I might, just need some snow to test with :). I might be going to Boulder, CO early next year. If I do, Ill take these with me and see how well they work.
MTB is more or less snow proof now with all electronics placed in a 206 ultra box and sealing all exits (cables) with silicone kit.
Open belt drive is not suitable though. Both my belts snapped yesterday after 20 km, not because it was worn down but because water/snow froze in between the teeth of the pulley, causing the belt tension to increase suddenly.
Considering moving to chain drive.
I was actually thinking about picking up a LY snowskate not sure if Iâd electrify it or wear a mini paramotor backpack and turn into kite snowskate
Snowboards?
shhhh⌠My Secrets
I donât know how @wafflejock does it cause my first ride in Chicago with snow on the ground ended in the death of my board lol. To be fair my board wasnât waterproofed enough and I probably should have tried to avoid snowy patches more. Pretty much what happened was I was riding down a bike path which was mostly salted but a couple patches werenât and the wheels just shot snow all over the bottom of the deck and enclosure. The only reason I checked was because suddenly I had little acceleration and only one wheel was spinning. Eventually the board started smoking but thankfully didnât catch on fire. You can see in the pics the peeled paint from where it got so hot. So far I killed a VESC, my 12S BMS, GT2B receiver and I think my LiPos or at least there balance leads.
I had problems with snow in MN and IA I siliconed the bottom and it still seaped in over time so over last summer built a custom carbon fiber board witch is waterproof to the slush and rain unless you submerged
lol i have a mellow. where did you get those wheels?
Haha, the trick is I just constantly replace things and it keeps working
Iâve definitely toasted a receiver from water damage, also rode with it wet for a while cause I was far from home, have also electric taped the antenna back on the receiver in the past (before switching to 2.4GHz ones). So I have my fair share of struggles just sweep it under the carpet and move forward
My electronics enclosure now isnât completely water tight but it is significantly closer to it (only small gaps where the wires go in/out now, could fill those with glue or epoxy, but I like having things sort of temporary and easy to change)
But I donât wanna constantly replace things lol. When I redo my board and enclosure I plan to make it as waterproof as possible to avoid situations like this. Though Iâm still worried about the salt damage to my hubs and trucks as I could already see it rusting on my truck bolts. Canât imagine the damage to a geared build and the naked motor casings.
^^ this is my electronics enclosure it works well for VESC4+receiver+bluetooth
So far I havenât had any water damage in that one but Iâm also more cautious now since I have broken a lot of things and despite enjoying building I also like to be able to ride and use the board for getting around so I hear you.
Regarding the motor being exposed⌠it has suffered some damage but honestly less than I would expect. You can see my motor mount has taken some scrapes over time but luckily it sticks out more than the motor itself so it has eaten the brunt of the hits. The motor itself is pretty crusty feeling when turning by hand now but I canât get the screws out to take the can/housing off the motor to clean the bearings so I think itâs just going to be crusty until it dies (I soaked it in alcohol to get out what I could but canât get it apart it seems). Also I have only had 1 belt break on me (pretty sure it was a 9mm) and was early on when I didnât have things tensioned properly and I just wore through the teeth on it from things skipping while braking over time. I have seen other people with pictures of rocks and the like stuck in the belt but have somehow dodged that bullet so far.
Looking at the pics in more detail my guess is the BMS or where the balance leads connect to the BMS got shorted from the salty water once it got hot enough something desoldered and made the short worse possibly or just low enough resistance in the salt water for enough current to flow to start cooking things. Does make me think I should try and do some rudimentary experiments with the street salt and see how low the resistance is and if that could be an issue given the voltage our batteries are putting out.
On the plus side Iâd guess the cells are fine the balance leads toasted but likely it wasnât under high discharge for very long before the wires were completely fried and disconnected. Also good you had some space between the BMS and the cells so likely it didnât do too much heat damage and like you said you didnât have to deal with a lithium fire which is a bonus
Iâd give the receiver another shot after it all completely dries out if you still have it, looks like it just got a little scorched from the outside. One I had that got wet acted really finicky while wet⌠makes sense probably reading values completely wrong but anyhow after drying out some it came back to life (still not super trustworthy after that but it may work).
Yep. Riding an esk8 in the snow is no different than driving a car in the snow. Is it less convenient to ride in the snow? Sure, of course it is. Itâs also less convenient to drive a car in the snow. There is a secret trick though, if you know it you can drive through anything. Go slow. Thatâs it. Slow down. If you go slower and pay attention you can ride a skateboard through the snow. And if something breaks, then you know what needs to be made more robust