Hey guys, so I’ve been riding a while now and am a beta tester for leiftech, I’ve been wanting to start building my own DIY boards and learn more for a while. I won a liftboard as part of an amazon give-away and the thing is obviously a POS and I has given me problem after problem, but the good thing is I didn’t pay a dollar for it and it offers up an great opportunity to start a DIY and learn something in the process. I’m looking at getting the dual motor mechanical kit from torque boards as well as two motors to start. I’ve already collected a bit of information on all this but I think I’m just having trouble connecting a few of the dots and am hoping to get the communities help. I am on a budget and am going paycheck by paycheck to build my own ultimate DIY, but am using the Liftboard as a base to start the whole build. Basically at this point I want to strip most the liftboard except for the battery and current vesc (with a friend from my riding groups help) and see if theres any way to modify the vesc for more speed or find out if I need to buy a different one in a future paycheck. For the time being I would be basically mounting this all on the current liftboard I have until I can afford a new deck and any other excess pieces.
Big questions I’m coming to that I really need answered and I’ll try to give info to extrapolate. The liftboard as I have read has a 21.9V8Ah (LG-HD2-18650-3.65V-2000mAh-6S4P) battery… so for starters can I buy any motor and hook it to any battery basically? When it comes to the motor and battery connection can any motor be hooked to any battery, I am assuming that the battery being more powerful plays a stronger role in stronger wattage motors.
I realize without knowing a lot about batteries that a 6S4P battery is kind of weak, I have an old LT3X battery from my leiftech that kind of backfired from some wiring that came out but I think its generally salvageable, I’d like to get a new bigger enclosure from psychotiller or other and add those batteries to the 6S4P that is currently there, that should give me a lot more mileage, P.S. can I even do that? The LT3X from what I have info on is 24v, 144Wh and would probably be much better with the better motors anyways (I would think)?
Ultimately this is a process I’m hoping to learn from and gain a much better board in the process, any help you can give would be amazingly appreciated!
so I just had to google (actually bing because my google broke… long story) what the hell a liftboard was…
it looks like a rebranded benchwheel board.
probably first thing I would do is replace the ESC with a FOCBOX or DRV cooker of some sort to get you that programabillity that you are after. and chuck a few more cells on too… 8S or even 7S if the wallet is tight. (its only a few more cells here and there.)
the motors and drive line will probably live up to 10S… at a guess…
It’s not a rebranded benchwheel but their company gets that a lot, that said it is incredibly cheap “like the benchwheel.” Since I haven’t paid a dime for it though it seems like the perfect base to learn some DIY on. If I don’t change the vesc immediately will it run similarly to how it already does but just with added torque from the two better motors? I’m assuming it will probably run like a much better version of my current board until I can upgrade the Vesc or see if my friend can help me use the current one. How big of a deal is it to buy a VESC or ESC? Should I be looking at a site like torqueboards or is it all the same if I go to a local RC store to pick something up?
do u have an actual Vesc or is it out of the leifbpard and a regular esc? If not I’d get that for starters. U only need one motor really to get enough power.
You do standup?
So one of my projects is to convert a bunch of the internals if my benchwheel like you. While liftboard may say it’s not a rebrand the parts are almost completely identical, so I’m wary to believe them.
You may be able to reuse the enclosure and battery but if the liftboard is similar to the benchwheel, the bms is integrated with the ESC. You’ll want to pick up one or two escs (should probably get a vesc) and a proper bms. Order a handful of xt60 connectors and 12awg silicone wire and you should be good to go on parts.
it’s definitely using the benchwheel remote (good remote i’ve heard), and looks like the benchwheel battery… There are so many rebrandings it’s ridiculous. Regardless - 6s4p and single motor - how to make it “better” right?!
Is it a single motor or dual motor currently - i see single and dual Liftboards.
Are you using “VESC” generically and meaning ESC? as in the motor controller (Electronic Speed Controller). VESC is an open source ESC designed by Benjamin Vedder (Vedder ESC = VESC). Great controller (best one so far IMO).
Depending on your weight - 6s should be fine. I’m a big guy and ride regularly on 6 and 8s setups. If they are legit HD2’s they should be able to provide about 20-25A peak per cell in parallel. So in 4p = 80-100A output capability. So, until you have range or other power/performance issues - ride what you got!
Two motors will give you more torque for hills and accelerating to the same top speed as a single motor.
Upgrading motors and mounts - i’d only do this if an issue with the motor or mount. I’d upgrade the ESC to VESC first and see if it sorts it out for you and works better.
I have whatever the liftboard comes with (can you tell I’m a noob?). I honestly still need to take the board apart but I’m waiting to get help from my friend and get all the parts in first. I know I would be fine with a single motor but I really want a dual motor board and here in Colorado there are a lot of hills so dual would suffice much better than single, plus my board is currently a dual so I don’t want to go back to a single.
@Jinra While they do use similar if not the same components Liftboard from what I understand from the owner is still a US based company and the boards are assembled here and were not based off of the benchwheel but use similar components. Apparently the reason the board is so cheap is because the company orders parts in massive amounts for instance their last order for motors was for 80,000 motors.
@sl33py Excuse my noobishness, still learning about everything so didn’t really know quite the differences between vesc and esc, have only just started to get into that part of building the boards. I’m only 140lbs so I’m not a generally heavy rider. As far as the mounts that was one of the most important things off the bat. One of the reasons I’ve had so much issues with the current product is because their motor mounts. The motor mounts that come with the liftboard are NOT adjustable, this means they pre-set all the screws and positioning so you aren’t supposed to be able to mess with it. The company has now replaced 3 boards for me because I kill or destroy something within about 5 days of riding it each time xD. Their mounts tend to have an issue where a screw will come loose and then one of my belts will lose all its tension on the mount, this has happened twice to me out of the 3 boards sent to me. The second board died from what couldn’t even be called a “puddle” in a rain drain. The reason I’m trying to do the mounts and motors first is because I fucked up a motor after 5 days on it and the mounts are a constant issue for my belt tension, I’d rather get the parts just to make it operational first then improve its speed with a VESC and design with a better deck at a later date. I can deal with it only going 18.5 until I get new parts as long as it runs smoothly and doesn’t have the kind of bs issues the liftboard gives me on a weekly basis.
Oh and anyone have suggestions on the battery enclosures? I’ve heard good things on psychotiller, enertion had a nice looking enclosure too that he says is water tight, I’ve also looked at Unik boards and torqueboards for enclosures but would love to get some feedback from people who have used them. The enertion enclosure honestly looks the best to me but I have heard that enertion is awful for shipping things in a timely matter and this makes me seriously re-consider that as an option. Thoughts?
I have my cleanest joke to try on you. Think I got it from readers digest!
An old Greek lady, young pretty Swiss girl, an Englishman, and an Irish guy are all in one of those cool trains where you sit across from each other in a little compartment with a big nice window on the side. They go into a black tunnel and you hear a “smack!”, and coming out the other side the English guy is clinching his cheek and he’s obviously been smacked in the tunnel in the dark! The old Greek lady figures he must have gropped the young pretty Swiss girl in the dark tunnel and she slapped him. The young Swiss girl figures he must have tried to grop her but missed and got the old Greek lady and she smacked him. The Englishman thinks the Irish guy must have gropped the young Swiss girl in the tunnel and she mistakenly thought it was him and that’s why he got slapped! And the Irish guy is thinking he can’t wait for another dark tunnel to smack that English guy again.
I used to go watch the open mike for fun around here. If they’re good, then they’re pretty good and that’s wholesome fun, and when they’re bad they die in flames for seven minutes and that’s fun to watch too
oh wait… they changed the deck shape and used black wheels. I see it now.
all seriousness though, the motors and drive parts seem like reasonable quality. if you are having trouble with them just fab your own and weld or clamp it on.
personally Id just ditch the ESC and get with a FOCBOX or similar. add more volts. job done.
@Lunasi - seriously trust us when we say “rebranded” - yes they buy in bulk - from the same place benchweel does. so tomato tomahto - it’s basically the same. Moving on (not worth the argument and regardless of what they are telling you - same components).
No stress on VESC/ESC confusion. Gotta start somewhere - search for some of my old posts… I was as green as anyone! Keep asking questions and the group here will help you learn quickly (and spend your $).
So dual motor on it currently, but the mount sucks. I’d try the obvious blue loctite on every piece to see if you can get it to last at all - otherwise new mounts, and likely new trucks (the mounts are made specifically for a specific set of trucks). Most common are setup for Caliber II’s (44 or my recommended 50*).
If you swap to dual motors - the biggest motors you can easily fit on Caliber 50’s is usually 6355’s. For mounts - besides Enertion, DIYelectricskateboards.com, there are quite a few made by folks here and sold for a lot less $. I recommend @korryh’s mounts - i’ve used a few of them and one of the better regardless of price. I’d get the stainless motor mount w/ aluminum clamp. I think the SS mount is a few $ more, but thinner which can help you squeeze in dual motors.
If you swap motors you may need new gears for the motors - look for ones with 8mm shafts (some are 10mm and a PITA to find gears or $$ for 10mm gears in comparison). I’d also confirm the gears on your current wheels are HTD5’s and not HTD3 or something else “funky” which could be an issue.
Trust me I know the loctite game from taking apart my leiftech constantly and learning from the owner Aaron while living near their old factory in NYC. The issue really is their mounts are bunk, I’m friends with Kali NYC (Ernesto) and showed him the board in person when I was living there and he couldn’t even help me fix the mount issues and straight up suggested new motor mounts (So I’m not just being a drama queen on this xD).
Okay so everyone has suggested stuff, this is what I’m looking at based on speaking to some of the people at torque boards.
Dual Motor mechanical Kit
63mm motor mount
13T Pulley size (for more torque)
255mm belt
2× 6355 190kv motors
battery enclosure? (make suggestions on favorites please)
Minus the battery enclosure all together should cost me 480, seems like a fair price to me. 5K watts of power for those big hills, I’m kind of in love already before I’ve even got my paycheck for parts! <3 I know that much power sounds like way too much for some but I want to be able to go freebording and ride something up the
Don’t forget wheel pulley. I’m using the Space Cell Pro enclosure for both my builds and it works great. I’d recommend it if you want a slim easy to use enclosure. Parts look good, just keep in mind that you’ll need new trucks as well unless you can find something to fit your benchwheel trucks, which may be kind of hard.
No that totally looks decent and leaves me money for marijuana haha. But on a serious note that space cell pro looks awesome, that’s the one I had been looking at. Might end up going the budget route this month on the liftboard to save a dime and then buy the enclosure along with a new deck at a later date, might even save me some money to get a VESC that way. Can anyone suggest a cheap place to find a good VESC? Seems they’re all in that hundred dollar range.
this was directed at me?? yeah I just go straight through the deck with countersunk bolts… I did do one where I put nutserts or “demon nuts” into the wood
haha. But on a serious note that space cell pro looks awesome, that’s the one I had been looking at. Might end up going the budget route this month on the liftboard to save a dime and then buy the enclosure along with a new deck at a later date, might even save me some money to get a VESC that way. Can anyone suggest a cheap place to find a good VESC? Seems they’re all in that hundred dollar range.