Pork Chop Express | Comet Loki | Motor 6374 | VESC | 10S4P DIY 18650 Pack | Benchwheel

So the battery build is almost finished apart from an xt90 to cap off the power leads and a mesh wrap and shrink wrap over the top. Pretty happy with it for a first attempt and Soldered only. Was a little concerned about the balancing wires wearing through and shorting out on the side of the nickle as they run over the battery and down the middle so I have encased them in hot glue at the turn. Checked the balance leads are all working and they are and the whole battery is sat at 35.7v :grinning: Can’t wait for the rest of my parts to turn up now.

3 Likes

Battery finished :blush:

6 Likes

OK so I have been quietly getting parts together and making the last plans but the biggest progress comes from my enclosure. I’ve built a vacuum forming oven and table and managed to get a good form on a single piece enclosure for my battery, VESC and receiver with room to spare! Here are a few pics.

Not happy with this one. I didn’t get the frame over the mould cleanly enough.

This one was much better

3 Likes

Things have moved on a bit now so here are a few pic updates. I actually plugged it all in a couple of nights ago with a 3s lipo and all seemed to go well. Tonight I wired the battery, antispark and VESC together in the enclosure and (with fingers crossed) switched it on. All seems to be well. I’ll have time this week to set up the VESC while I wait for a friend to trim down and weld my motor mount. Really can’t wait to see this thing finished now and give it a ride!

3 Likes

Well I’m not sure that the inserts that I have are going to be suitable for holding the enclosure on but it is otherwise finished so u grabbed a couple of massive velcro straps (you know the ones that hold mattresses on a roll at ikea) strapped the enclosure to the bottom of the board and gave it a run.

OH MY GOD THIS IS INCREDIBLE.

I mean I know most guys have a big grin when riding but I wasn’t expecting that! So much fun I didn’t want to stop but it’s gone midnight here! Benchwheel remote will take some getting used to (slow mode is really slow so it’s really just one mode).

My mount is welded so to get the right space for the belt I had to add an extra washer to the truck. Don’t think this will cause me any issues in the long run. But more pressing is that I lost 2 set screws from the motor pulley. As I will have to remove it to get the trucks sprayed I didn’t use loctite. Fail. Will pick up some more but in peoples experience is loctite enough to hold them in and stop the pulley moving across the motor shaft? I have a keyway so not concerned about the pulley slipping.

I’m still stood here smiling!

2 Likes

Looks good! Maybe you haven’t had a chance to test it yet, but do you know your range/top speed yet? I’m planning on a similar setup with a 10s4p battery, so I’m curious. Do you have a BMS wired up?

Oh also, how are you monintoring the battery voltage while you ride?

Thanks!

Hey,

Yes I have had chance to do some limited testing before I smashed my motor :confounded:!

Bearing in mind I am a pretty heavy guy (circa 103kg) I was getting about 12 miles or about 20km on a (40.5v) charge with a reserved cut off of 33v (could go lower but there isn’t much capacity past 33v). Board tops out at about 26mph (40kph), which I think is plenty fast enough. Crusing at about 15-18mph is comfortable.

I dont use a BMS.and rely on the VESC cutoffs. What I have been doing until I am confident that there is little drift between charges is checking balancing using the balance plugs. This has been a bit pf a pain to be honest.

One thing I am yet to get my head around is how other people are so confident that the battery build is good. I have had a balance lead come adrift which was an easy fix but even with a BMS I would want to be confident that everything is still wired up ok.

I have a battery monitor which needs wiring in but I want to vacform a cover for it first. Still a work in progress! :slight_smile:

Considering, that’s a pretty good range and top speed. Thanks for all the info. Are you going to go for a battery monitor with an alarm? Also, what heat shrink/wrap did you use?

I have a bms, and​ for the first couple cycles, i check the voltage of each pack after charging. This keeps my confidence in my pack :slight_smile:

1 Like

Probably not as I will be able to see the voltage while riding so know my limits and I doubt I’ll ever ride it the full 12miles. The heat shrink was actually a bit awkward to find in the UK. I ended up ordering some 195mm wide stripe from aliexpress.

I’m thinking about rebuilding my pack and checking all of the capacities as I go then add a charge only bms. Going to keep cycling it for now and see though as the drift does seem minimal.

What are the dimensions of this 10s4p pack that you made? Thanks :slight_smile:

1 Like