Suggestions for first time build, max budget ~$1500AUD

Hey all,

I first came across the idea of buying an electric longboard a couple months ago after seeing the Boosted Boards in various videos on YouTube and it wasn’t long till I was hooked on the idea of owning one. Due to the fact that I live in a very hilly city (Wellington, NZ) I realised that I would probably need the 2000W model which unfortunately is out of my price range once you take into account shipping, customs and USD/NZD exchange rate. At this stage I decided to start looking around to see what sort of custom options there were out there and this is when I came across Enertion and decided I’d be better off building something myself (plus I’m really into new technology and building stuff anyway).

Anyway… I’m wanting to build something that will be used primarily for commuting to work/uni on a daily basis so I’m hoping to be able build something with the following:

  • At least 15 - 20KM range
  • ~40KM/h top speed
  • Dual motors (due to Wellington having some pretty decent sized hills)
  • Regenerative braking (especially for when going downhill)
  • Some level of water resistance would be ideal so I can still use it when there’s been a bit of rain recently

I’ll probably look at buying a deck locally and Enertion’s dual motor mechanical mounting kit looks like the sort of thing I’m after (I think?), so it’s really just down to the motors, motor controller, battery, remote control and anything else I may need.

I’ve seen Enertion’s dual motor power kit on their website as well which I think looked pretty much like what I’d be after but unfortunately they’re no longer being sold. Does anyone know if you can get anything similar anywhere? Otherwise I understand that they’re developing a new version of this kit, does anyone have an ETA on when this is expected to be available? I’ll likely be looking to do the build late February so I’m not in a massive rush to buy everything just yet.

Coming back to my budget, I’d ideally like to buy parts from Australia if possible due to shorter shipping times to New Zealand and the better exchange rate compared to the US (free shipping like Enertion provides would obviously be ideal :stuck_out_tongue: ). My budget is probably $1500AUD max at this stage (less would obviously be better) but I can hold off on buying parts a little longer and push my budget a bit higher if necessary.

Any thoughts, recommendations, links to parts etc would greatly appreciated :slight_smile: Cheers!

I think you can’t go wrong with Enertion, you’re already in the same hemisphere :wink: I think you’ll really be pushing your budget by going for dual motors.

I’m a big guy (1.9m - 95kg) and I was surprised only one R-SPEC 6355 motor was capable of dragging me up some pretty decent hills. I get around 20km out of my configuration and haven’t had the balls to find out the top speed yet. Certainly over 40kph.

If I had your budget I’d probably go for a single motor setup with a big motor, a VESC, 12S Lipo’s and a Nunchcuk. I’d try to get hold of a cheap deck and take it from there. You could get a fat motor from Hobbyking to economize.

Don’t forget that depending on your setup you’ll need an enclosure, charger and various smaller components such as (bullet)connectors, wire, fuses, heat shrink, hot glue, screws, double-side tape, velcro, thread-locker as well as tools to assemble everything. Those seemingly small things also add up.

As you know we offer complete mech kits online for building single or dual motor. If you go single get the 6374 motor and a 12mm wide belt.

Here is single motor mech kit: http://www.enertionboards.com/diy-electric-skateboard-kits/enertion-single-motor-mount-pro-kit/

& dual motor: http://www.enertionboards.com/diy-electric-skateboard-kits/enertion-dual-motor-mount-pro-kit/

currently the electronics kit is being redeveloped, all components have been upgraded & the kit will be offered again eventually. Until then you may all of these new parts now seperatley. Battery: http://www.enertionboards.com/electric-skateboard-parts/space-cell-electric-skateboard-battery/ Motor: http://www.enertionboards.com/electric-skateboard-parts/190kv-electric-skateboard-motor/ 6374 motor: http://www.enertionboards.com/electric-skateboard-parts/6374-190kv-electric-skateboard-motor/ Speed controller: http://www.enertionboards.com/electric-skateboard-parts/vesc-beta-membership/ Wireless Hand controller: http://www.enertionboards.com/electric-skateboard-parts/2-4ghz-radio-hand-controller/

Thanks for the replies guys. Although I’m considering going to a single motor for now (I guess I can always add an extra motor later after all) but I’m just worried that even if I go for a larger motor, using a single may not be enough for the hills. The main hill between work and home is at least a KM long, do you expect this could be an issue with a single motor setup? I’m also wondering, can you connect two motors to a single VESC or do you need a separate one for each motor? Thanks :slight_smile:

Seperate VESC for each motor.

Ok, thanks lox897. Following up on my previous comment, if I was to go with a single motor setup, would Enertion’s 6372 motor be suitable for a fair bit of decent uphill riding or would I need to find something more powerful? If so, any recomendations would be greatly appreciated :slight_smile: Also, if I did decide to go with Enertion’s single motor, would it be small enough such that I would be able to mount a second motor on the same truck at a later point or would my only option at that stage be to mount a second motor on the other truck? (assuming that I use the trucks and other parts included in Enertion’s motor mechanical kit). Thanks

Edit: should probably also mention that I weight around 90KG

I think one enertion motor at 12s would be alright. No, it wouldn’t fit on the same truck. You could use enertions mounts and have them diagonally though.

You might find this recent comparison of the Dual & Mono Raptors interesting.

This is the first time I have had the MONO & DUAL Raptors Side-by-side…

WHAT WOULD YOU PREFER?

Here is a quick summary of things to consider.

  1. The mono is much lighter!
  2. The mono is much cheaper!
  3. The mono has a surprisingly huge amount of power! more than I expected - the 6374 is lush
  4. The mono has a surprisingly MUCH better “fuel economy” I haven’t got a solid number yet but it’s way more efficient than the dual… maybe 40km range?
  5. The torque output of the mono feels much more usable & human-centric than the dual drive… the dual drive is just nuts! nuts in a good way… but sometimes times you forget how much power it has and you nearly shit your pants.
  6. If you weigh under 80KG you probably don’t need dual drive.
  7. Mono can climb hills aggressively too, especially if you weigh <80kg.
  1. If you are a bigger person like over 100kg you will need Dual Drive.
  2. If you want to climb hills, really fucking steep hills - really fucking fast, you need a dual drive.
  3. If you have no limit to budget and want the market leading, ball-tearing, adrenaline-pumping torque & speed output of the Dual Drive Raptor… get the Dual Drive.

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Thanks for the input guys. I guess then at this stage that I’m leaning more towards a single 6372 motor setup for now, with the possibility of upgrading to a dual diagonal setup later on. I’d still greatly appreciate input from anyone with personal experience of hill climbing with a similar single motor setup though :smile:

Ok so assuming that I was to buy my own deck and apart from parts for mounting, would this be pretty much everything else that I’d need? Also curious as to why my cart is adding GST if I’m buying from New Zealand?

Thanks

The single 6372 is is beast, so you should be able to tackle some hills.

I’m able to go up the steepest hills I’ve found locally with a single 6355. Keep in mind I’m only about 65kg though, and although the hills are steep, they aren’t very long.

Only Australian customers with Australian billing addresses pay GST, so maybe try entering your country in the shipping quote section to see if the GST is removed.

If it is not removed make sure you don’t have some IP address cloaking/proxy thing that makes your IP look like it’s in Australia.

if you GST is still being added let us know.

Thanks for the info guys.

Is anyone able to tell me if the trucks in the Enertion mechanical single motor pro mount kit would mount to this board without any issues? http://www.hyperride.co.nz/product/longboard-decks/399/wake-deck-blue-38/1178393/detail

Cheers

Yesno! Of course you could mount them, but maybe not in the way the manufacturer has thought of it. You have chosen a drop mount deck where you stick the baseplate of the truck trough the deck. That is not ideal for an eboard, because you lower it and you can get problems with ground clearance. Second problem could be that the motor hits the deck when you go for a drop through deck. You can always do a top mount but the holes in the deck will stay and weaken it. I would recommend a traditional top mount deck because of clearance reasons. Cheers

Thanks Tarzan, yea I was planning to do a top mount because of the reasons you stated. How likely is it that top mounting the trucks could be an issue in terms of weakening the deck? Obviously a deck designed for top mounting would be more ideal but I’m struggling to find places in NZ that sell longboard decks and the cheapest deck on the website I linked that I like is at least another $100 on top :stuck_out_tongue:

I think that there are some plates witch you can mount to add strength but imo it’s not wise to go with a drop deck and don’t use it. Maybe this is an option for you: http://www.hyperride.co.nz/product/longboard-decks/399/amanda-powell-ursa-minor-deck-38-44/1107760/detail Long wheelbase and a lot of space for electronics under the deck. Okay the design isn’t the sexiest but most of it will be covered by your components. To me it looks like a fun board to ride and the price it totally fair.

Thanks Tarzan, I ended up ordering the trucks/wheels last week as well as the drop through deck I originally mentioned and it’s working really well so far, hopefully board strength won’t be an issue down the line. Have to say I was really happy with how quickly my order from Enertion arrived as well. I’m looking to order everything else I need next week for a mono drive build. Have to say it was a real bummer seeing the other day that the next batch of VESC’s aren’t going to be available till mid April but I understand Enertion is still a very young business, I guess I shouldn’t have waited so long to order everything… :stuck_out_tongue:

Before I do order though, can someone please confirm how exactly you connect the remote to the VESC? Does the VESC have the remote receiver integrated into it or is the receiver a separate component that’s included with the VESC or remote or is the receiver something that you have to buy completely separately? Going on the fact that I’ve currently got a deck and the mono drive pro mechanical mounting kit, is someone able to please specify everything else that I need, just so I can confirm that I don’t miss anything before I make the order? :slight_smile:

@michaelcpg The receiver comes in the same package as the remote. It connects to the vesc via a standard male to male servo cable.

If you did not order, you can fix this, but I just noticed that a motor already comes with the mounts, so you can remove the motor.