csfrasher - welcome and looks like you are well on your way to getting a setup figured out.
My .02 - get the better ESC like the VESC. I’ve tried a couple of the nicer ESC’s and they pale in comparison to the VESC, but you will need some configuration with the VESC to make it run correctly. It’s not plug/play like RC Car ESC’s (which you need to adjust as well - typically at least the brakes - usually w/ the programmer card).
If you only weigh 180 a single 63mm motor should work fine. Especially on 8-12s batteries. Youve said you are technical, but you need to do some reading if you aren’t familiar with number of series batteries. Lipo’s are 4.2v fully charged, and x the number of batteries in series are 4s, 5s, 6s, etc. 4x4.2, 5x4.2, 6x4.2. so a 10s battery is 42v fully charged. Simple. Don’t over discharge your lipo batteries or you can damage them. I stop at 3.7v but others stop at 3.8 and some lower to 3.6.
Your budget is not really going to cut it, sorry to say. If you have access to cnc and metal working skills, you might be able to do it around $300, but it’s going to be SUPER tight. most motor mounts are $100-150 (including motor and wheel gears, plus belt and misc bolts to assemble). If you can weld your own, or know somewhere that can CNC you will have some extra $ for a nicer ESC or better/more batteries. Don’t forget you need a lipo charger in addition to your batteries. A really good lipo charger (like an iCharger) can easily be over $100 alone.
Onloop just released his older motor and gear files as open source - very cool again if you have access to equipment to make your own.
Being on a limited budget i’d prioritize like so:
ESC - best one you can afford. (VESC is my preferred but you need to read up on how to configure - http://vedder.se)
Motor mounts (if you can’t make your own)
63mm motor (Tacon or SK3 if on a budget, RSpec if extra $)
Charger (an investment - you must have a good balance charger and balance your cells!)
Tx/Rx - Can’t beat GT2B for the price. Later you can 3d print the Badwolf v2 enclosure and make it smaller. I did a how-to for this here.
Batteries - least important, but i’d pick better but smaller mAh packs over cheap larger packs. You can add more in parallel later and increase range.
I’d read up the links onloop provided, plus read some other’s builds to see what they did. Start reading up on charging and basic RC stuff while you are at it - it will all help you build your own. When on a budget like this you need to do more yourself and build it vs buy it. Stuff will break and you will spend $ again for better gear down the road, but it’s all part of the fun and learning!
This esc is really nice for e board use. It is water proof. Has really good braking, low voltage cutoff that actually works, super nice software, easily programmable, and castle has one of the best warranty replacement programs out there. I have a couple of these in boards.
If you can program the vesc to do everything it is capable of I’m guessing no. I’ve never had one. But if you read about the vesc you’ll find it’s not going to be easy. You can program a castle esc to do exactly what you need it to do @ 6s in 5 minutes.
I have both a Mamba XL2 and VESC. Prefer the VESC. MXL2 is expensive but nice programming software. I didn’t like the brakes (anemic, not confidence inspiring). I’d love to re-use it on another board, so please let me know your setting psychotiller!?
I definitely prefer VESC - better brakes. Handles up to 12s vs 8s. can run traction control w/ two VESC/Motors over canbus. Custom built for e-boards and open source (evolving and improving). Less $ than MXL2 if you can find it (onloop has a few left i believe).
Only downside is configuring for your specific motor before use. Can be fiddly, but once setup you can pretty much leave it alone… I’m running one on 8s for my GF’s board that still has minimal configuration (just motor parameters) and still has fw 1.02. Works great. Configuration equals installing the BLDC tool (Linux native) or the ported versions for Windows and OSX… hook it up correctly so you don’t damage it, and read motor parameters - plug in readings into two fields, and after a restart or two you setup current control w/ or w/o braking. Done. If you can follow instructions and watch the video a couple times you’ll be fine.
beware APS - i had horrible issues w/ his dual ESC that did not perform to specs (would not work at 8s when sold as 8s ESC). Horrendous, long, painful return process took over a month. I’ve heard similar trouble with their re-branded motors and lack of support. I personally would buy a no-name for less first. I just ordered one of the 149kv 6374 SK3’s to try out (way too long for dual, but should be good for single motor setups).
Realize that “rated” wattage of motors is usually suspect/marketing… And that is at highest voltage it will support (usually 10 or 12s). So unless you have a ESC that can do 10 or 12s you will get nowhere near that rated wattage. My highest measured (with inline watt meter) wattage for dual motors on 8s (before i could test on 12s it was “borrowed” out of my car), was 199x watts. So almost 2k watts w/ dual motors - that was pretty scary fast/powerful even moving me around (big guy).
I love my MM2 on my 6s board. I haven’t tried a VESC yet, but I have one on order form onloop so I will have to compare when it gets here. I will say I prefer the acceleration of the castle creations esc over torqueboards 12s esc by alot…
and programmability is more like the the VESC in terms of a computer based program that offers alot more than the usual brake %, acceleration rate, power, etc. usually found on car esc’s. Being able to control the throttle and brake curve is really sweet for example.
I will say 6s max is a disadvantage, but if you are just going for a 6s setup, I don’t think (besides maybe a vesc, again, I don’t know) there is a better esc to get.
@sl33py I have my brakes set at 70percent right now on my xl2. I’ve always preferred brakes to be soft though. Generally, I’ll carve off speed or slide, but I have yet to really throw my pneumatic into a slide on pavement.
If you are on a budget, i would recommend sticking to one motor. Plenty of power for a smaller/average person and greatly simplifies getting it setup. Increased range w/ only a single motor as well w/ the same battery capacity. You can always add another motor later!
the moment you double the amount of motors you might as well double the price. because you will need to buy 2 motors, 2 mounts, 2 ESC’s and 2 times the batteries because twin motors chew more juice.
the only part you wont have to buy 2 of is the transmitter.
