Radio Control Car Action

HOW TO INSTALL LIGH TS ON YOUR HPI BAJA
MOUNTING HEADLIGHTS

For the headlights, we used a set from Killer RC.

;ese bright units come in five vibrant colors: 1

white, blue, green, yellow, and red. ;e LEDs are sturdily soldered to a PC board and come with heavy-duty power leads.

Take o ; the stock headlight pods and drill a 9/64-inch (about 3.5mm) hole diagonally from the base into the back of the pod.

Route the wires through the back, then install the leads into the plug housing. Be careful with the polarity—if you have any doubt about which two of the three slots to use, compare it to a servo or power harness plug.

;e 12 LEDs fit nicely in the pod; press the front and rear parts together, then clip them onto the Baja.

LIGHT IT UP!

Using a dedicated LiPo pack to power the lights makes a lot of sense if you don’t want to take any juice away from the servos. ;e Killer RC headlights are easy; they can work with any DC power source from 3V to 10V—easily in the range of a 1S to 2S LiPo pack. But the Sunshine Systems Ground E;ects kit uses 4V to 7.2V, and they strictly say not to exceed 7.2V for input. ;at means a 1S pack won’t do it (not enough volts) and a 2S pack will be too much. ;e solution is to use a voltage regulator to step down the voltage somewhere in between. You can pick one up from your local hobby shop, which range in price from about $5 for a basic model to about $20 for a fancy programmable one.

MOUNTING THE GROUND EFFECTS

Adding a set of headlights to a Baja adds some coolness to the buggy, but we really wanted
it to turn heads. We pulled out a set of Ground E;ects LED strips from Sunshine Systems
to mount onto the Baja. Each of the two waterproof strips has eight LEDs mounted to it and 3M
adhesive on the back to let you stick them anywhere. ;e controller box that comes in the package
lets you use a wireless remote to choose one of 16 colors and choose the light behavior, be it solid,
flashing, strobing, or even fading from color to color.

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;ere are two good places to mount the strips, either facing down on the upper rim of the chassis on each side or facing out on each side of the chassis. If facing down, you’ll need to use zip-ties to secure the strips. Mounting on the sides of the chassis is just a peel-and-stick a ;air.

PLUGGING IT ALL IN

We want to power it all from a single free channel port from our receiver. ;is is where a couple sets of servo

Y-harnesses will come in handy. Take the two leads from the headlights and plug them into a Y-harness. Now, take the lead from the Ground E;ects control box and plug it into another Y-harness. Plug the first Y-harness into the remaining open jack on the second one—now all the lights are connected to one plug, which can go into an empty receiver channel. Make sure to use more zip-ties to clean up and tuck away the wiring.

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WRAP;UP

All it takes is about half-an-hour to transform your dull, dirty o;-roader into an eye-catching piece of art that will win you awards, instantly place you on the podium of every race you enter, and make you rich and popular. Okay, maybe not, but it will give your Baja a bit more coolness than it had 30 minutes prior. As if we need any other reason to trick out our rides...