Rant (our current gear sucks)

I’m almost done with my board and there are a few final pieces of the puzzle. Everything is super nice and clean except the final touches. For one… apparently we in the DIY community can’t seem to create and anti spark switch that can stay together. The FETs always blow… even on the ones that are deemed “bulletproof”. Nothing is worse to be that building a really nice board and then ruining it with a God awful loop key. Yet somehow all the big name boards are doing it with no problem whatsoever.

Other things that seem like they would be stupid easy to implement.

Why can’t we have vesc based esc with wheel motion to turn on, so you can just turn on the remote throw the board down, give it a kick and take off? This is ridiculously elementary stuff that would take virtually no work whatsoever to make happen!

Drives me nuts… ok rant over. Since we can’t have nice things can anyone point me in the direction of the cleanest possible xt90 port so that I can mount on the side of my enclosure? Also I wonder if there is a loop key out there that has a flat end that would look less terrible than the standard loop key people are using. Any help would be greatly appreciated…

Oh also, if any of you feel the same comment here. Without demand there won’t be any innovation, let the vendors hear it! :stuck_out_tongue:

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You could create one for the community if you are not happy with the existing solutions. I mean… it’s DIY

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defo recommend you get a black xt90 they are so much cleaner than the baby shit yellow brown ones.

p.s. even after you turn your board off you need to disconnect your batteries so they do not blow up, after you have owned a working board or two for a while you will work this out, or watch your house burn down :wink:

edit: Sarcasm (winky face), I’m surprised you got any sincere responses. You just called out every DIY builder and parts manufacturer here and told them all: your gear sucks.

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You are running 12s? I know LHB is doing this for some years now. What you’re stating makes no sence to me. I believe the error is elsewhere then.

Personal opinion about the wheel turn on feature: I would not want it on either of my boards. It cannot confidently get a 1 or 0 state like a button. Thinking forward on this, I would not like my board getting turned on while it possible moves in the trunk of my car. Moving a button to your remote dedicated to turn on remote and board would make it somewhat better. But nothing (reliably) replaces a hardware button on the board itself in my opinion

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Get a bms with an eswitch and your first problem is solved Boom

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Someome could think of a solution with a remote with diffrent channels and a reciever on a bestech bms like e switch so you can remotely turn it on or off

Wuttttttttttttt^ :confused:

Lol… Wut?

Leaving your ESCs grounded, by having the switch/loopkey on the positive isn’t gonna make your batteries explode… lol

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whatchu smokin over there on kangaroo island? i’ve left my batteries plugged in (loopkey unplugged) for about 5 months without a problem :wink:

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Hey guys he has a point these batteries can explode at any point in time you really should be careful like when you’re riding it carrying it storing it charging it not using it letting it sit if it’s plugged-in if it’s not plugged-in if it’s a Tuesday…stay frosty…

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Healthy batteries,that have solid connections, and are checked regularly for cell internal resistance and pack total resistance are not likely to explode.

If you check your packs, and know your packs, you’ll know when your pack is unhealthy and likely to do such.

It doesn’t “just happen”

I’ve been using lithium for a long time, I know my packs, I take care of my packs, I’ve never had an 18650 vent, and the only time lipo explode is when the cells are damaged and unsafe to be discharged, and I puncture them with a spike on a stick from a safe distance.

Again batteries don’t just explode for no reason, there are causes -punctures -over charging -over discharging -shorts -crushed Etc

There is always a cause.

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Here is my experience with these particular eswitches:

(That’s the IRFS7730 on there)

They’re fine at 12S under 60amps and under 40mph loads for people under 200 pounds. Running them on lipos with crazy vesc settings under crazy high loads will do one of a few things that i have seen:

  • through some mystery of science cause the fets to lock into the on position. I suspect the load just welds it into place when it gets to hot. Who knows. I see this 99% of the time when they fail.
  • explode the fet with visible fragmentation. I’ve seen this twice.
  • heat up the solder to the point of reflow and literally move the fet over untill it shorts and either blows up or cooks something. I’ve seen this only once, and the BMS caught the short before anything else was damaged.

I’m working on one now with 2oz copper and three of these fets instead of two, and also some bolt down fuses. As soon as the parts arrive i’ll assemble a few and we’ll see how they do. I’ll be open to selling a few at cost for testing before i retail them.

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Thank you for saying that :slight_smile:

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I’d def be down. Any time frame my dude? :slight_smile:

T,FTFY

stay charged.

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Yea…

One thing to note about the “over discharging” one

This only applies to two things -damaged cells -discharging under heavy load(more then the pack is rated for, or an old cell with high IR that can no longer produce it’s rated current and now generates heat at high current draws)

While over discharging at a low wattage load such as a 12v auto/car bulb under 50W on a NOT DAMAGED cell that is dying due to high internal resistance, is a safe way to completely discharge a cell for recycling/disposal

If it’s 18650 - discharge and recycle as individual cells

If it’s lipo pack - discharge to 0v, cut the positive and negative terminals and twist together to make inert and throw in trash

If it’s a lipo cell by itself - discharge to 0v and then puncture the cell through to ensure the layers are shorted and inert then toss in trash

If it’s a lipo cell or pack, that cannot be safely discharged,go-to a fire safe area OUTSIDE(concrete/asphalt), put a nail on a fiberglass rake handle and puncture it, let it burn off and cool then toss in trash

If you read anything about saltwater and lithium packs, it’s wrong, all it does is corrode the leads off leaving a charged pack, the only way to use salt water is on packs that have preexisting punctures. As manually puncturing a pack will…well you know :wink:

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i’ll know more when the PCBs arrive and the rest of the components come in from Mouser. Also i’m busy finishing up the first Carvon EVO prototype off my bench so… i’m not saying it will be a while… but it might be a minute. That board needs to be finished this week, and its thursday already.

And i’ve got a steady stream of business coming in. And i’m probably going to start writing for a magazine soon, and i’ve got my own youtube show i’ve been toying with in my head that needs to happen, and i’m writing a book. And i’ve got to test these BMSs and remotes, and i want to build a board on 76mm kegel cored wheels i found… and i just bought a 12th scale RC buggy to try and rig up a low angle follow cam…

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Cool. Well anyone got a link to a nice looking mountable xt90 port to add to the side of my enclosure?

Also does a super clean looking flat back xt90 loop key exist?

@pshaw Get @SORRENTINO to print you one out of ABS, we’ll acetone smooth it and paint it matte, use a black male xt90, then rit dye the yellow antispark side black…

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