As a DownHill rider, I am looking for a solution to bring me back to the top of the hill once I have ended my DH run.
The DH tracks here in the alps are 5 to 15 km long depending on the hills with an average steepness of 8% +/- 4%, and a typical session is 4 to 6 runs for a rider with a “basic” pair of legs like me .
My DH dropped board, including trucks and wheels, is specific for DH and weights 5.2 kg which is already too heavy
as one needs manoeuvrability for precise sliding, drifting and foot braking at high speed (60 km/h +/-).
I have discussed by email with people from Eon : http://www.unlimited.engineering/
They make a pluggable drive where you don’t need to change neither the deck nor the truck, just replace the pair of wheels of the rear truck, yet their drive does not fit below a dropped board and would anyway add at least 1.5 kg to the board.
So they suggested me to look for solution on the web where the battery is in a backpack, connected (by wire) to one (or two) hub motor wheel, that I just have to replace by the DH wheels to ride down the hill and do the reverse to come back. A kind of “lift for DH rider”…with a top speed of at least 20 km/h…
I don’t know if I’ve come to the good place for such a topic and appologize if not.
Below are the pics of my board :
No matter what you do, torque is going to be the big issue. An 8 to 12 deg slope for 15km is enough to tax any setup. If tt were me, I’d do something like this to make easy cheap and be done with it…
Thanks for your answer.
But carrying a drill during a DH run is not actually possible, even in the backpack for safety reasons (even with a back protector).
Here is an introduction to this sport by a famous rider :
Regarding safety, the battery has to be less stronger than my back (+ the back protector), sothat in case of crash on the back, the battery will break and not my back (only one crash on the back after 12 years of DH but still one !).
Concerning the 15 km range, I though that replacable batteries could be an option (let’s say maximum 3 kg in the backpack).
And finaly, if a setup enables 20 km uphill at 20 km/h, which means 4 runs of 5 km), it’s already an ultimate tool for such a sport as it enables a daily training basis.
Nice! what’s the space (height) of the deck in the middle?
Until now I made 3 battery packs (6S2P) which are only 10mm thick, maybe there will be no problem to get it under your deck
What voltage would you like to use? 6S, 8S, 10S, 12S? if you gear the speed for about 30kmh max there will be enough torque to get on these hills but it depends on the motor-esc-battery setup you’re planning.
Do you have some plans if you wanna use esc or vesc? I guess an esc is better for this
The space in the middle is 640 mm (I suppose you talk about the space where you can put your feet: so the total height of the deck minus the dropped head and tail).
But adding weight to the board is a problem as my board is already too heavy for DH (5.2 kg). That is why I’m looking for a backpack solution, unless one put the battery (and motor) inside the board as on your photo.
But this depends on the battery weight : can you tell me the weight of your battery packs ?
For the motor it seems that vesc is best but more complexe to setup…
I have no experience here so I would say that the most reliable over time at this speed (30 km/h) is the best…
@jmasta : good idea ! some people have tried it, but it’s not reliable enough @Surfer : according to my personal dh experience and ride instinct, these “superpower boards” I see on the web are still a little bit too heavy today to develop the same skill level (and fun) as in dh : to have a good “gliding feeling” in a pendulum slide or corner drift together with precision on a narrow road, a setup of maximum 5 kg below your feet and a minimum top speed of 45 km/h is a good starting point for me. But as e-boards evolve quickly today thanks you guys, “dh” and “e” riders will probably develop and share common skills in the near future.
…my snowboard also weights +/- 5 kg, and maybe surfers that need manoeuvrability are also in this weight range…
Great ! it should fit below my board (Landyachtz Evo 2005 version).
So the solution I see now, yet actually not sure it’s possible is :
to go up hill : “plug your battery below my board” and “connect it to a vesc motor controller” connected to a single/dual hub motor wheel (like in eon kit).
to go down hill : unplug and put your battery and the hub wheel(s) in my backpack and go down hill with the dh wheel.
I’ve read that esc is not reliable to carry my weight (180 lbs) uphill and that for such a weight I also need a battery around 300wh capacity. Is it ok ?
I have also looked at this hub motor wheel :
diy-electric-skateboard-kits-parts/torque-single-hub-motor/
But they say “Recommend Rider Weight Uphill – 180lbs”.
Good idea! That should be awesome if you can make the parts so you can take them of.
A 12S 5Ah Lipo pack has 222Wh.
The only thing is if you have 12S with that single 75Kv 83mm hubmotor, the max speed will be like 45km/h!
It should be better if you could find lower Kv hubmotors (around 50Kv) to give you more torque and lower topspeed.
If you go for a dual motor setup it should be fine with the 75Kv but lower should be better because you’re only going uphill with your esk8.
Btw Miami hubmotors seems to be more powerful and better for your application, 3000W each instead of 1800W like the torqueboard.
@bartroosen12 : Thanks for this 3000W hubs (I suppose you still suggest a dual motor with your battery as it is 76kv motors). I see also that they have a VESC :
https://miamielectricboards.com/shop-1/vesc
And it is pre-configured for this motor (good point !), but it is sold out…
@jebe : yes, I have discussed with them by email and it would be my choice for commuting as I have a 15 km straight and flat bicycle path from my job. I’m sure this e-Evo could get me their on time, but for DH it’s clearly too heavy for me. But it’s just for me…
There’s a problem in the market of hub motors: they get very, very hot. Especially in the situation you need them, going uphill. I think carvons are the only ones that van get you the power needed. I mean, everything about this has big problems: a battery that can fit under your board won’t give you much power/range, but that may work. A normal vesc will probably fry in a couple of months, if not before. You need a very high quality one, like vesc x or ollin’s with direct fets and heatsink, or wait for the vesc 6.
Thank’s for this feedback, I may buy this vesc x if it is available :
http://www.enertionboards.com/electric-skateboard-parts/vesc-x-programmable-brushless-motor-controller/
But I fear I will have to configure it myself…
Concerning the power/range, as I said before, if speed can be only 20 km/h for a range of only 5 km, it’s already not so bad… ok not a “premium DH lift” but still a kind of dh lift…I’ll purchase more batteries…
I mean it is anyway much more reliable than going back up the hill by feet, or hitchiking, or by car with your GF when she’s ok, or with your dh buddies when they are available…
Tracks are most of the time 8%, never more than 12%, and at least I can walk on the parts above 8% if they are too much for the motor…
Configuring the vesc is the easiest part, you just set parameters on the app, ask for some experts on the forum, they will gladly help you
Constant 8% on hubs is gonna heat up a lot, we usually don’t go uphill constantly. If I was you, I would buy some carvon motors, get a custom lipo slim pack and double vesc x. It’s gonna cost some money, but it should get the job done
But actually why would you go for vesc (with about 60A max) and not for a higher amp esc like a 12S 120A: diy-electric-skateboard-kits-parts/torqueboards-12s-120a-car-esc-opto-hv/
2 x ESC for 250€
I’m sure these can handle much more than vesc and the thing is vesc is very good for cruising and has better brakes and… so better in places like the city.
You only need to go uphill and need a lot of power.
Why not going for a belt drive? and just remove the belt if you go down the hill?
But yeah carvon has a really nice new design of hubmotors
.
My DH dropped board, including trucks and wheels, is specific for DH and weights 5.2 kg which is already too heavy
as one needs manoeuvrability for precise sliding, drifting and foot braking at high speed (60 km/h +/-).
I have discussed by email with people from Eon : http://www.unlimited.engineering/
They make a pluggable drive where you don’t need to change neither the deck nor the truck, just replace the pair of wheels of the rear truck, yet their drive does not fit below a dropped board and would anyway add at least 1.5 kg to the board.
So they suggested me to look for solution on the web where the battery is in a backpack, connected (by wire) to one (or two) hub motor wheel, that I just have to replace by the DH wheels to ride down the hill and do the reverse to come back. A kind of “lift for DH rider”…with a top speed of at least 20 km/h…
I don’t know if I’ve come to the good place for such a topic and appologize if not.
Below are the pics of my board :
