Acton Blink Board Modification

I’ve got an interesting question. I’m new to electric skateboards, I wanted something small and relatively fast, for a decent price, so I got an Acton Blink Board. After putting over 100 miles on it, I’m fairly impressed by the thing, the speed and size is great (I use it for a short commute). However, I would love to extend the range. I get 3.5 miles per charge in a hilly area.

My thought is to hook an external battery pack to the bottom of the board. I’ve seen boosted board owners doing this online. The end effect is almost doubling the range. I would like to do something similar to my Blink Board, but I don’t know if it is possible, without frying out the electronics.

I have some RC experience, so I am used to working with lipos and electronics. But I don’t know the best way of going about this.

I’ve opened the electronic cover on the board, to try to get a lay of the land. The battery pack reads 41.4 volts at a full charge. And the pack is 72 Wh. I’m thinking the best way to add a second battery pack is to connect the two batteries in parallel before the VESC???

Battery suggestions are appreciated as well! I was think a 10 cell 18650 battery pack or a large lipo from the hobby store. (I would like double the range or more)

Thoughts???

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how does it handle hills?

pretty nice that it already has xt60’s for the battery. I would mod the case so you can swap packs and extend range that way.

41.5V is about right for a 10s1p 18560, so just get another on of those made… some 3000mah hg2’s should work nice… you could also do a 2p pack to double capacity but i dont think mixes old/new packs in parrele is a good idea.

oh and thats just an esc(electronic speed controller), VESC is a specific open source esc.

It handles the hills pretty well, and these are pretty steep hills well well above 15% it is rated for. There is a little speed fall off, but not bad.

Thanks for correcting me about the ESC.

What are your thoughts about using a hobby lipo, keeping a simpler chemistry between the built in battery?

not bad for a board that size, my next build is going to be similar 29"

I use lipo in my current board, 2 6s 5200mah in series. with 2 5s packs you can get a slimmer package to attach some how… like 2 of these nano tech 5s

this would make it alot easier to charge them externally too. 10s chargers are pricey.

The size of the board makes it pretty nimble, it’s a blast to ride, just in case you had any doubts!

How many miles can you cover with two 5200mah batteries?

So, are you recommending something like this?

Or killing off the original battery and just having those two 4000mah in series?

Also, am I correct in thinking that the low power shut off would monitor the additional cells too? Or would it draw all the lipos too low?

I would swap the electronics into a new enclosure to give you more space for additional batteries. Whatever you decide to modify and add. An additional battery or replace the one w/ two in parallel to match.

yea thats about right, but just one pack at a time. two packs with different capacity would cause issues i’m sure.

but the orginal cutoff should be ok since it should just be monitoring pack voltage.

but yea you’ll probably have to mod the case somehow to get more battery in there…

Thanks Saul for the help. I have a few more quick questions:

Since the original battery was 41.4 V, would it be better to use two (2) six cell batteries (2 x 22.2V) for a total of 44.4V, vs. only 37V (2 x 18.5 V)? I’m worried about the internal low voltage cut off of the board shutting me down way early with a 5 cell batteries.

Lastly, should I be worried about the number of amps coming from any of these battery setups?

If I did my math correct.

The original battery: 72wh @ 41.4V =1739.13mah 1739.13 / 1000 = 1.7 amps

With the suggested 5 cell battery setup: 4000mah / 1000 = 4 amps

Two batteries in series, the amps stay the same.

So, 1.7 amps vs 4 amps, should I be worried?

so the stock pack is 41.4v full which is 10s, 10 * 4.2 = 42 == 41.4 to be safe. So i would use the same 2 x 5s packs at 10s. a 12 would probably burn something up.

as for the rest I think you’re confusing some of the notation, mah/ah is capacity. discharge rating on lipo is is C for, meaning 10C = 10 x 4000mah = 40 amps max. but this is max, the esc should limit amps to hopefully the same power.

keep in mind this is just what I would do to extend range, if your not sure, and carefully you might end up with a regular old skateboard…

honestly if you can I would just build a full diy cruiser, single 6355, and keep the blink as a backup/loaner/super mini.

Agreed, that what I did just to be on the safe side or not bricking the Blink. Did a full new build and have the Blink as a n00b loaner, love that it can be limited to 5mph

I have some crazy idea: what about connecting some larger battery to the charging port?

It seems like an easier approach as it doesn’t require tampering with built-it battery/case, but I’m worried about how it may affect the built-in battery.

Also I’m not sure about the voltage of that larger batter. Should it be ~41v (as fully charged built-in one), or it’s better to have it slightly lower?

Can someone clarify please?

Charging ports and wires aren’t designed to have large current flow through them. If you connect an extra pack in parallel you’ll likely damage them if the BMS doesn’t cutoff first.

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Thanks for the response!

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but original battery usually lasts around 45 mins, with capacity 1.7ah.

Than means that discharge current is approximately 1.7 / (45 / 60) = 2.26 A. Original charger designed to provide 2A, which is pretty close.

Is that difference ~0.26 A enough to damage charger port or wires?

I was more concerned whether this setup is going to work at all. Lets say I cruise at low speed to make sure discharge rate is less than 2A. In this case what will happen:

  • Will the motor take power from both batteries simultaneously?
  • Will the internal battery be constantly charged and discharged, or it will be discharging slowly?
  • What voltage should I use for the larger battery?

Are you saying that this setup is essentially the same as both batteries being connected in parallel?

thats an average current, which is not ok for this calculation, current while riding can go from 0 - 20A maybe more. if you’re not sure, you probably shouldn’t play with this, but if you do make sure to take video of the :boom:

saul,

Thanks for your comment.

I’m not sure, but I’m really interested, so I’m doing my research, which includes asking people who’s knowledge is deeper.

I see that a lot of people say that usually it’s safe to use charger with higher current rating, as device draws only what it needs: https://www.quora.com/What-would-happen-if-I-charged-my-phone-with-a-5V-1A-or-5V-3A-battery-charger-The-phones-rating-is-3-8-V-1300mA

Isn’t that true for the skateboard? Or there is a direct link between motor and charging port?

I really like @saul’s idea here. I think I’ll do some more research and attempt this myself.

Has there been any progress on this project?

the more i look at this the more I think that it would not be worth the work…

but idk maybe this board is more fun than it looks? haven’t seen one in the real world yet…

I have the hub motor variety and it’s a blast. I’ll just be getting the newer model soon, and as battery modification is my primary interest right now, I think a project like this could be ideal. (Trying to work towards an elegant solution to battery swapping: http://www.electric-skateboard.builders/t/creating-a-swappable-small-battery-system/13006/3)

doesn’t that only go like 10mph? lol

anyways swappable isn’t that hard, it just depends if velcro counts as elegant. i’ve been using it to hold on the cover with my swappable packs with no problems. 12-15 miles each. swap and i’m back to full speed!

i found a pretty nice solution with aluminum bar to get a nice slide in enclosed battery…might try it as a rebuild but probably not any time soon…