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Awesome 28.8V custom electric scooter for my niece! (She wrecked it in 4 days.)

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tcmtech

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:mad:
Yep uncle TCM made a custom 28.8 volt super scooter out a junked cheapo unit and she destroyed it in four days. :mad:

A while back I picked up a complete but busted up 24 volt Chinese scooter for free and completely rebuilt and redesigned it to run off of six 14.4 volt 1800 Mah Ni Cad cordless drill battery packs I stripped down and refitted into to the original space the two 12V 6 Ah LA gel batteries set.
I trimmed off all the cheap body plastic and streamlined the whole thing along with greatly simplifying and beefing up the stock electrical system and added an on board charging system so all she had to do was plug it in when it went dead. It even had a working electronic speedometer and battery life gages as well and a cool headlight that came on automaticaly when ever the key was turned on! :D
I had around $120 into it and two good days of work it came out with a top speed around 14 MPH and it could go about 5 - 7 miles with her riding it and it made her the envy of all of her 10 year old friends too! :D
The only main instruction on it was 'Do not leave it out in the rain ever. It will ruin it if it gets wet.' Yes yes uncle I wont. I love it and will cherish it forever, thank you! :D

So anyway I was over visiting a few days ago and I don't see the scooter anywhere so I ask about it and I get chewed out for making junk. Four days after I delivered it it got left out in the rain for three days strait and destroyed the battery packs which were most of the $120 I put into it. :mad:
Now I am the bad guy according to her dad for not making it 100% water proof, idiot proof, and irresponsible 10 year old girl proof. :mad:

The thing is when I was that age I was far more responsible for my stuff and my dad never took my side for things I ruined because I was too lazy or uncaring to hold up my end of the responsibility for them myself. :(

So do I fix it or do I keep it or do I give it to her sister instead who is far more responsible than she is despite being younger?

What would you do?
 
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Take it back, or leave it there for her dad to throw it away. It was a gift. If it were her scooter already, and working, and you did these mods and now it doesn't work, then that would be a different story. I'm not one to repay ungratefulness with more effort.
 
That was nice of you. But you should have had her father promise he would make sure she did not leave it out in the rain. If he is that irresponsible than anything you make for them will get ruined.
 
That was nice of you. But you should have had her father promise he would make sure she did not leave it out in the rain. If he is that irresponsible than anything you make for them will get ruined.

There is a lot more truth behind that than may realize. I didn't have all much for toys as a kid basically because he was so irresponsible and our parents believed in treating us as equals no matter what. He would wreck his stuff then jump on mine until they were broke beyond repair too then I would get in trouble a be told that its my fault for letting him use my stuff even if I never did. :mad:

The thing is I try to make life nicer for my nieces than I had as a kid but when this sort of stuff keeps happening it gets very hard to keep being generous. :(

She also has a cool go cart I built for her thats been here for some time now as well since she kept destroying the brake system and recoil mechanism on it and her dad kept having a fit about how poorly it was designed.
The drive train was made out of riding lawn mower transaxle which has a good sized disk brake system that when it was still a riding lawn mower lasted for over a decade without ever needing the brakes worked on once. The engine is a modified 3.5 Hp push mower engine and he kept ripping the recoil out of it because it wouldn't start on the first pull for her. :mad:

No big hurry to repair that anymore either.
 
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This is a tough one, although I may have an idea for the bike. You have to find something that she can do for you that you could barter for. Better yet, your instructions have to be followed. Let's take an example of weeding the garden. Collect the parts as they are bartered. labor must be bartered too.

Fixing will come with a "warranty" and spell it out. You might even bring up the real world concept of financing and re-possession.

I don't know if you can provide "on the job training" which would discount the bartered price.

Make it real world. But it appears the parents need help too. The prod, "did you put your toys away" If you don't some sort of consequence happens. e.g. Bike isn't put away. It get's padlocked and you have to pay a "ticket" to get the "boot" removed.

The bike has issues. It's not a fuel injected automobile and it's old school. For one, I'd put a Stens or NOVA II ignition module on it. It will improve starting. There are a couple of different models if you find the right page: http://www.buffalosmallengine.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=30725

They work pretty well. I converted a 30 YO lawn mower last year because I needed points. The points aren't needed with the module.
 
I think the key here is that she is 10 years old. At that age you can have good intentions and still screw up.

It was wrong for the father to come down on you. He should have had some idea of what was going to happen. In short not your fault and he was covering for his own mistake.

What you do is up to you. But I would not repair it and put it back with a kid without some bullet proof water proofing. Even if you do I would not expect it to last too long. Most kids trash stuff so unless you are willing to fix the thing a few times write it off as a learning experience.
 
The thing is she is more than capable of being responsible for such things.

At her age I was already driving farm machinery and pickups around the farm unsupervised.

Relating to her gocart starting it starts just fine and already has a full electronic ignition. The problem was she would run it out of gas and nobody bothered to check it before trying to start it so they would just keep yanking on it harder and harder, because it would almost start, until the cord ripped out of it :mad:

I know I am probably just trying to fix stupid and should know better myself.:eek:

Either way this fall my wife and I are going to Turkey to get her daughter. I figure in a year or two she will have a nice electric scooter and gocart to share with her irresponsible cousin. :p
 
I think it boils down to "You can't fix stupid". You can't even put a Bandaid on it because stupid is made from PTFE (Teflon).

Yep, it is a different day and age. I'm working on putting a MSDS binder together for some home stuff. I put real hazard tags on a couple of carbouys with water and Copper Sulfate and water and calcium carbonate. I do always read them.
 
Some people just don't appreciate things which are attained easily or cheaply.
Some people don't appreciate any of the "stuff" which they have.
Some people have no "empathy" with mechanical/electrical devices.
TCMs brother (and family) seem to fall into these categories.

Some people are just naturally helpful.
Some people will go out of their way to help others, even if that help results in a monetary cost to the helper.
Some people do these things because it is a "good thing" and generally gives good kharma.
TCM seems to fall into these categories.

It is a sad fact of life that people in the first group have no qualms about taking advantage of those in the second group.

But, as the old saying goes:

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"

JimB
 
Good speech Jim.
I have been there too many times.
At 10 they destroy toys. At 17 it is cars. At 24 it is trailer houses.
The second generation is the same and maybe worse.
 
At 10 they destroy toys. At 17 it is cars. At 24 it is trailer houses.
The second generation is the same and maybe worse.

Sounds like my brother and I am just hoping my niece grows a little further from that tree than I would care for. :(
 
there is a reason a CHILD isnt criminilly responsiable at 10, fix it this time remember she is ten and make it water proof!!! we all say we were this and that when we were that age but in all honesty we also screwed up once in a while but most of us forget that ;)
 
none .
 
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hmmm i was defo grumpy the other day :D ermmmmm......... seeing as i dont know you or your family it was wrong of me to coment sorry about that i am sure you handle it as you saw fit wich is all any of us can do
regards jason
 
I got an email notification from this tread this afternoon. I wount say what it said but, WoW ware did all that come from and then disaper.
 
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