Building RC Cars and Toys: Modern Alternative to Das Mikro boards

If you're planning to build an RC car and search for videos on how to do it, you'll likely come across tutorials featuring Das Mikro electronics. In this post, I'll explain why you should consider using Loco.Engineering RC car boards instead.


What Electronics Do You Need to Build an RC Car?

To build a remote-controlled car or toy, you’ll typically need the following components:

  1. DC Motor Driver: To control a DC motor for moving the car forward and backward.
  2. Servo Motor Controller: To turn the front wheels left or right.
    (Alternative to a servo motor controller): If there's limited space inside the car (e.g., 1/87 scale), you can replace the servo motor with a micro brushed DC motor. In this case, you'll need a second DC motor driver.
  3. RF/WiFi/BLE Receiver: To receive messages from a remote control or mobile phone/computer.
  4. Microcontroller Unit (MCU): To manage and control all the above components.
  5. Battery Controller: To handle power management.
  6. (Optional) Gyroscope: To maintain stability during drifting.
  7. (Optional) Light Controller: For headlights or other lighting effects.
  8. (Optional) Sound Controller: For engine, horn, and other sounds.

Loco.Engineering RC Car Boards

Our RC car boards integrate all these components into a single board. Unlike other brands, you won’t need to solder wires between multiple circuits. Below, you’ll find a diagram showing how easy it is to connect a DC motor, a servo motor, and a battery to our board for a minimal setup.

Key Features of Loco.Engineering Boards:

  • Modern components: Everything you need to build an RC car/toy is placed on one board
  • Open-Source Firmware: Our firmware is based on Arduino, allowing you to modify it, add custom features, and even create your own remote controls.
  • Flexible Hardware Development: If you're building and selling RC toys or cars, you can develop your own hardware and use our firmware to save time and effort.

Issues with Das Mikro and Similar Brands

Here’s why we developed our RC car boards and main issues with Das Mikro:

  1. Complex Setup:
    You often need to connect 2–3 separate circuits to create a functional RC car or toy, which can be frustrating and time-consuming.
  2. Proprietary Systems:
    Almost all boards on the market come with proprietary firmware, meaning there are no updates or customization options. This makes it difficult to create RC cars with realistic physics or features tailored to your ideas.
  3. Outdated Electronics:
    Many boards still use old microchips that haven't been updated in over a decade. While classic RF signals work, they can’t match the performance of modern chips like the ESP32-S3, which supports advanced features and faster processing speeds.

Take a look at the diagram below to see the complexity of wiring with Das Mikro boards compared to the simplicity of using Loco RC car boards:

Source: https://www.dasmikro.com/product/dasmikro-tbs-mini-programmable-sound-and-light-control-unit/

How to Control an RC Car Without Traditional Controllers

With Loco RC car boards, controlling your RC car is simple. You have two options:

  1. From a Web Browser: Any WiFi-enabled device can act as a controller.
  2. From a Custom Remote Control: Build your own using an ESP32-S3 development board, joysticks, and a breadboard. Kits with all necessary components are available in our online store.

Our Roadmap

We release new features every 1–2 weeks and prioritize user requests (although not all features can be implemented). We’d love to hear about your projects and ideas—send your feedback to hey@loco.engineering.

Read more