**Project Inertia**
Hello everyone! I’m somewhat new to the forums and have been lurking about, soaking up information like a sponge in an effort to create my first electric longboard. Being 32 with a sense of adventure (and too much time on my hands) I fell in love with the concept of an electric skateboard! However, the mechanical engineer in me knew there were going to be some hurdles to overcome.
My Goals:
-Able to easily accelerate a 220lb adult to top speed
-Able to reach speeds of 20-25mph on a 20% incline effortlessly
-Able to reach speeds of 30-35mph on flatland
Ultimately, I want to create a deck that was tuned just right for me, a thrill to ride, consistently reliable, able to go the distance, and at the same time try to focus on keeping costs down. Achieving all of these goals is going to take some balance, and some sacrifices will have to be made.
Parts List:
Deck: Earthwing SuperGlider (with grip tape)
Trucks: DIYElectricSkateboards 180mm Faux Paris RKP trucks
Wheels: DIYElectricSkateboards 83mm Faux ABEC 11 Flywheels
Motor: Single Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 6364 245kv 2700w Brushless Outrunner
Motor Mount: DIYElectricSkateboards 63mm truck-welded motor mount
Motor Pulley: DIYElectricSkateboards 14T, 16T, 18T
Wheel Pulley: DIYElectricSkateboards 44T
ESC: DIYElectricSkateboards 12s 120A ESC
BEC: DIYElectricSkateboards 12s UBEC
Tx/Rx: Fly Sky GT-2B transmitter/receiver
Batteries: 2x Turnigy 5s1p 5000mAh 20-30c (10s2p 5,000mAh)
Enclosure: Vaultz locking pencil box (Internal dimensions: 5.5" H x 8.25" W x 2.5" D)
This is where I thought the list was going to end….but more electronics were needed to hook it all up!
Switch: DIYElectricSkateboards blue illuminated on/off switch
Cables: 2x HXT 4mm series connector
How do I know how much battery I have left, current I’m drawing, and also….How do you (efficiently) charge multiple LiPo’s once they hit low voltage?
Wattmeter: Turnigy 130A inline wattmeter
Charger: iCharger 208B
Balance Board: 4mm HXT 2-6s parallel charging board
Power Supply: Hobby King 350w 100-120v power supply
All together including the deck, mechanical components, electrical components, charging equipment, shipping/tax and even the threadlock I used to secure everything, the entire build comes to $1,082. (Yikes!)
Things that I’d like to add:
-Two more 5s 5000mAh batteries for backup power
-90mm ABEC 11 Flywheels
-36T wheel pulley
-LED array
Notes on the Build:
I wanted a top mounted maple deck with a kicktail and a slight concavity to it. I went top mounted so that I’d easily be able to secure my “guts” under the board in an effort to keep it clean. Maple tends to be more rigid than bamboo, giving added stability when moving quickly. The slight curvature of the deck will help me dig into turns at speed, and also have the kicktail assist for even tighter turning radius at slower speeds. For my purposes, the Earthwing SuperGlider seemed the most suited for handling higher speeds as well as rougher terrain (Western NY is known for its 2 seasons…Winter and Construction). My next deck will be a similarly shaped, plain $40 deck.
I went with the 83mm wheels because I couldn’t wait for the vendor to stock the 90mm flywheels lol! I will be getting the 90’s in to see if I like feel and also test how the larger wheels will affect the performance of the board. I got 180mm trucks as they seem to be pretty standard in the eboard community. Obviously a wider base gives better stability at high speeds, but also increases weight.
I went with Torque’s motor mount because a welded mount has the potential to be stronger than other bolt/clamp methods. Skateboards undergo a lot of mechanical vibrations that slowly loosen screws, nuts and bolts. “That’s what threadlock is for, ya clown!” I agree, but the less threaded pieces, the better IMO. Also, it seemed cheaper to have Torque pre-fab that motor mount for me than get my grumpy drunk of a local welder (who never returned my calls) to do it.
It was important for me to get a handful of different pulleys, so that I could swap them out and find my ideal build. There are very hilly areas around me, but the city is also close and very flat. Maybe two different, interchangeable builds would be fun to play with depending on the scenario.
Choosing the motor was one of the toughest parts to this project. Everyone fears that they will burn up their motor after a week, or the opposite, fear that the motor will go ripping down the street without them! Enertion has a helpful video where they compared dual SK3 to dual 50mm, in similar test settings, and showed each motors strengths and weaknesses. The “winner” of their comparison was the 50mm, but not in my eyes. I plan to run a 10s battery setup which would push the SK3 into its ideal operating range, pushing it into a high speed/high torque performer. In the video, they were only using a 6s battery. With me being 6’4” and an average of 200lbs (220lbs with camera gear/backpack) a motor with some strength is needed. I never want to feel underwhelmed when riding my board.
As far as my electronics go…forward compatibility is important if you want to build something that you can easily make better. If I were to go with a 10s battery and a 10s rated motor, ESC and BEC and then wanted to upgrade to 12s…well it’d be expensive to replace the motor, ESC and BEC! With that in mind I went with the 12s ESC and UBEC from DIYElectricSkateboards.com even though I’m only pushing 10s.
When picking out my transceiver the Quantum immediately caught my eye due to its size compared to most of the others. After researching them more, I noticed that they suffered poorly from wear over time as well as many people reporting signal failure due to interference. With the dangers of falling in traffic, and face planting at 35mph, getting a rock solid signal is paramount to a transceiver and should be the number one priority in choosing one. The features should come second. For now, I’m going with the tried and true GT-2B. The only bad thing that I’ve ever heard about this Tx is that it’s too big. To solve that problem, I plan to remove the plastic casing and make a custom pocket sized enclosure for it. Details to come…
The batteries that I chose are two of the Turnigy 5s 5Ah LiPo’s. I’ll be wiring them in series to achieve a 10s1p 5Ah power source. I’m not sure if 5Ah will be enough capacity, but that’s what I’m going with for now. 2 of these are about a hundred bucks after shipping, so the cost of having “extra batteries” isn’t cheap. They do fit VERY nicely into the Vaultz locking pencil box with room for my other electronics and wiring. Whether or not I will actually use the pencil box as an enclosure in the final build is yet to be determined.
The switch could have been something as simple as a little black pushbutton…but what’s the fun in that?! The blue luminescent on/off button looks pro, and as long as your enclosure isn’t a plastic shopping bag, people will be impressed
! One of the included series connectors will be used to wire the batteries in series (duh), and the other will be used to connect the on/off button to the circuit.
I was nicely asked to leave a RC shop because I was there asking questions for over an hour and obviously wasn’t going to be buying anything from them, so I guess I don’t blame them. I don’t have much experience in the RC world, so sourcing all of these RC components was a bit of a learning curve. For example, I didn’t realize that Lipo’s need a specific type of charger. This isn’t your average rechargeable AA charger either…..oh no! It’s a sophisticated computer controlled charger which would be very familiar to an electrical engineer, but initially daunting to any beginning hobbyist. On top of that, the charger needs a power source, of which, Hobby King doesn’t sell the power cable to. So BE PREPARED to do some research! Unless of course you already know this stuff, then you should be balancing charges and supplying power like a boss. look at me talking about things like I know whats going on....
Anyways, that’s the build as-is. I’m still waiting for components to come in the mail so pictures are yet to come! Please let me know what you think. Any and all feedback is appreciated! I’d honestly like to know what people have to say about potential gearing options or ideas to ultimately make this build more fun to ride!
Thanks,
Hightower
Lots of respect goes out to Torqueboards for always having answers to my questions, and for helping me get from point A to Z with this build!
I also want to thank everyone on the Endless Sphere forums for being such intellectual contributors.
“Hard play is hard work; you’re just having too much fun to realize it.”
Hello everyone! I’m somewhat new to the forums and have been lurking about, soaking up information like a sponge in an effort to create my first electric longboard. Being 32 with a sense of adventure (and too much time on my hands) I fell in love with the concept of an electric skateboard! However, the mechanical engineer in me knew there were going to be some hurdles to overcome.
My Goals:
-Able to easily accelerate a 220lb adult to top speed
-Able to reach speeds of 20-25mph on a 20% incline effortlessly
-Able to reach speeds of 30-35mph on flatland
Ultimately, I want to create a deck that was tuned just right for me, a thrill to ride, consistently reliable, able to go the distance, and at the same time try to focus on keeping costs down. Achieving all of these goals is going to take some balance, and some sacrifices will have to be made.
Parts List:
Deck: Earthwing SuperGlider (with grip tape)
Trucks: DIYElectricSkateboards 180mm Faux Paris RKP trucks
Wheels: DIYElectricSkateboards 83mm Faux ABEC 11 Flywheels
Motor: Single Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 6364 245kv 2700w Brushless Outrunner
Motor Mount: DIYElectricSkateboards 63mm truck-welded motor mount
Motor Pulley: DIYElectricSkateboards 14T, 16T, 18T
Wheel Pulley: DIYElectricSkateboards 44T
ESC: DIYElectricSkateboards 12s 120A ESC
BEC: DIYElectricSkateboards 12s UBEC
Tx/Rx: Fly Sky GT-2B transmitter/receiver
Batteries: 2x Turnigy 5s1p 5000mAh 20-30c (10s2p 5,000mAh)
Enclosure: Vaultz locking pencil box (Internal dimensions: 5.5" H x 8.25" W x 2.5" D)
This is where I thought the list was going to end….but more electronics were needed to hook it all up!
Switch: DIYElectricSkateboards blue illuminated on/off switch
Cables: 2x HXT 4mm series connector
How do I know how much battery I have left, current I’m drawing, and also….How do you (efficiently) charge multiple LiPo’s once they hit low voltage?
Wattmeter: Turnigy 130A inline wattmeter
Charger: iCharger 208B
Balance Board: 4mm HXT 2-6s parallel charging board
Power Supply: Hobby King 350w 100-120v power supply
All together including the deck, mechanical components, electrical components, charging equipment, shipping/tax and even the threadlock I used to secure everything, the entire build comes to $1,082. (Yikes!)
Things that I’d like to add:
-Two more 5s 5000mAh batteries for backup power
-90mm ABEC 11 Flywheels
-36T wheel pulley
-LED array
Notes on the Build:
I wanted a top mounted maple deck with a kicktail and a slight concavity to it. I went top mounted so that I’d easily be able to secure my “guts” under the board in an effort to keep it clean. Maple tends to be more rigid than bamboo, giving added stability when moving quickly. The slight curvature of the deck will help me dig into turns at speed, and also have the kicktail assist for even tighter turning radius at slower speeds. For my purposes, the Earthwing SuperGlider seemed the most suited for handling higher speeds as well as rougher terrain (Western NY is known for its 2 seasons…Winter and Construction). My next deck will be a similarly shaped, plain $40 deck.
I went with the 83mm wheels because I couldn’t wait for the vendor to stock the 90mm flywheels lol! I will be getting the 90’s in to see if I like feel and also test how the larger wheels will affect the performance of the board. I got 180mm trucks as they seem to be pretty standard in the eboard community. Obviously a wider base gives better stability at high speeds, but also increases weight.
I went with Torque’s motor mount because a welded mount has the potential to be stronger than other bolt/clamp methods. Skateboards undergo a lot of mechanical vibrations that slowly loosen screws, nuts and bolts. “That’s what threadlock is for, ya clown!” I agree, but the less threaded pieces, the better IMO. Also, it seemed cheaper to have Torque pre-fab that motor mount for me than get my grumpy drunk of a local welder (who never returned my calls) to do it.
It was important for me to get a handful of different pulleys, so that I could swap them out and find my ideal build. There are very hilly areas around me, but the city is also close and very flat. Maybe two different, interchangeable builds would be fun to play with depending on the scenario.
Choosing the motor was one of the toughest parts to this project. Everyone fears that they will burn up their motor after a week, or the opposite, fear that the motor will go ripping down the street without them! Enertion has a helpful video where they compared dual SK3 to dual 50mm, in similar test settings, and showed each motors strengths and weaknesses. The “winner” of their comparison was the 50mm, but not in my eyes. I plan to run a 10s battery setup which would push the SK3 into its ideal operating range, pushing it into a high speed/high torque performer. In the video, they were only using a 6s battery. With me being 6’4” and an average of 200lbs (220lbs with camera gear/backpack) a motor with some strength is needed. I never want to feel underwhelmed when riding my board.
As far as my electronics go…forward compatibility is important if you want to build something that you can easily make better. If I were to go with a 10s battery and a 10s rated motor, ESC and BEC and then wanted to upgrade to 12s…well it’d be expensive to replace the motor, ESC and BEC! With that in mind I went with the 12s ESC and UBEC from DIYElectricSkateboards.com even though I’m only pushing 10s.
When picking out my transceiver the Quantum immediately caught my eye due to its size compared to most of the others. After researching them more, I noticed that they suffered poorly from wear over time as well as many people reporting signal failure due to interference. With the dangers of falling in traffic, and face planting at 35mph, getting a rock solid signal is paramount to a transceiver and should be the number one priority in choosing one. The features should come second. For now, I’m going with the tried and true GT-2B. The only bad thing that I’ve ever heard about this Tx is that it’s too big. To solve that problem, I plan to remove the plastic casing and make a custom pocket sized enclosure for it. Details to come…
The batteries that I chose are two of the Turnigy 5s 5Ah LiPo’s. I’ll be wiring them in series to achieve a 10s1p 5Ah power source. I’m not sure if 5Ah will be enough capacity, but that’s what I’m going with for now. 2 of these are about a hundred bucks after shipping, so the cost of having “extra batteries” isn’t cheap. They do fit VERY nicely into the Vaultz locking pencil box with room for my other electronics and wiring. Whether or not I will actually use the pencil box as an enclosure in the final build is yet to be determined.
The switch could have been something as simple as a little black pushbutton…but what’s the fun in that?! The blue luminescent on/off button looks pro, and as long as your enclosure isn’t a plastic shopping bag, people will be impressed
! One of the included series connectors will be used to wire the batteries in series (duh), and the other will be used to connect the on/off button to the circuit.I was nicely asked to leave a RC shop because I was there asking questions for over an hour and obviously wasn’t going to be buying anything from them, so I guess I don’t blame them. I don’t have much experience in the RC world, so sourcing all of these RC components was a bit of a learning curve. For example, I didn’t realize that Lipo’s need a specific type of charger. This isn’t your average rechargeable AA charger either…..oh no! It’s a sophisticated computer controlled charger which would be very familiar to an electrical engineer, but initially daunting to any beginning hobbyist. On top of that, the charger needs a power source, of which, Hobby King doesn’t sell the power cable to. So BE PREPARED to do some research! Unless of course you already know this stuff, then you should be balancing charges and supplying power like a boss. look at me talking about things like I know whats going on....
Anyways, that’s the build as-is. I’m still waiting for components to come in the mail so pictures are yet to come! Please let me know what you think. Any and all feedback is appreciated! I’d honestly like to know what people have to say about potential gearing options or ideas to ultimately make this build more fun to ride!
Thanks,
Hightower
Lots of respect goes out to Torqueboards for always having answers to my questions, and for helping me get from point A to Z with this build!
I also want to thank everyone on the Endless Sphere forums for being such intellectual contributors.
“Hard play is hard work; you’re just having too much fun to realize it.”
. Not pictured is the 350w Power Supply from Hobby King (east usa) that came quickly. I honestly didn't have a single bad experience with HK either, knock on wood! Even the motor that shipped from Shanghai only took a little over a week, surprisingly. They said It would take up to a month, YIKES!
