First and foremost, I have @Gaz, a ‘mate’ of mine to ‘thank’ for getting me into this tangled web of eSk8 and for introducing me to yet another hobby that consumes a huge amount of time, money, patience, frustration, and most importantly, sheer enjoyment. This build has been nearly a year in the making, due to both my isolated location and spare time. I originally had a thread going over here (https://www.electric-skateboard.builders/t/addicted-first-build-here-we-go/44387) but figured I’d tidy it up an little and put up a build thread to bring it all together. After a lot of deliberation, I opted to start the build with a Trampa Urban Carver board. My only intention for this board was to use it completely off-road so I needed a board with good clearance and big tyres. I was fortunate enough to be around when the group buy was offered by @scepterr for the Dark Matter motors and I picked up 2 of them. The natural progression was to then get one of the indestructible enclosed drive units from @Nowind. I love the fact that they are a sealed drive and there is NO WAY of any sticks, rocks, etc getting in the way. I was also fortunate to be around with the group buy for the ESCapes, from @stewii and I picked up 2 of these and then put them into the dual enclosure from @LukePL. The battery pack (including BMS) was built for me by @Marsen and this went into the enclosure from @Eboosted.
When I started the build I was a little pedantic with everything, but, towards the end, I got a little impatient and started to ‘slap’ things together as you’ll see with the pics that show the mounting for the enclosure. This leads me to the name for this post…Great Northern: I live up North, but I also drink a beer called Great Northern. Bush Pig: That’s a term usually used for something rough and ugly and they also live around me (the real ones). I figured this board was an electronic version of a Bush Pig. Anyway, onto the pics…
The beer for up here.
This is the stage of the build where the Bush Pig name came to me.
I spent so much money on this build that I can’t even afford to buy shoes…LOL. In all seriousness, I choose not to wear shoes.
Two of my ‘toys’
Close to completion.
Mounting the enclosure. The point of no return.
The complete board
This box holds the dual ESCapes, remote Rx and bluetooth module. I have a flush mount LED battery meter on the side. The box was originally mounted to the deck with Duo Loc velcro, but it comes loose on the rough tracks so I use a zip tie to help hold it as well. Just adds to the ‘bush pig’ look.
Baby’s got back!
Note: This was my first build and if I were to do this again I would change a few things. Firstly, I’d go with a LaCroix deck from @Arch and I’d also be using the MBS trucks, especially now that @Nowind makes a drive system to suit those trucks.
I just learnt you can only mention up to 10 members in one post…I have to give a HUGE thank you to all the vendors listed above, but also to members like @Andy87, @Deckoz, @rich, @DanSkates, @Cobber who have been a massive help and inspiration to me in a number of ways.
Thanks man. Yep, the battery is back and I’m set to ride. Gotta say that the service from @Marsen is exceptional. He’s a real knowledgeable guy and also has a passion for eSk8. So good to have someone like that here in Australia as trying to get a battery built here in Australia was probably one of the hardest parts of this build.
And yes, it is pretty cool to be riding on bush tracks with no other people in sight. Now that the build is complete, I am really looking forward to exploring a lot more.
Oh, I’m sorry. I made a mistake, I though I had seen a DS enclosure which stands for double stack, in a DS enclosure you can fit double the ammount of batteries for a double the discharge current and double the capacity for really long commutes.
Glad to see the finished build bro ! Did you already ride it?
Also recognized the new ATB hanger in front, nice.
Just a question, is this your sensor wire?
Looks like it’s too tight and you could damage it while turning. Also make sure the cables won’t touch the motors.
If the wires are long enough you could route them at the hanger and route them up in the middle where the kingpin is, then you have almost no stress on the cables. The sensor wires you could extend or use extensions. And add wire mesh. I know it’s a lot of work (especially when you have a running board) but maybe on the next update.
On my board I use threaded inserts with rubber washers between to hold my enclosures.
Yeah man, that’s the sensor wire. Thanks for pointing this out, and also for the recommendations. I’ll go over the wiring today and see if I can improve things a little.
The board is running. I’m still playing with the settings for the ESCapes. Doesn’t seem to have enough ‘power’ for even tiny hills. Batt max is 45 and if I increase that any more, then the ESC gets a little hot. Motor max currently 70. If I understand correctly, I can go up to 120 for the motor max, but I can’t really go any higher with the batt max.
Yes you are correct about the settings. Batt max can be increased as long as the battery/bms can handle it. Due to the lovely alu heatsink case I reckon 60a batt is possibly if the battery is capable. You can also just monitor the temp to see if it gets too hot.
If that doesn’t seem to fix the problem you could try motor max settings or changing the gear ratio a little.
Edit: just checked and I would be very careful as you are currently at the limits of your battery in terms of output. The 30q is rated for 20a and in 4p you can pull 80a max cont. Your set for 45a so I wouldn’t personally go any higher as you run the risk of over current damage if you draw max current for a bit longer than expected (like in a hill or dirt track)
Thanks for the advice. I’ll drop the batt max back to 40 and then play with the numbers for the motor max to see if that helps with the hills. What has me baffled is that other similar builds claim to have no issues with hills and yet seem to run pretty similar numbers to my current settings. I’m only 67kg so it can’t be my weight that is slowing me down.
The beer for up here.
This is the stage of the build where the Bush Pig name came to me.
I spent so much money on this build that I can’t even afford to buy shoes…LOL. In all seriousness, I choose not to wear shoes.
Two of my ‘toys’
Close to completion.
Mounting the enclosure. The point of no return.
The complete board
This box holds the dual ESCapes, remote Rx and bluetooth module. I have a flush mount LED battery meter on the side. The box was originally mounted to the deck with Duo Loc velcro, but it comes loose on the rough tracks so I use a zip tie to help hold it as well. Just adds to the ‘bush pig’ look.
Baby’s got back!
! Did you already ride it?