First Build Log - Esk8Mint (working on that name)

I second another post about the motor. You will go over the Vesc erpm limit with 10s and a 260kv motor. Try to choose one around 190kv. Hobbyking has one I use for about $45. Just search for Keda 190kv

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  1. Thank you for your words for the deck choice! I am aware that I will be mounting the trucks under the deck not through it PLUS risers! Grip tape designing sounds very interesting. I will look into that too myself!

  2. I am thinking of getting a standard lunch box enclosure for now, because I expect myself making many mistakes and opening the enclosure very often. I did take a look at some enclosures like @psychotillerā€™s enclosures and they look so good! Just that for now I will stick to a modular and a bit ugly design until the electronics turn out to be solid and reliable enough for it to be permanently attatched to the board. Just to also mention how im planning to mount it to my board, im planning to put two enclosures, One having the batteries and the other having the rest. Even though my deck wont have much flex I liked the design of having two separate enclosures at each one side. Also in the future Im planning to build extra battery packs!

  3. I will look into the battery selection later today Im outside right now

  4. I was planning to have an anti spark key too, Iā€™m actually probably going to have that first before I even get a power switch for testing purposes. But you mentioned that I save about 90% my money? Can you ellaborate on that? I thought the only difference was simply a switch vs a key. Is there extra wiring and such that im not aware of involved?

  5. The extra tools and small parts like wires and adaptors will be added to my list once my main parts plannings are solid. Plus sottering iron and such tools dont have to be included in the budget, I will need them in my later projects!

  6. As I mentioned on the reply to him above, thank you for the comment! I will consider a much more reliable vesc than my ā€œas cheap as possibleā€ vesc i found myself.

Overall, thank you for the time for your recommendations I greatly appreciate it!

Take a look at this post here by @sl33py. He does a good job of explaining how it works and how you can make one. Iā€™m pretty sure you can also buy them pre-made, but Iā€™m not sure where (hardware stores?). Either way, itā€™s way cheaper than a switch and gets the job done.

Happy to help out. Best of luck on the project. Canā€™t wait to see the finished project.

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Thanks for the info!

I knew what it was and how it worked before I planned my parts list, but I still went with a switch just because it felt easier to use. Also I initially thought that it would look bad if u see a little connector with a loop sticking out of the board while using it.

However, now that I think about it I think those keys are good enough plus they look cool to use (for bragging purposes). I think I might be able to wire my deck up a bit so that I can plug the key inside one of the two holes of the deck that are normally for drop through mounting, and fill the other with a battery capacity indicator! Ideas are flowing through my head right now, but I am still in the planning process for the electronics. Gotta make sure everything i get is reliable and solid.

I will definitely be posting board pictures as I build it up right in this thread!

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firstly: Make sure the loopkey is watertight if youā€™re going to put it in the droptrough hole. maybe a 3d printed cap to put over it or something like that?

secondly: what are you going to use as a casing for the batteries and vesc?

  1. May I ask why it needs to be water tight? In case of rain coming from above or something like that?

  2. As I mentioned above, Iā€™m thinking of getting 2 standard lunch box enclosures for now, so that it can be modular in case I need to fix a lot of things.

I am thinking of getting a standard lunch box enclosure for now, because I expect myself making many mistakes and opening the enclosure very often. I did take a look at some enclosures like @psychotillerā€™s enclosures and they look so good! Just that for now I will stick to a modular and a bit ugly design until the electronics turn out to be solid and reliable enough for it to be permanently attatched to the board. Just to also mention how im planning to mount it to my board, im planning to put two enclosures, One having the batteries and the other having the rest. Even though my deck wont have much flex I liked the design of having two separate enclosures at each one side. Also in the future Im planning to build extra battery packs!

Yeah in case of rain or when thereā€™s puddles. I live in the netherlands which has the same weather patterns as the UK (rain. Lots of it.) so for me itā€™s important averything is waterproof. Or at least rain/splatter-proof.

Modular cases are indeed a good plan for your first board! I accidentally read past the bit where you said that, oops

That actually leads to a question I wanted to ask, since you seem to know a bit about water proofing, what are the recommendations to do so? Just a lot of hot glue/silicone around spots I think have an entry point to the components? Also how do people get their motors water resistant? Isnt it basically a piece of electronic sticking right outside of the board being so vulnerable to everything? I heard hub motors are mostly fine with water (except for the wire parts)

im guessing the motor you mentioned was this one? I like that color! Orange motor with sky blue wheels would look sick! (not to mention im a rocket league/portal 2 fanboy)

EDIT: whoops I meant to reply to @pat.speed

actually, i donā€™t have that much knowledge. Iā€™m also working on my first build right now.

As for waterproofing the motor, idk. Maybe it spins so fast it throws out the water as soon as it touches it?

As for waterproofing the rest: you can use soft silicone where the wires exit and enter the lunchboxes. I believe there are lunchboxes that have a silicone string inside that lid that makes them waterproof anyway.

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I just realized what you said waaaay up there regarding the batteriesā€¦

Iā€™m probably the stupid one here but how is 2 x 3000mAh 5S1P 20C going to be better than 2 x 5000mAh 5S1P 20C? How does the math work? My entire stupid knowledge of batteries come from phone battery capacity stuff where ā€œoh 5000mAh lasts longer than 4000mAhā€

Update that I think I should mention here,

According to some users apparently ZIPPY brand batteries arent the best qualityā€¦ One of them suggest Turnigy. Iā€™m looking at this batteryā€¦ but it is a 25C rated other than the original 20C I planned.

  1. Are Zippy batteries really not the best?
  2. Would changing the 20C to 25C affect anything? I know it determines the peak amps of the battery and all but would it matter since Iā€™m controlling the peak amps and all that with the VESC?

Iā€™m an idiot- you can buy 4x 3Ah 5S1P batteries for about the same price as the 2x5Ah 5S1P batteries. Youā€™ll have a 10S2P setup with 6Ah and a 40C discharge rate. I shouldā€™ve explained better- my bad. As for which battery brands are best, I donā€™t have the most experience with that kind of thing.

  1. Iā€™m going to assume you meant that I will end up having a 10S2P setup with 12Ah and a 40C discharge rate. (correct me if im wrong)
  2. How does the wiring work on that one? Iā€™m guessing 2 pairs of batteries connected in serial connected in parallel or something like that? If thats true, I think I would definitely try using that method!

Yeah youā€™d wire 2 in series and 2 in parallel. Sorry for my piss-poor explanation. As for total capacity, you only add the capacity of batteries when theyā€™re in parallel. This article here (http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/serial_and_parallel_battery_configurations) gives a decent explanation for basic circuit rules. Generally, the more batteries you have in parallel, the more range youā€™re going to have. The more batteries you have in series, the more power you can pull from your batteries (in general).

piss poor explanation is good enough for a dumb brain for me! I will definitely check out the given explanation! I think I am going to go with 4 3000mAh 5S then!

waiwait hold on I understand that total capacity is only calculated when in parallel, but does that mean the range of the board will be equivalent to 6Ah? The sole reason why im considering this was cuz probably the range would be slightly bigger than 10Ahā€¦

No. The range will only be 6ah. You will get slightly more range with the 6ah than you will with the 5ah or were you going to put 2 of those 5ah packs in parallel?

i was going to use the 2 5s batteries as 10Ah 10S so yes in parallel.

Well if you want 10ah and 10s you will need 4 of those batteries. Because 2 in parallel and then 2 in series