Sooo. The site said “everything you need for building your own electric skateboard excluding the Battery & Motor Controllers.” They neglected to put “board” on that list, which means I am now on the hunt for a cruising or free ride style board, in addition solid twin VESC, remote, charger, and an already built battery pack. I don’t trust myself enough to build the battery. Anyone know where I can buy an enclosed battery pack that I can essentially just slap on my board similar to the space cell? Most of you already know which VESC, remotes, and charger brands to steer clear of and which to trust. Help me out, please. I’m 190 lbs., live in the United States, and need the hill climbing power on these Enertion motors. I’d rather not have to wait until Enertion’s next shipping date. My feet hurt from having to walk everywhere I go.
Warnings or suggestions on
Vesc
Remote
Charger
Built Battery Pack
Board
I don’t think Enertion has much of a wait on batteries at this moment as it’s being shipped from Texas. Like you I didn’t want to build my own battery so I got the spacecell
@barajabali can help with the pack. Charger will come with his pack. TorqueBoards trigger remote or gt2b are good options for a remote. Just google cruiser decks and you will find some nice ones. It is better if they don’t have as much concave and have a wheelbase of at least 25"
VESC’s - stock varies by site. @Chaka’s Ollin site has VESCs (best ones IMO), DIYes also has them (likely not in stock) check w/ Enertion as they have Tx distribution now - you can get them used here from folks, but beware some folks try to take advantage and may try to charge more than a new one is worth (like $250 ea).
A couple options i know of in the states. Besides @barajabali, you can check out DIYes, and Miami electric. Both have some 18650 “space cell like” batteries - plug n play w/ BMS. Not cheap, but those li ion’s are nice.
As for Tx/Rx - still the best in my opinion for ultra reliability is the GT2b. Bulky stock, but easy to swap into a smaller 3d enclosure. Buy master cho’s or have one of the other’s made (Bad wolf (thin walls and don’t recommend), mad munkey, or baby buffalo (thumb throttle) variants). Rock solid and after swapped into 3d printed enclosure - pocketable.
Where in the US are you and what kind of hills?
Warnings for your list:
VESC - just program it per the step by step guides and if you are in the 8-10s range you’re golden. if you want FOC or 12s it may need further settings adjustment or tweaking.
Remote - GT2b. Only one i recommend. Too many crashes of late due to poor connection and weird full accel or full brakes at loss of signal.
Charger - if you get a Space cell type pack (18650 cells li-ion) w/ BMS - you need the correct charger for that pack, but it’s plug-n-play simple. If you go another route, with balancing cells like lipo packs (cheaper btw) - the entry level charger i suggest is the Imax B6ACv2. beware the cheap clones.
Board - like asking if you like redheads, or blondes, or brunettes better. Totally personal preference. In wide strokes - what kind of board do YOU like? Stiff or flexy? (Flexy adds complexity to be clear). Downhill / stiff symmetrical, or flexy cruiser, or kick tail, or … ? Absolutely the best part of DIY is taking what you like and making it electric!
And that is my point. If you charge and discharge to the correct voltages neither are a huge risk. Now if you over charge or discharge then we can create problems in many chemistries. i see no more danger in properly used lipos than lions.
Thanks Guys. I’ve some good info on where to look now. I’ll spend a little extra on the li-ion. I prefer the more forgiving option. Fatigue makes me sloppy sometimes and a wider margin of error is useful to me. Once I have purchased what I pick out I’ll post and give updates on my build.
I am based in NYC but I travel all over for work. I’m usually gone 2 months each time. So basically, all the hills in all the major cities need to be commuted with my build. They fly me out and put me up but I have to get myself around.
Yeah that is a good point. Has anyone traveled with a diy board. You should probably check into that if they need the capacity certified or marked or anything. That’s why boosted board has 99wh battery standard.
nothing over 99 watt hours is allowed on a plane the last time i checked. Not even to ship it when you don’t have IATA certifications which i’m sure almost nobody on this forum has, which is why i ship everything via ground. They’re much more lenient with ground shipping.
