First Build Log - Esk8Mint (working on that name)

now you can use 3 trucks! hooray!

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hahah Yay!

no flex = more clearance right??? just gotta put the third one in the middle

[TL;DR below]

Alright been a while since update but basically everything except the BMS charging solution and extra hardware is now ordered!

EDIT: Here’s the google sheets parts list link

I also got a balanced charger for a more solid charging solution just for the few weeks until I get my BMS charging solution figured out plus in case the BMS breaks down on me.

But there are some slight regrets on my decisions, that can probably be resolved by refunding them to replace with better parts. I kind of want to switch my motor solution from the 6364 motor suggested by @pat.speed to a 6374 motor for a couple of reasons.

  1. I tried to go for a slightly small motor just so that I might be able to do dual motor setup in the future, and dumb me thought my standard caliber 2 trucks would be enough to be dual motor proof for the 6364 motor

  2. I didn’t realize that single motor is really common and enough to get decent performance in my case. Now that I slowly begin to learn that single motor setups are quite common and powerful enough, I kinda regret it and want to get myself a 6374 192KV from hobbyking. (Also, I see some other options that are 6374 168KV and 6374 149KV… price wise not much of a difference but how much of a difference is it performance wise?)

Thanks to @b264 I got myself 2 280mm-5M-15mm belts. The 280mm length was recommended by live support when I asked what was the recommended length for a 40T 16T setup (I know im getting a 40T 15T setup but I was being polite because I realized they didn’t sell 15T motor mounts).

Also huge thanks to @mccloed for helping me out with the wheel pulleys! I bought 2 40T wheel pulleys from him with a set of mounting hardware for $25. He had some difficulty with his printer which ended up shipping my item a couple of days later but in return he offered me a couple of used 36T wheel pulleys in case I want to go speedy in the future! What a guy! Because of this I also got 265mm-5M-15mm belts for the 36T wheel pulleys (length also recommended by DIYelectricskateboards.com).

Now the things that I didn’t decide on yet. The charging solution. I did get a 10S BMS from ebay for charging only and bypass discharge. I asked the YT channel I got the BMS solution idea from (I AM DELUXE) how I could charge my batteries faster and they replied I simply have to get higher amps with same voltage to get faster charging speeds than what they had (a hoverboard charger 2A 36V 10S). So I went looking for a charging solution that was compact, portable, and safe to use. I first got the idea of making my own charging port out of a XT60/XT90 connector set from one of @Tampaesk8er’s comments on a thread. I directly asked him for suggestions and he mentioned that having higher amps than 2A can be a risk for the BMS because of its heat. However if you check this thread you can see up there [quote=“JdogAwesome, post:15, topic:36240, full:true”] Yeah I get that though in that video he didn’t address the PSU at all. For $50 on AliExpress you can get a charger that will fully charge your board in an hour at 5A. LINK [/quote]

Considering that @JdogAwesome recommended a 5A PSU for my BMS charging solution I was kind of confused if higher amps for charging was going to be a risk or a great solution. It’s probably obviously both risky but also functional, however I wanted input from you guys, the experienced ones.

TL;DR

  1. I bought everything but BMS charging solution.
  2. I regret getting a 6364 and want to get 6374 192KV if refund is possible.
  3. Is a charger that is higher than 2A for the BMS solution a risky thing for the BMS or is it a functional way to charge the batteries faster?

I dont see any reason that it would be “riskier” though the faster you charge LiPo’s the shorter life they have, though I think the decreased charging time is definitely worth it. And anyways even at 5A your still charging at below 1C so you’ll still probably get around 300-400 cycles before you even start to see any capacity degradation. Oh and personally I was charging my 6S 10Ah pack at 8A and the BMS didnt even get warm, now at 12S I charge at 4A and it still doesnt get warm, except for when its balancing.

Can I get your BMS’s specs?

I have a 6374 149kv outrunner single motor from hobby king and yesterday, i hit 21mph with 3x 5000mAh zippy flightmax 20c batteries and i weigh 198lbs. Forme, one motor does the job.

Yeah im using THIS 21A 12S BMS and im obviously bypassing the over current protection works well so far.

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Rough draft 1 of final board om hoping for (not final at all)

Heres a batter calc

Calc.esk8.today

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oh my thats just beautiful

thank you for the suggestion!

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Deck came in today, the board itself is so sickkk

I’m planning to apply griptape after I build the whole thing so that the screw holes look clean and not look beat up. Parts are slowly arriving at my door! prototype might be completed by saturday night (w/o plug and play charging system and no lunchbox enclosure)

So, I recieved a lot of things today, including the genuine IMAX B6AC V2… but there is a bit of a problem with that product

The screen is flickering like crazy, the product seems to function well when I click around the buttons but I didn’t plug in my batteries just in case something was wrong with the product. I contacted hobbyking for support for possibly a faulty product.

I know the product is genuine because I checked the code beneath the product on the halo sticker and it said it was genuine and the code was checked only once.

Other than that, my parts are all arriving very shortly! I hope it turns out well in the end!

Prototype board is done! Now I gotta work on the enclosure and bug fixing to get it ready for a test ride outside!

Prototype seems to be finished and functional! Today was an exhausting but fun day.

Problems so far:

  • For some reason if I turn off remote while vesc is on the motors suddenly go full throttle until I turn on my remote. This seems to be my own settings issue, I will do my own research later just not now…

  • Motor mount on caliber truck seems to be too loose, I might have to get help with welding or buying a better caliber truck adapter or something to be confident about the mount.

  • Motor is doing some weird vibration movement instead of rotating sometimes. I asked hobbyking about this sending them a video and they offered me in store credit of the same price of the motor to let me buy a better one! I ordered the 6374 168kv for better torque since torque is a priority over top speed for me!

  • Enclosures might wobble a lot when riding in real environment. This was a prototype made with a solid looking hook tape design but obviously it is not enough. I am planning to drill holes so that I can attatch the lid solid on the board with the hook tape still there as a secondary backup.

If you have any tips on the stuff listed above feel free to give suggestions!

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About the motor going full throttle there is a setting in the Vesc setup under the name of fail safe or something to stop that from happening maybe someone else can explain better.

As for the motor vibrating, is it happening at the start at low speed? If so this is normal for sensorless motors.

What motor mount are you using? Some people put heatshrink on the hanger to make it slightly larger so the clamp fits better

(I just realized my post written from my phone was so badly formatted lol)

  1. Thank you for the info! I actually researched just a bit before I went to bed yesterday and I think I know how to fix it too!

  2. Oh. I mean here is the video I sent to hobbyking but if this is normal then I guess I have a free motor… lol

  3. I’m actually using a sorta cheap-o one from amazon that uses a c shaped clamp thing which i thought would be enough but now that I see it really isnt the best way to mount the motor mount. What do you mean by heatshrink, you mean that tube that shrinks when heat is applied? How do people do it?

EDIT: whoops… forgot the video

Well looking at the video of the motor something does look wrong with it. I actually have this motor and love it, so you might have just gotten a bad one from HobbyKing. It actually looks as if the screws/bolts holding it to the mount might be going too far in and hitting the stator.

As for the heatshrink they just used it to make the truck hanger slightly larger so the mounts would clamp on tighter. Does your mount have set screws the go into the truck?

  • Yeah I didn’t request the 6374 just because the motor looked bad or anything, I just considered getting a better motor since the day after I ordered it after looking at some threads about their experience with their motors.
  • I see how they’re doing it now with the heatshrink… I’m wondering if it’s going to work with just tight electrical tape?

Yeah should do the trick just make sure you put on an even amount

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I forgot to add, I fixed the full throttle when disconnected issue. I had to re-pair the controller with the little turning notches all set to neutral in order to set the default fail safe action to “do nothing” when disconnected. It wasn’t in the VESC settings as I expected.