And then I’ve made a start on getting the ESCapes sorted out.
I’ll be hard-wiring them together in a loom with 2 XT90s to bring the 2 6S battery leads into a series connection via the loop key plug.
So the power leads have been snipped off 
And then I started filing away the cover PCB so I can route the phase wires within the minimal space I have
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Here’s how they’ll fit in the box;
There’ll be the Metr Pro Module, RX and an Rx Switch crammed into the space between the 2 ESCs, and a 12V BEC on the right hand side;
Everything is fitting in there perfectly with not a shred of space to spare!
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Nice progress! When’s the first test ride? Must be close.
I’m hoping one evening next week. I’m away this weekend but I want to get it up and running to play with and show off at some mountainboard events we have the following weekend… Rhythm X Round 2 on the Saturday, followed by the Strong Cheese And Spam Jib Competition and camping in the evening at Harthill Adventure Park
Depending on the terrain, you may find that vescs in an enclosure will start thermal throttling. With mountain boards they truly begin to shine with heatsinks exposed to air.
I personally had no idea mine were overheating until I installed them externally with a good dual enclosure out of alu…so in case you start slowing down for no apparent reason, that will be it.
Yeah this is my biggest concern actually. I have thought about this and read mixed reports on enclosed Vs. exposed VESCs, but I do have a solution in mind to heatsink them to the outside of the case should I need to. I do want to push this setup to its limits to see what it’s capable of so only testing will tell. And I’ll have the Metr app to log data so I’ll be able to see if I have any issues…
Bit more progress on the ESCapes…
Made a perspex plate/cover to hold the 2 ESCapes together, protect the connectors and wires, and to take up the space to give a secure fit to the battery;
Made a plasticard separator to go between the wires and ensure better insulation between the 2;
Figuring out cable lengths;
Final mockup of the full wiring loom;
All soldered up;
Soldered T-Joints will be covered in liquid electrical tape, then secured to the platicard separator and ESC housings with hot glue.
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heads up, if the esc’s blow, your batteries will blow too, and vice versa
I will be putting a fuse in, don’t you worry. Just gotta get it all in the box first see where I can fit it.
Great progress!
I know how long all this things take to finish 
The T-Joints look interesting and dangerous at the same time, hope there is enough space/isolation between aluminium housing and solder joints. The plasticcard separator is a good idea, does it fit after soldering?
I’m planning to strap the power of 10 horses to my feet with a box of explosive batteries between my legs and it’s soldered T-Joints that look dangerous 
But I’m confident in the isolation. Liquid electrical tape covers the joints nicely, and they’ll be well protected from vibrations once hot glued.
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Speaking of dangers, I’ve got the fuse sorted out now.
I’m using 200A 58V Midi Fuses, soldered some 5.5mm Bullets to resemble the blade fuse style, and coated the exposed ends in liquid electrical tape.
Here’s where it fits into the loom;
And how it all fits in the box once the Battery’s in and the lid’s getting closed;
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Where do you find those fuses ? I can only find 200a / 32v on eBay
website specifies the rating as “Maximum voltage 80 Vdc - 32Vac” but they have 58V stamped on the casing
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So the only other thing I’ve found time to do this week is sort out my home charging station.
Found another spare flight case at work (same as my drone field charging chase).
Got a 24V 25A (600W) power supply plummed into my ISDT SC-620 with parallel XT90 & 6S balance leads, so I should be able to use it at full whack to charge a 23.2Ah 6S battery @ 20A (just shy of 1C)
But I have no more free time this week so won’t get it running for this weekend 
Oh well, I’m sure I can get it all finished next week…
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Few more bits n bobs done…
Rx, Aux Switch & 12v BEC all wired up;
(Hard wired the Rx as I had no room for connectors!)
Canbus cable made and installed along with the Metr Pro Module;
Pretty much everything all wired up ready to install into the box;
Remaining wiring jobs to do list;
- Connect my surprise auxiliary accessory to the Aux Switch
- Wire up the 2 switches from the BEC
- Switch 1 to full length 2 core cable for rear lights
- Switch 2 to the underbox lighting
- Direct Solder full length Phase Wires to the ESCs
- Wire the sensor plugs onto full length 6 core cable
- Solder connectors onto tail end of all motor wires (to fit APS motor) (I’ll mount the box and trucks to deck first to get the cable routing and lengths figured out)
- Mount rear lights and wire up with connectors
- Make a Spare Fuse & Spare Loop Key
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So for mounting my box, I’ve gone down the solid, indestructible and super secure route…
Bring out the steel and the welder! (I may remake these in Ali in the future to shed some grams) But I’ll add some weight saving holes to these for now before painting and fitting them.
Shown on a deck drilling template;
Hole centres are pretty accurate;
M6 Countersunk bolts (same size as the binding bolts) go through the deck and hold the box down via these ‘Grommet Mounts’. (Bolts will be cut down to length).
Vibration dampened, will allow for flex, easy to mount and detach box and it is ridiculously solid and secure! May be overkill, but I’m an Industrial Engineer so that’s what I usually do!
Nice bonus is that I can carry the whole board with the box’s carry handle if I want 
Might get a shoulder strap for the box too.
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And the underbox lighting;
Just sticky back LED strip, cut into segments, wired together and cleaned up with liquid electrical tape (I’m liking this stuff, very useful).
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Very cool! Lots of work done. All very clean. I like it a lot. And I love the underbox lighting idea.
Won’t it be too much work to detach the box? It wouldn’t work for me. I would definitely loose the bolts.
Thanks! There does seem to be a bit of a never ending list, but I can see the light…
Box is quick and easy enough to detach. Just 4 Allen screws, with no nuts on the other side to hold, they just wind straight in and out. And you just put them back in the Grommet Mounts after removal to keep them safe. Strength and security came first, detach-ability second.