@lowGuido Yea, I’m actually not familiar with how enclosures are commonly mounted to the deck. I drill a hole straight through for the SCP enclosure and use rivet head knurled inserts for the screws, doesn’t look as nice though since you see the inserts from the top.
@Lunasi VESCs are going to run you at least $100 each. For American distributors I recommend Ollinboards (a bit pricey) or Axle (https://goaxle.com/shop/). Not sure if Axle is taking orders right now though.
So VESC is open source as I understand, what’s the big difference with ESC though? Is it like a pre-set speed controller in a way where the settings are already set in and you can’t adjust it? Do people ever use ESC’s in e-skate besides the companies or is it all VESC?
People use regular car ESCs all the time for esk8, but they were built with RC cars in mind, not heavy humans. I know lowguido uses the x-car beast ESC in some of his builds and others have used the FVT, but most hobby ESCs have a 6s voltage limit. It’s hard to find regular ESCs that support over 6s voltage, though there are some. VESC supports from 4-12s and is customizable in almost any way you can imagine.
@jinra Thank you for putting that into lamens <–(who knows if I spelled that right) terms for me! Much easier to understand.
What do you guys think, should I sacrifice a single motor the first month and get the VESC and then get the second motor at a later date? Then I can save some $ and do the single motor mechanical kit for the time and afford other parts needed. If I have 5000watts of power but a liftboard esc that only goes 18mph its just going to be a powerfully slow board, eh? <— I used to live in Canada xD 2500 watts of power and a vesc is still going to be more powerful than my current board (1800 watts, 900 per motor) and with the VESC I should be able to jack up the speed a bit which I’m kind of a speed demon TBH because I used to race go-peds as a teen (had one that went 48mph).
P.S. So glad I posted here, you guys have all been a million times helpful in helping me plot this whole thing out!
I think one powerful motor is good enough unless you need real hill climbing torque.
For now I think I’ll be okay without the super torque of two motors if I get to jack up the speed on the vesc. If I’m only buying one motor to start is it worth while to do something even more powerful like the torque boards 6374 190kv 3150W motor? Or should I just stick with the 6355?
With your old board claiming 900watts of power each motor that’s just a claim as to what the power the motor is CAPABLE of but doesn’t mean that when you pull the trigger you’re getting it. The esc and battery decide how much power is put to the motor and I bet it is less that that with what you had. If you really were to use 2000 watts you will be going from 0-30mph in …maybe 5 seconds is a guess. I was programmed to do 2500 and regardless of what boosted’s motor wattage claim is there is no comparison between us
You need the battery that can put out the amps for it (not hard), and also no battery discharge limit from the bms if you use one or bypass it, and you need the esc that can do it and is programmed to do it (not hard to do but rarely high numbers possible unless diy)
Tell me if its layman’s terms
It’s pretty hard to stay at 2000 watt output especially if you’re 140lbs unless you’re going up hill non-stop. Me doing a two block hill vs boosted …they’ll be at maybe 2/3 when I’m at top
The Vesc will allow you to program and monitor it all from a pc or your phone. It’s worlds better than rc stuff. Foc program is the best.
One 63mm motor and Vesc and I think you’ll be good and have tons of power and torque
I like this gem and has a great rep and cheap http://www.hobbypartz.com/96m608-bigfoot160-5335-245kv.html
@Hummie All that made sense to me, those motors are actually a great price! I might look at those because every little bit I save is piece I can buy. I might even be able to do the dual motor setup, vesc and afford it all with that.
Okay as far as batteries I have two options, I can use the 6S4P inside the liftboard and/or I can take apart this LT3X leiftech battery that the wiring got messed up on but it’s rated for 24v 144wh (not sure if it’s 10s 8s…whatever the rating). I also have a smaller leiftech battery that’s rated for about a third of the bigger batteries life. Can I put the two or all 3 together into one big pack? I have a few friends in my local Colorado riding crew I lead who are electrical and mechanical engineers to help me. If I were to do that would I need any parts to put it together?
On top of that are there any parts or pieces for the board that I haven’t thought of? Important pieces that ill need?
Battery and Enclosure Vesc motors Dual Motor mechanical Kit …? (things missing?)
Make sure the vescs can do the foc program.
Mini trigger remote is reliable and cheap.
I don’t know about those batteries but you should shoot for 10s or even 12s (if 12 then must limit erpm on Vesc but easy)
U still need a way charge the battery and it can be complicated or easy depending on what way you go. I much prefer getting a bulk charger that can do huge fast power and a balance discharger on the side. This is much cheaper and faster but requires being aware of what your cells are at while charging vs doing the whole bms thing or a true balance charger that will do it all.
If you want to solder you could take apart those batteries you mentioned but otherwise 18650 cylindrical are an obstacle compared to lipo I’d go with the single tacon160 to see first. Save bucks
I have remote. Vescs. A tacon 160 missing bearings, all of which in trying to get out and make bucks to get the parts I need. And new deck with hole in it. And lots of trucks and kegel wheels
So Lunasi, let me get this straight. You won a free Liftboard and had some issues with it? I purchased one, and had some issues with it. I reached out to the Liftboard and found them to be a young company going through some growing pains, but good folks who took great care of me and more than rectified the the problem. You might want to reach out to them and give them a shot to make things right before calling out their product online (which they gave to you) as a “POS”. Just a thought. And btw, from everything I’ve read, they have tightened up the product and are getting a lot of good press.
As for your reverse engineering project of the Liftboard you have going, I am definitely going to stay tuned… Who knows, you might end up inventing the “Back to the Future” hoverboard we’ve all been waiting for! More than likely though, I see some humble pie in your future.
And you joined 2 days ago… So what’s your point? quoting and dismissing statements as @Lunasi is learning and trying to make the liftboard work better - do you work for Liftboard perhaps?
fishy
@Lunasi - my recommendation if you are on a tight budget -
Go VESC. Axle or Ollin are both good, Ollin are top notch but $, Axle great price with improvements over standard BOM 4.12. DIYes also a good option and less expensive.
Motor - i’d stick to 190/200kv max if you want to move up in voltage later w/o frying DRV on VESC (exceeding 60k ERPM) = for the v4.xx versions. New VESC Six will not have the 60k erpm limit, but still in beta so not really available yet. v4 is solid if you keep those erpms down. Recommend DIYes motors as really nice w/ keyway and well made w/ sensor option if you want.
To save $, i would go with @korryh’s mounts, and @Titoxd10001 ’ s 15mm gears. The wider belt will help with a single motor, but may limit you on dual rear setup later - you can add another motor on the front truck. If you know you are going to go dual rear - 12mm belts and gears from DIYes is another option.
If you are riding in the city with a lot of interference - i’d suggest the GT2b for the most reliable “rock solid” setup. You can 3d print an enclosure later to make it smaller, but reliability is the critical consideration over looks or even form factor. I get a lot of drops in Seattle w/ other controllers…
So yeah - i’d go a single motor setup to start, and add another later.
HTH - GL!
@sl33py I picked up the torque boards single motor mechanical kit that comes with trucks and everything I need to mount it. I also picked up a single motor and the torque boards vesc. I’m supposed to get the parts Friday and would love to mount it all but I’m not quite sure about the vesc. I’m assuming the liftboard currently has a ESC of some sort so when it comes to installation I have a couple things on my mind. As far as putting this together (motor mounts, motors, trucks) I’m not too worried. With the vesc however I know it’s open source and I can adjust all the settings on it. Assumably I replace the current ESC with the vesc but do I have to adjust any settings first? If I just switched it out would it be on some pre-set setting and work well still? Secondly is there some program I need to download that I can easily adjust it from and then how would you connect it to said computer? Anything people can teach me about vesc’s would be of the greatest help!
No. If you swap a VESC in without configuring it - best case it won’t work. Worst case you’ll damage the VESC.
VESC is open source and a lot of great articles and videos how to do it. Direct from Benjamin Vedder’s site (vedder.se) - he has some youtube videos using Ubuntu Linux w/ copy/paste steps. You can also find several videos from folks here, and numerous threads. I’d recommend you look through these and get an idea on how to do the motor detection and configuration to start:
I’d recommend you stick to BLDC to start - and when you want to try FOC later hopefully you’ll understand enough to do it safely without damaging the VESC.
Tons to learn on VESC - when you have a better grasp to ask questions - ask and the experts will give you a hand. I’m merely passable w/ it, and no expert.
GL!
Okay so I started pulling everything apart with my friend who also e-skates and is starting to DIY, boy was that an adventure. It started off simple enough, remove the trucks and take the battery/esc mount off of the board. We soon realized that the piece in the middle is a hollow aluminum tube where all the components have been stuffed inside. So we pulled the battery out and tried to salvage some pieces but honestly the whole setup is a mess. The only thing I might keep is the 6s4P battery from it and maybe put it on a cheap build later on with some a better motor mount and motor. The Bluetooth receiver they use for it was so small there is no way to easily attach it unless do they make pieces that might fit it onto my new VESC?
So… I started looking at things and did some legwork today to get things started. I have been reading on the vesc and went to an RC car store nearby today to get some components. I’m going to use one of my LT3X batteries from my leiftech. So a couple questions I have while I also expand on some information. The LT3X battery as I understand it is rated at 144Wh 24 volts. From what I have gathered the battery is actually “two” batteries with separate battery management systems in it, one for each motor on the original leiftech board which is why the battery has two xt60 connectors on it. For starters I cant for the life of me get an answer from anyone and haven’t been able to speak to the owner of leif lately about whether its 6s4P, 10s2p whatever the friggin number P it is xD. This would help me and my friend helping me build it understand a bit better some of the inputs for programming the vesc. Or maybe I’m just complicating things, is 24 volts 144wh all the info I need to program this thing? Moving on…
The guy at the store is helping me set up a connection I can put inside my board. The LT3X battery has the two xt60 connections mentioned and the vesc has the xt90 connection. I asked him to create a connection where both the xt60’s could plug into an xt90 converter for the vesc, but then he’s also helping me set up a separate charging port that I can connect from the outside of the enclosure. He’s also adding a power switch button to the board.
Okay so then my final piece to get this thing working this week is the remote. I went in today and surprise surprise all the remotes were gigantic, I should have probably ordered it before but I was hoping to use the Bluetooth remotes from the liftboard and adapt those on. Now I didn’t bring the Bluetooth connection into the RC car store today, but the connection was reasonably smaller on the little chip they had and I could visibly see it would not fit the VESC. Does anyone have any idea if I can get a piece to adapt the smaller Bluetooth connection to the bigger connections on the vesc? If not my option two is either wait til the end of the week and order the DIY electric mini remote or buy one of the big honking massive ass remotes they sell in the store. My impatience tells me I want it now, but my riding sense tells me to wait. I have seen the sparkle remotes before and I am wondering as well is that something I can easily buy online or do I have to have a 3D printer? How hard is it really to take a bigger remote apart and mount it inside a smaller compartment? I am the kind of person that is still getting used to buying hardware so I don’t like to have to cut things, solder things, or do some of those things if I don’t have to xD.
Last thoughts I’m looking at different decks for the build later on. I’m looking at a few loaded decks vs never summers and would love to hear some peoples preferences on different decks and top vs bottom mounted trucks on their electric skateboards. I have ridden a few of my friends bamboos lately and even though I’m used to a stiff deck on my leiftech and the liftboard I think a flexible deck is calling to me. The loaded Bhanghra, Icarus and Dervish Sama are calling out to me. The Neversummer Heist, Deviant, El Jefe, and Superfreak also look good. I want something that’s going to be stable but I love that carvy feel which is why I think I’m leaning towards the loaded decks. Thoughts?
you can buy a GT2B massive remote and then re house it in a baby buffalo case or similar later.
You are making it too complicated. All that matters from a “make it work” perspective is knowing your volts it supplies. Where parallel and such come into play is their C rating. How much amperage can they supply? Also good to know, but if you conservatively test, you should be able to tell if it can supply ample amps or it will run poorly and get hot (bad - stop using). If you push it even when they get hot - you’ll damage the cells, puff them, or otherwise have a bad time.
Looking for the LT3X batteries - can’t see specs. If you have access to ask someone who knows what they are using - great. It would be good to know before you damage something with over-drawing them. You could also crack one open and send us the pic. We should be able to tell you what’s going on then.
Let us know or be very cautious so you don’t damage expensive batteries!
Second @lowGuido’s suggestion of the GT2b - rock solid. Get a 3d printed smaller enclosure and move the internals into it. Save space, but still solid connection even with lots of interference in the city. BT is usually inconsistent and gets drops.
You need to figure out what you like. I personally like drop decks and drop through drop decks - but they are a PITA to electrify (hub motors a good option). If you want flex - be prepared to split your enclosure to run batteries on one end and electronics on the other - less room for both so the middle can flex, and a fair bit more work than a regular stiff board you can screw your lunchbox under.
Drop through and drop decks are difficult for motor placement. You can run the motors outboard behind the deck, and just make sure your mounts clear and everything flexes/turns without hitting.
tip of the iceberg! GL!
What button switch is he going to add?
I like this deck a lot. Drop/drop-thru. W a mount off the back or front u could get really low still.
Okay so I decided to be patient and order the mini controller from DIYelectricskateboard and wait til the end of the week to do everything. @Hummie as per the button switch I was asking him to add a power button to power on the vesc and the board but when I went to pick up my stuff today he hadn’t added it, I think he was honestly scared to touch my vesc because they’re used to all those tiny little RC car esc’s. He did however do what I asked him in creating a xt60 to xt90 connection, pairing the two connections to a single connection that goes to the vesc (because the leiftech battery has two batteries inside the single wrapped battery with two separate BMS’ keep in mind), and then also off of that leaving me two XT60 connectors I can access from the side of the board to charge it. Here’s a picture to show you a bit of what he did with the battery to vesc. Back to the power button switch, like I said he didn’t add it, I think he thought his stuff in his shop wouldn’t work with it. He suggested going to micro center for a switch as they deal in a ton of computer parts and components and there’s one not too far away from me, than sound ideal to everyone else? I have been watching stuff on programming the vesc and quickly realized I needed both a power source and a physical power button to actually turn on the VESC to program it, I also am waiting on the remote so I’m able to do some motor tests before things are properly mounted, all sound good so far? Am I missing anything or am I on the right track here?
