teleing

When I was 14, I stopped playing with legos, now I'm 20 and bought the 8043 motorized excavator, that made me remeber how awesome Lego is.

Hello everyone at eurobricks! I'm new in this forum. I decided to open an account, so I can share my simple mod. About two years ago I got the Motorized Excavator 8043. The model is awesome, I think it has been one of the most beautiful and complete sets. Since the model needs 6 batteries, I decided to use Ni-MH rechargeable batteries. The only problem is that this kind of batteries provide only 1.2 Volts, therefore, the PF battery pack only achieves 7.2 volts with 6 batteries, instead of the 9 required (and provided by 6 alcaline batteries). I don't want to spend money on disposable expensive batteries. I decided to look for a way to use 8 batteries and provide 9.6 Volts Long ago I found a mod where the user used a standard battery pack. I can't found the post to thank the guy who did it. Here's what I used: 2x Battery Holder 4xAA 2x 9V Battery Clip 8x 1.2 Volt Rechargeable Batteries 1x Switch (I didnt connected it, but you can) Wiring: -You can use a PF cable to do this (Search in the forum/web there are lots of tutorials). -OR you can canibalize the original battery box (PF extension wire is not available in my country D: ) I won't write, since the images explain it clearly: Wiring Diagram por Teleing, en Flickr Connection diagram por Teleing, en Flickr Use a bit of glue por Teleing, en Flickr Overview por Teleing, en Flickr Modifications on the Excavator: From book 1, page 61: Replace Steps 4~8 For the following: New Step por Teleing, en Flickr (You can take the black piece from the spare parts included in the model) With this we can allow the battery pack to have enough space in the excavator. Now it's pretty simple, you connect the battery box and take it in place: I used the grey part to hold the wires in place I also did a little review of the improvements between 7.2 and 9.6 V: 8043test.txt The general improvement was about 30%, You can see immediately the excavator is faster, lifting the boom, rotating, etc. AND, the gear switch moves smoothly. FULL GALLERY http://www.flickr.com/photos/teleing/ Thanks for reading, hope my work is useful to you.