Hey all! I’m a longtime ES/ESK8 lurker, DIY enthusiast and web developer living in Sweden. About a year ago a saw a video on kickstarter promoting the "Inboard (or Monolith as it was called then) and I had a project in school where I could research and build anything I would like, so I decided to pursue my dream of having an electric longboard. I had no awareness of this forum at the time so I had too watch a lot of videos, do my own research and ask a lot. (Thanks a lot @onloop & @torqueboards for helping me out)
The board was built about half a year ago and I didn’t want to post until I had some experience, videos and picture to show you all. After learning a lot of the forum I know I could have done things a lot better but for my first build I was very happy. Let me introduce you to “Bigboi”.
Technical Details Top Speed: 41km/h (GPS measured, picture for proof down in the picture section) Range: 4-5km, 8-10km with both packs. (I tend to ride very aggressive, with lots of hills) Battery: 2x 6s Lipo 5000mAh Packs ESC Overheating: Never Motor Overheating: Once, belt was way to tight Wiiciever dropping connection: Sometimes, mostly not very stable connection
Parts Board: Apex 40 (Double Concave) by Original Skateboards (Nose Guards came with the board) Mechanical Kit: Old Version of a welded single mechanical kit from @torqueboards
Motor: Turnigy SK3 245kv Outrunner Battery: 4x [Turnigy 5000mAh 3S 20C Lipo Pack ] (Radio Control Planes, Drones, Cars, FPV, Quadcopters and more - Hobbyking)(I made 2 packs, each one containing 2 Batteries in Series.) Battery Voltage Checker: 2x HB LiPo Voltage Checker ESC: TorqueBoards 120A 6S ESC Remote Controller: Nyko Kama + Wiiciever Connectors: A lot of 4mm HXT Connectors ( for Connecting packs in parallel and series)
Enclosure: 2x Random Plastic Box MISC; Jumper Cables, 1.5cm Raisers, Blue LED, Banana Plugs, Velcro, Rubber Rings
Pictures
Karma v1First Enclosure - The heart ESC, Wiiciever, Random blue LED for showing if the board is on and an on/off switch. Power was taken from the Wiiciever
Second Enclosure - The Power 6s 5000mAH Lipo Battery pack with 2x Voltage Checkers with alarm, I carry an extra in my backpack for longer range.
Remote Controller, the Nyko Kama
GPS measured Top Speed
Me trying to hide my smile after finally building the board.
I also made a teaser video for my project.
Lessons I learned
The Good Daaaaaaaaaaamn, this is the most fun, learning experience I have ever had. I had no prior knowledge about building anything like this. I had some basic knowledge about electrical engineering and the physics behind a Brushed DC Motor. But everything else I learned by reading and watching videos from you guys. I learned more in this project than I did in 3 years in school. Thanks a lot to all the people sharing their knowledge and experiences!
The Bad I started out wearing a helmet, gloves and a lot of clothes, but I soon found myself riding without any of these things. That all changed when I read @RunPlayBack article about safety and why it is so important. It really got to me and eversince I have never ridden without a helmet. ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET and never let someone try your board without a helmet.
I learned the hard way that LiPos are not the way to go with Esk8, even though a lot of people use them they wear and tear too fast. (Talking from my own experience) 6 Months of medium-frequent use and they are not as they used to, it’s also time consuming having to charge 4 battery packs when you could just have a LiIon pack with a bms which would just be plug and play after the pack has been built.
Motor mounts, Belts and having a good drivetrain is VERY IMPORTANT. I have destroyed belts having it too lose, not being able to break by having it too lose and stressing the motor to overheating by having to much tension. I also learned that having a wheel pulley that is exactly centered in the wheel is also very important, having it off center by 1-5mm makes the belt too loose on some parts and too tight on others, NOT GOOD.
Don’t weld your motor mount on to the trucks, no room for making adjustments and getting your drivetrain perfect.
The Future I have learned a lot more things and would like to show you how I fixed my problems but that will need a lot more writing. I have planned to make my own website where I will write more about this.
Until next time, ride safe!