Yuneec E-GO Budget Upgrade

Hey Guys,

So after shooting some video of my DIY build with the Yuneec E-GO, it became very apparent that I could barely keep up and get exciting high speed shots because of the 13mph top speed. I’m looking for a quick & dirty ie: CHEAP way to boost the performance as I’ll probably only use the E-GO for occasional filming and not for daily transportation. I’m okay with the risk of ruining a perfectly fine entry level board.

P.S. I know this has been mentioned in the ES forums but just wondering what tips the fine people of ESK8 may have.

id probably chuck a VESC in it and keep the existing battery/ motor and see how it goes. if you need more power then you can upgrade the battery.

Hey RPB, saw you thread and just had to pipe in. I also have an yuneec ego that was my first E-board. It was pretty exciting at first buy now its just not fast enough for me. I also contemplated trying to upgrade the Ego. Unfortunatly, the battery is only a 22 or 24 volt system with built in BMS. And the motor is only a 400 watt censored motor. The main concern here is amperage draw. If you want more speed, you’ll need a higher wattage motor. Seems like an easy upgrade but its not that simple because the battery’s management system and the proprietary electronics are designed to handle the amperage draw of a 400 watt motor. So if you slap a 1200 watt motor on there, you will likely cook the BMS or the speed controller or both. The yuneec ego is a good commuter board because of its range and dependability. If your wanting more of a recreational board, I suggest that you sell the ego and buy the parts to build your own. I have built my own with dual hub motors and a 12s lipo battery setup that delivers insane torque, acceleration and top speed! You can build a single hub motor e-board with 6s lipo that will go 25mph check it out at carvonskates.com

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@lowGuido yup I did think about a VESC but since I’ll be using it as a “beater board” I’ll probably lean towards a battery upgrade

@Namasaki totally with you! Just built a single Carvon hub and lovin it. Working on a dual hub next. I guess what I’m saying is I’d like to convert the E-GO into a “beater board”, something that I will ride holding my camera gear in order to film my “prettier” DIY boards. From what I recall on ES, there were some folks who were slapping on 8S and 10S Lipo’s and getting some performance juice out of it, riding hard without blowing anything. But you make an excellent point. It’s a perfectly fine commuter board that will hold it’s value if I don’t tear it apart.

I just found your video of your single hub build like 10 mins after posting my replay. Didn’t realize you’d been there done that. Really nice build! I wish I had found out about Diy and Carvonskates before buying the Ego. Now I’m just trying to sell it for a lillte more than half of what I paid.

For what it’s worth, the EGO is a small investment (comparatively to the Boosted) for a taste of what an electric is like. I actually have a few friends who are perfectly content with their stock EGO which is cool, to each his own. I’m not quite sure I would have had the same urge or commitment to pursue a DIY build without putting a bunch of miles on the EGO and tangibly comprehending that I wanted more out of an electric that wasn’t just based on speed but also something that was tailor made for my physical specs and creative tastes.

Okay did some scouring but I think this may be the most low budget way to get the E-GO to perform unless I’m missing something here.

$175.00 2 x ZIPPY Flightmax 8000mAh 5S1P 30C http://www.ebay.com/itm/RC-ZIPPY-Flightmax-8000mAh-5S1P-30C-/261727494968

7.98 EC3 Battery Series Harness, 13 AWG

5.06 5Pairs EC3 Banana Plug Female Male Bullet Gold Connector For RC ESC LIPO Battery

64.99 GENUINE AUTHENTIC SKYRC iMAX B6AC V2 6Amp ACDC LiPo NiMh Battery Balance Charger

8.00 2 x RC Lipo Battery Low Voltage Alarm 1S-8S Buzzer Indicator Checker Tester LED http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-RC-Lipo-Battery-Low-Voltage-Alarm-1S-8S-Buzzer-Indicator-Checker-Tester-LED-/321971394915

14.19 Waterproof Monitor DC 4.5-150V 12/24/36/48v Volt Battery Meter Voltage Tester

Hobbyking.com has the zippy 8k 30c 5s packs for 77.96 and if you sit on the webpage looking at it for a little while, they will pop up a message offering you a discount! I just tried it and after looking at the page for 2 min they popped up an offer for 73.76 each. There shipping costs are very reasonable. I recently ordered 2 Zippy compact 6s 5k 25c packs and they came fairly quick.

Oh yup that’s right forgot about HK…nice catch! So now the question is for a rough total of $275 is it worth tearing down the E-GO. Hmmmm.

Well, if you only going to change the battery, then you can always put it back the way it was later. Just save the old battery connector. One thing though, I would recommend spending a little more and getting a dual bank charger so you can charge both packs at the same time. especially with those high capacity packs. I use this one and it works great! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XPSRAHU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00

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that one is out of stock. here’s another link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SZ1CBVC?psc=1

Also I just noticed that the SkyRc charger is only 6 amp. You’ll need at least 8 amp for a 1c charge rate and those batteries have a max charge rate of 5c

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I would rather suggest the following charger because it has much more power and costs even less: 800 Watt charger instead of 220 Watt

(How to get such a link with picture like the answered comment?)

That’s a powerful charger but the reason for the price is that it is DC only input. So you would need an external 12v power supply that would cost more than the charger.

About the link: I just went to that page and copied the contents of the address bar then pasted it here. The pic and info came up automatically.

Yeah, you are right. I accidently skipped a word

Thanks for the help @Namasaki @DeathCookies I decided to get some EC3 connectors and test if my Space Cell could work on the E-GO. I’m not quite sure if anyone has tried that yet. Maybe @onloop has some insight. If it does perform better I may just pick up a 3rd Space Cell. Will keep you guys posted on it.

Was there an original thread for this build? I thought i saw one before. Are you keeping the same motor and mount from the original board?

Youre just changing the battery and esc?

There was a thread on Endless Sphere a few months ago where folks were using 8s and 10s Lipo’s and getting 20mph out of the EGO but it seems to have died down. My plan now is to keep the EGO’s stock motor and ESC housing and add on a Space Cell using an EC3 connector.

oh so no VESC in it ? thatll be an interesting build. I have accessto buy a EGO used for pretty cheap and i’d like to know how yours turns out :slight_smile:

If you have nothing to do with the old battery, i might be interested in buying it off you. what are the specs on the original battery?

It’s a Panasonic Li-Ion - 29.4v 7.8ah battery pack. Sure I’ll let you know how it goes.

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