Thankfully all low speed low energy, but yesterday a bicycle that was pointing forward suddenly goes right, right into my path. T boned him while yelling “Duuuuuuude!!!”. Wasn’t going very fast so I ran off, and he got laid out. He asked if I was okay, so instead of yelling at him, I grunted, and skated off…
Today, I had a feeling like the remote was glitching, it cleared up, then full brakes. Dust myself off (thanks @michaelcpg for the armored shirt recommendation, @psychotiller on the used TSG Pass) then test on sidewalk, no response on remote. Open it up, and I see burn marks on 1 pin on the receiver (mini 2.4gz, split ppm). It’s intermittent…
I shove the receiver into some corner in the enclosure that puts pressure on the pins, test. Seems okay. Button up, take off sloooowly, and full brakes knocks me off again within 5 feet. Couldn’t run out even though it was like walking speed! I think my body had committed to trying to stay on… Walk to subway…
I think I have slight strains from squeezing various muscles trying to stay on the board (foot, ribs), and some very minor scratches, forarm and knee.
Takeaways:
Flannel armor shirt is amazing for summer (Speed and Strength Rust and Redemption)
Mechanix gloves was sufficient for low speed fall
On eskate I always slam on my front shoulder/hip/knee. Cargo shorts kind of do the job, but just a front kneepad would probably help a lot. Still don’t know about hip – can’t commit to spandex underwear for commuting.
bicycles… My 2 non-equipment-failure crashes were bicycles. #1 crossing against the light super slowly without looking up the road, I was a bit inexperienced, woke up staring at sky, no broken bones, decent amount of rash. #2 t-boned a dude, scratch on forearm. And I had a scare once, someone trying not to put a foot down while stopped at an intersection, he misanticipated my speed/direction, and crashed in my wake.
my super reliable mini remote finally failed me, in a weird weird way. I don’t know how to anticipate/detect/prevent/stay-safe from this failure mode… Gonna repair and retire that receiver, and swap in a spare. I did a lipo mod to this remote. I guess I’ll do the same mod to another remote. Hm what did @lowGuido say? “solder all the things?” I really don’t want to solder the ppm wire to the receiver lol. But the connector was fully seated in the receiver. The burn mark was on the circuitboard at the base of the rightmost pin. Maybe solder joint failed due to wiggling/vibration. Perhaps hotglue to stabilize the next one…
all my eskate crashes, I’ve gone off the front. The numbers suggest I can concentrate on protection on my front side.
I’ve learned from previous crash to carry cellphone and other breakables and sharp hard stuff on the rear side pockets. And no more wristwatch. This is proving wise.
I’m moving to Texas where it’s 105 during the day. I might have to adjust my ride times to accommodate wearing gear. Because at that heat I’m sure it’s miserable. Of course holes in skin is also miserable…
But I swapped receiver/remote, and reused my soldered ppm splitter. Still intermittent! Put it under the microscope, and I see one of the solder joints cracked – not visible to my bare eyes. It looks like the clear reason for the dodgy connection. This splitter has more than 1000 miles on it.
Coincidentally I had ordered some ppm splitter cables from amazon, they had come in yesterday. Not really sure about the quality, but I’ll give it a spin tomorrow. Maybe with the knee pad lol.
There is soot and black spooge on one pin on the receiver at the pcb. Maybe some metal eaten away.
I’ll post pics soon.
My fall was relatively gentle, but the armored flannel did the job, front shoulder is intact, barely felt anything. Feel a bit of a twinge now though.
The flannel flows air really well. I chose this one over ones with more kevlar coverage that looked like they wouldn’t flow air as much.
If you’re moving, it might not be so terrible. Maybe soak it down before heading out
been running my modified mini with a small lipo and dropping diode for a month or so with no issues
fully charged lipo (4.2V) gives about 3.5/3.6v on mini- you could add two diodes for more volt drop
think i charge it about every two weeks but i ride every day.
Cheers
With a diode it will be fine. AA Batterys are fully charged at 1.8V which results in 3.6V for 2 in series. Please check the antenna on the receiver. Maybe it was bended too much.
One of my mini remotes has the problem that the potentiometer on the remote seems to have a loose connection or a fault. When i touch the poti from the side the signal changes dramatically without even turning the poti.
Tried to solder the connections again but did not make a change. My other 2 work great.
Please send piccies of receiver when you get it torn apart.
