auction here.

Wow way cool!! Remote control cars Transformers... wow... wow... wow!!

Can it Transform too??

Is that a wireless remote?

Of course it's a wireless remote, dude. Did you think that these RC cars were wired to the controllers?

I haven't looked at a RC since 1986 (when they typically had cords). Come to think of it, I haven't been in a Radio Shack since then either.

This might be fun for my dog to chase around.

Milanion wrote:I haven't looked at a RC since 1986 (when they typically had cords). Come to think of it, I haven't been in a Radio Shack since then either.

This might be fun for my dog to chase around.

RCs have come a long way since the good ol' days!

Wow! Love the packaging and looks like a fun toy!

Barricade is going to fight my dog, all day long, DECEPTICONS FOREVER!

I went out and got this from radio shack recently, and also got the $5ish command logic headlight/tailight upgrade, as well as the $15ish Barricade weapon and light kit upgrade.

It turns out that there is an issue. It is not possible to run the lightbar for the flashing police lights on the roof of the car simultaneously with the command logic headlight/tailight upgrade. When you power both up, the headlights/tailights work fine, and you can see the lightbar on top barely lighting up if you look closely, but not enough for it to be noticeable. By barely, i mean you can see the very very bottom of the led's in the lightbar sortof flickering, but only at a very very low intensity, enough to be able to see, but if the total luminosity of it when the headlights are not connected would be 100%, this looks more like a 1%. Maybe less. Totally sucky.

I think this is a widespread problem. I have taken some classes in electronics. With that said, i believe that the headlight/tailight upgrade has a lower impedance/resistance (ohm) value than the lightbar. Thus, it gets a disproprtionate share of the voltage/amperage from the power source because electricity always takes the path of less resistance first.

Yet, i added one D sized battery to the battery chain and even though the engine was running a little bit faster, it did not help the lightbar at all.

I then tried to connect the lightbar to a breadboard and tried to power it independently of the xmod vehicle, but i did not have any success here either.

I think i may just have to wire up my own schematics for headlights and tailight and install them myself, complete with their own power source.

Does anyone know how to fix this problem?