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A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home
- trumped 8y agoI would need a full body armor to ride that at full speed...
- exhilaration 8y agoIt looks like your text about the battery options is repeated in the middle of the article.
- autotune 8y agoAs neat as this looks I wouldn't build a DIY electric skateboard for the same reason I wouldn't want to build software for an airplane.
- mlevental 8y agothe donor board section is just the battery section duplicated. you're also missing a really important piece (that I actually don't know anything about re li-po/li-on but do know something about re deep cycle lead-acid) which is the charge controller (i.e. the thing that prevents your battery from blowing up and maiming you).
- chaboud 8y agoPleasantly, good speed controllers already have low-voltage cutoffs. VESC has it, for instance. I believe it’s configurable for cell count, sag, etc.
- aetherspawn 8y agoYou need to keep an eye on the temperature too as the cells are not allowed to go above 60-70C depending on brand before you risk venting.
- keyle 8y agoVery cool but the original board was never designed to go at such speeds. I suspect you'll ruin the wheels fairly quickly, not to mention you might lose control at high speed fairly fast. I'm not a skateboarder myself, but I've moded some bikes and adding speed is the easiest part, making it useful speed is way harder. Also, I hope the engine can go in reverse or this guy has no breaking power; and as he gets comfortable riding it, sooner or later, a surprise will happen and he will have no choice but jump ship.
- hnaccy 8y agoA longboard downhill can easily go over that speed.
- soVeryTired 8y agoBut then you get speed wobbles... https://imgur.com/auUscXX https://imgur.com/auUscXX
- radium3d 8y agoWhen longboarding downhill at high speed you need to put most of your weight on the nose of your board. This will prevent speed wobble completely (may depend on your board.) Source: bombing hills myself
- mcshicks 8y agoYeah I think if you are a downhill skater (I'm not) then maybe you it's not a problem, but seriously if you are not a good skater I really would not recommend going any faster than you can run on one of those things (or even a regular skateboard for that matter), pads or no pads. Source: skating parks for over 30 years (and still suck).
- hug 8y agoWhat you're talking about is yaw inertia, and as another comment points out it's solved by moving the weight to the front wheels. See an explanation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_handling#Yaw_and_pitch_angular_inertia_(polar_moment) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_handling#Yaw_and_pi... And a 30 second visualistion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jk9H5AB4lM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jk9H5AB4lM
- antisthenes 8y agoIf I'm going 50km/h on something, I would at least like it to have proper disk brakes like mid-range and higher bicycles do. Going at those speeds may be fun and all, but you're 1 careless driver away from the hospital, unless you ride on abandoned roads.
- jakecopp 8y agoI agree, but disk brakes won't help you stay on the board!
- loeg 8y agoYeah, lack of brakes on a 50 km/h vehicle is a problem. And in the case of skateboards, lack of handlebars too. That said, disks aren't essential for good bicycle stopping performance. Good rim brakes (like most mid or high end road bicycles) stop just as quickly as disk brakes in dry conditions. Rim brakes are not really an option for long boards, though.
- grogenaut 8y agoWhy not rim brakes, or disc brakes for that matter? Other than lock up which you can control. And why do you need that over e brakes?
- loeg 8y ago> Why not rim brakes, or disc brakes for that matter I don't know how you'd mount a rim brake on a tiny longboard wheel. Disk brakes seem feasible. I'm not a long board person, I don't know what the state of the art is here.
- grogenaut 8y agoLike you would on an old wagon, something that pushes down on the wheel top.
- stinos 8y agolack of brakes Sliding/skidding (where the board is manoeuvred in the direction perpendicular to the movement) will make you loose speed pretty quickly. Apart from that motor can be used to brake. Not sure what exactly is needed for it, but a DIY board I rode once had a dual trigger on the remote, one direction for moving forward, the other one for braking. Pretty convenient though won't stop you as quick as some friction brake. lack of handlebars too. That is only a problem if you either don't know how to steer with the board, or are trying to take sharp turns at too high speed. Both conditions which are equally true for other vehicles, main difference being some vehicles will be able to turn sharper than others given the same speed. And some are easier to control than others. But enough skill can deal with that.
- aurizon 8y agoHey, hit a curb at full speed and learn how to run at 50km/h in 1/2 a second
- mirimir 8y agoMore like slide or roll, I think. I've never been much of a skater. But I've always preferred sliding on my side/butt to flopping around.
- jakecopp 8y agoI've always wanted to make an electric bike out of an electric drill and their batteries. Very easy to source parts, could buy second hand. Could even just friction drive the wheel with the drill!
- mrdmnd 8y agoThat video is 100% filmed on the multi-use path outside google :D
- aurizon 8y agoA known path, say that multi use path, you can work up to 50 km/h, but on streets. strange walks etc, you would soon go beyond your ability to react - been there, fell then, on roller blades at a far lower speed.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- hatsunearu 8y agoOh man. When I had my DIY E-skateboard, it was great fun to play around with that thing. Great vehicle for me to go to school and back. Problem is I kept having electrical noise issues that caused my wireless to cut out. I never figured out how to reproduce it in the lab because it only seemed to happen under certain circumstances (possibly correlated to extremely heavy load, but not always). It caused some dangerous moments... My build used a VESC X (from enertion skateboards, but seems like it was discontinued). The VESC is a nice open source high current motor controller, except the FETs they use are in a pretty dumb package, and the VESC X used an aluminum enclosure that acted as a heatsink for the DirectFETs they used. I also used 2x 4S batteries[1] used for scale cars, because they had an integral plastic box that stopped it from getting pelted by rocks and such (good thing I got it, because I originally mounted it using Velcro and it fucking dropped during a ride and the battery slid for like 100 feet; probably would have exploded without the plastic box). [1] https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-5000mah-4s1p-14-8v-20c-hardcase-pack.html https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-5000mah-4s1p-14-8v-20c-h...
- miquelcamps 8y agoA year ago i've launched a directory where anyone can share their DIY eboard :) http://esk8builds.com http://esk8builds.com
- voxadam 8y agoNice site. On thing I would like is the ability to swipe through the photo albums.
- jimnotgym 8y agoIs a similar thing possible with a micro-scooter? My son would love this as a project if anyone has any resources.
- loeg 8y agoIt's just motors and wheels. No reason it wouldn't be possible with any other wheeled device. Electronic motors + drivetrain are nice and simple compared to petrol engines.
- jimnotgym 8y agoI was having trouble finding the same kind of hub moters sized for scooter wheels... The rest looks trivially similar
- agumonkey 8y ago50km/h is suicide. ps: anybody here owns a gyrowheel ?
- jdavis703 8y agoNo it isn't. The world record is 146.73 km/h (91.17 mph) by Peter Connolly [0]. While most skateboarders never go that fast, downhill racers routeinly hit very high speeds [1]. [0]: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2018/2/watch-this-skateboarder-travel-at-an-incredible-91-mph-at-gravity-sports-event-514670 http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2018/2/watch-this-s... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longboarding#Downhill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longboarding#Downhill
- kevining 8y agoElectric unicycle? I own several. Some will even go over 50 km/h, though I don't dare go that fast. It's just safe to have the extra power when needed.
- agumonkey 8y agoI asked about electric uni not for speed btw. I've seen a few and people were faster than traffic even at moderate speed (in city of course), looked relaxed as fk, the device was small. I don't know about energy efficiency but I was tempted to drop all other mode of transportation after seeing that.
- 8y ago
- amelius 8y agoStill waiting for that hoverboard.
- franciscop 8y agoWe need links to the different parts please: "Motors are relatively easy, just use a wrench to put the wheel in place". This is only true if you find the right type of motor, which is not easy at all IMHO.
- edaemon 8y agoWhile I'm not the OP, I can provide the links to the parts I used for my electric skateboard. The ESC I used is one of those mentioned in the post. Batteries (x2): https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-flightmax-8000mah-5s1p-30c-xt90.html https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-flightmax-8000mah-5s1p-30c... ESC: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-motors-longboard-skateboard-controller-with-remote-ESC-Substitute/302538835504 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dual-motors-longboard-skateboard-co... Motors: https://www.ebay.com/itm/90mm-dual-6364-hub-motors-drive-kit-for-electric-skateboard-longboard-part/302546262750 https://www.ebay.com/itm/90mm-dual-6364-hub-motors-drive-kit... BMS (optional): http://www.batterysupports.com/36v-37v-42v-10s-60a-10x-36v-lithium-ion-lipolymer-battery-bms-p-267.html http://www.batterysupports.com/36v-37v-42v-10s-60a-10x-36v-l... Deck: https://www.skateshred.com/index.php/wholesale-blank-longboard-decks/36-x-9-5-bamboo-drop-through-deck.html https://www.skateshred.com/index.php/wholesale-blank-longboa... This is how I wired them together: https://i.imgur.com/tEI4H0E.jpg https://i.imgur.com/tEI4H0E.jpg It's been working really well for me so far.
- serf 8y agoi've used the Vedder ESC (VESC) that is mentioned in this article for robotics applications. It's fantastic, and the creator/designer is a great guy who is open to helping out tinkerers. It's one of the cheapest off-the-shelf ways to move a bigger hobbyist motor with encoder support that I've found. Nothing but love for it.
- voxadam 8y agoFor robotics and other control applications I highly recommend looking at the Odrive as well.
- walrus01 8y ago> "I have tried Li-ion batteries like Panasonic NCR18650B, LG He4, none are not as good as a cheape Li-po batteries you can get from Ebay. " that's scary as hell considering the battery is likely to take physical abuse. Look at the number of fire incidents caused by drone LiPo charging. There's a reason why serious drone enthusiasts charge their batteries in special battery bags.
- bhhaskin 8y agoI think part of the problem is that people just don't know any better. A battery is just a battery, like any other battery. They don't know that there are different chemistries and physical properties at work.
- paulmd 8y agoI did electric airplanes about 15 years ago, and there were distinct differences in the quality of various brands and models. Airplane usage is very intense, during takeoffs and climbs the propeller is under very intense resistance (effectively stalled) and power consumption is very high. The exact amount depends on your motor windings and your propeller size/pitch, and generally the more current the powertrain will push the better the aircraft would handle. Started with Sub-C car packs, those sucked pretty badly. Then switched to HeCell 2/3A (~2000 mAH?) NiMH cells, those had good capacity but weren't the best discharge rates, they wouldn't do more than 20A peak or so. KAN 2/3AAs had pretty good discharge rates (could do 30-40A peak) but the capacity sucked (1100 mAH). All of these types of batteries tended to die after a season or two of flying, sometimes less than a season, they just couldn't handle that discharge. Finally settled on Sanyo 4/5A FAUP 1950mAh cells, they were expensive as hell (2-3x as much as a cheap pack) but could handle insane amounts of discharge and had good capacity. They were rated to at least 45A continuous discharge and in practice could be pushed up to 75A peak loads without issue. For you whippersnappers, that would be roughly a 40C peak discharge, which LiPos couldn't touch at that time. They were also the only battery that ever lasted more than a season without issue, could easily get two and maybe a third with reduced life. It looks like they're discontinued, which isn't surprising since everything has moved from NiMH to LiPo, but if you were doing really intense discharges like this, they would probably be my cell of choice. I've never seen a cell before or since that could handle that much discharge. LiPos are not always the answer. LiIon is certainly not the answer for a fast-discharge application like this. They are not really any safer than LiPo, the casing is physically stronger but they will explode/burn when ruptured just like a LiPo, and they do not like high-discharge scenarios. Think laptops, not electric motors. Running a motor this big on a LiIon will end poorly, if you're lucky it will only be a fire.
- tempagain567i 8y agoI'm as close to an ebike expert as one can be without being one. This is tangential. Ask me questions if you have any.
- btbuildem 8y agoCool build! My issue with the powered boards is that the motor is both engine and brake - they don't coast when you let off the throttle. With a longboard, coasting is all the fun! I suppose it would be possible to modify the linkage between motor and wheels to be one way (drive) only? Kind of like a freewheel on a bicycle?
- lathiat 8y agoThats purely an implementation issue, it's called "Drag". It can be turned off (in theory) for safety reasons though it's probably not ideal to turn it off.
- lesss365 8y agoLifelong skater here. Learn to actually skate. Electric board riders look like dufuses. Seen quite a few in NYC. Their stances are always way off and unbalanced, seen many who couldn't stop manually, and it goes against/disallows for most of the reasons for having a skateboard. You can't get true ground/board feel while carving, its weight and form prevents execution of flip tricks, it takes away trial and error learning when it comes to learning how to skate because you're not actually skating, etc etc etc. Tired of writing, the main things I wanted to point out are that electric board drivers look like assholes and eletric skateboards are retarded. It's as simple as that. Stop using these things and learn to skate
- lachlan-sneff 8y agoPeople use electric skateboards for transportation, not to do tricks.
- donkeyd 8y agoI used to ride a longboard through the city all the time, not for tricks, but for transportation, is that wrong too? Also, electric skateboards look hella fun to me. Edit: This post reminds me of people laughing at me and telling me I hold my board wrong, because I 'mall grab'. Why can't you just be happy that people want to ride a board, there's no need to be a snob about it.
- Relys 8y agoHaha, I thought of "mall grabbing" too when I read his post. Electric Longboards are a totally different application. It's like comparing apples to oranges. FYI I come from a background with experience in Snowboarding and Wakeboarding and that's what an eboard feels like except we're not restricted to water/snow anymore. This is great for people like me who have office jobs/family and just want to shred for a few hours after work to chill out. I also had a traditional trick Skateboard when I was younger, but was never very good and was always afraid of hurting myself. When I go to my local park where everyone goes for downhill skating I always laugh at the guys on trick skateboards and penny boards who look like they're going to eat shit at any moment. I often see some nasty bails and think to myself "well that's going to eventually turn into arthritis down the road". Hell, even traditional longboards look scary in comparison to my eboard (which has regenerative breaks). :) I can bomb step hills (and also climb them ;p) without worrying about getting pancaked by a car at the bottom. I can literally go anywhere a bike can go with my eboard. :D I like it better then my bike because I can instantly switch from "bike mode" to "pedestrian mode" and can drag it into a store/restaurant with me as opposed to worrying about locking it up and getting it stolen. I also build/fly drones too, so eboards are a great transportation method to enable that hobby.
- allsunny 8y agoMy suggestion to those of you that are interested in this sort of thing: make sure you know how to ride a skateboard the old fashioned way first. I grew up in Southern CA, skateboarding nearly everyday, to school, back, for fun, etc. There are a lot of basics that you'll want to pick up at slower speeds (how to bail, dodge pebbles, speed wobbles, slowing down, running from rental cops, etc). Chief amongst these is "how to bail" (aka as "eat sh!t"). There is, in fact, a technique to falling softly. The folks saying going 25mph on a skateboard isn't that big of a deal are full of it, don't screw around with that unless you know what you're doing. I suppose you can learn the hard way but if you're 20+ something techie who doesn't have the muscle memory - im afraid it's not gonna turn out well. Full disclosure: I've never ridden an electric skateboard but I've heard they're a ton of fun.
- nojvek 8y agoI can use a normal skateboard, but there’s no easy way to brake other than use your legs or “eat shit”. Not great for your knees. Electric skateboards (one I have) has regenerative braking and it’s amazing. Being able to control your speed is a pretty big feature.
- kbar13 8y agowhat about in the case of a hardware failure
- dexterdog 8y agoMine fails over to my hot standby
- allsunny 8y agoIt actually is possible to brake. You keep your front leg on the board, bring your back leg forward and you slide your back foot on the pavement; low enough to slow you down but not catch.
- weaksauce 8y agoThis is great advice. In my youth I was on a skateboard every single day for years barring any injury or sickness. In that time I became well versed in falling like a cat to avoid injury. Shit still happens but the ability to bail is huge and you only know when you are on the threshold of losing control by experience.
- raynr 8y agoLate to this party, am into this hobby, you absolutely must heed the following: 1. learn to ride a non-powered skateboard or longboard first. I guarantee you, you do not have the balance or skills to ride a longboard at 10kph off the bat, let alone 50kph. I've snowboarded and wakeboarded for a significant chunk of my life and I'm telling you, longboarding, especially fast longboarding, is not an easy skill to master, let alone pick up as a twenty-something. 2. allsunny's comment on learning to fall is spot on. You need to know, instinctively, how to bail at different speeds. At certain speeds and obstacles you can run off, at others you have to tuck and roll, still others you will rely on your knee pads or elbow pads to protect you from impact. allsunny's comment is spot on for other reasons but for now I want to move on to... 3. protection! Always wear your protective gear! I wear wrist guards, knee guards, elbow guards, and a helmet (not full face, unfortunately), every time I ride. I don't care how good you are, if you are in your mid twenties and older, a fall on concrete is really going to mess you up. Not that it doesn't mess you up when you're a kid, just that kids have a greater potential to bounce back from these things... OK, now on to the article itself. There's a lot left unsaid, leaving you with the false impression that you have a proper and informative guide. Unfortunately, it barely scratches the surface. (A) Hub vs belt: hubs have more cons than just heat. Hub motors tend to get really beaten up since your motors are taking the impact of the terrain. The urethane, or "tyre" part of the hub, is also typically not easily replaceable, falls off easily, or wears badly. That's kind of changing now but for the most part if you get a cheap hub you're going to have to replace the whole thing. Furthermore, the urethane is typically very thin around hub motors and your ride quality is going to suffer as more vibrations are transmitted up. Hubs are really quiet, though. Belt drives have many advantages. The motors get beat up less (unless you don't have enough clearance). You can "gear up" or "gear down" a belt drive (albeit not while in motion), giving you more speed and torque options. The article makes a big deal about dust and dirt and swapping belts but most belt drives have some kind of cover and belts are cheap to replace. Most importantly, you can buy wheels from companies who actually know what they're doing in terms of urethane formulation, grip, comfort, etc. You have options with a belt drive. They can be really noisy, though. Remember if you get a belt drive that you need a way to maintain tension. If your kit doesn't let you do so (e.g. diyeboard kits), it's... well it's not worthless, but you'll be swapping belts out a lot. (B) ESCs: there are ESCs, and there are ESCs. The VESC the article author mentions is indeed open source hardware and firmware, but the quality of the hardware you get is really hit and miss depending on who you buy it from - some VESC hardware cannot run in certain firmware-settable modes and will go up in flames if you try (look up FOC). Furthermore, there are so many versions of the hardware out there that it can be a nightmare to find the compatible firmware for it. And finally they're usually expensive as. On the other hand, the cheap chineseum ESCs have their own set of problems and limitations. While cheap, they are typically not as configurable as VESCs, and sometimes lock you in component wise to the vendor's radio control system, drive and battery combo. (C) Batteries: do not buy cheap eBay hobby batteries. I've played with these in the context of RC buggies, planes and drones, and they are really hit and miss. It is fine in the context of RC toys which you play with in a safe environment and never for more than a few minutes at a go, it's not so fine in the context of a moving EV you're standing on going at 50kph, being constantly hammered by road conditions and put out in the hot sun for half an hour to hours at a time. Unless you have taken appropriate precautions and screened the batteries and otherwise know what you're doing, I wouldn't give them a second glance. You can look up forums for reliable battery suppliers and make your own cells or buy from those. If you want to go the DIY route, GA cells apparently do pretty well, but I wouldn't put a pack together without thinking about cell-level fusing, having either special soldering equipment or a spot welding setup, strain relief, wire gauge selection, etc. If you set it up wrong, you're going to end up with too much current running through too thin a conductor and having them glow with the heat under load. I've seen it. It's cool, but also scary... mostly scary. (D) Oh yeah, you're gonna need a battery charger. What do you mean, you don't have an adjustable chemistry battery charger just lying around at home so you can make a choice from a variety of available battery chemistries? Alternatively you can source a battery management system which is a circuit matched for your battery chemistry, and just plug it in to a properly set up power supply. But then you have to ensure the power draw of the drive system is set up for it. That said, one potential advantage of having a battery management system is the ability for you to take advantage of regenerative braking capabilities of your ESC safely. (E) Remote control. The article didn't mention this, but you're going to need one. Please don't buy a bluetooth controller, a signal hiccup at 50kph and your skin could be a smear on the floor. Speaking of hiccups, you oughta determine, and set, the failsafe behaviour on your remote controlled EV. The typical failsafe mode is to freeroll, which means if it fails you'd better be able to ride and stop your board without having to rely on the electric crutches. Callback to allsunny's comment. (F) Deck, wheels and trucks. So you're putting together your 50kph drive and decide to slap it on a donor deck. So easy amirite? For heaven's sake don't do this. Longboard decks come in many shapes and sizes. Again, if you're the kind to have ridden around on non-electric skateboards or longboards, you'll have a very good idea of the available options. If not, you have to do your research. The kind of setup that is fun to ride at 10kph is decidedly deadly at 50kph (look up "speed wobble"). The wheelbase, deck shape (both lengthwise and cross-sectionally), ground clearance, softness of wheels, width of truck, stiffness of bushing, geometry of truck, etc., all make a difference. There is a fair mix of personal preference and objective necessities too. (G) Putting it all together. It's not a PC, you can't just plug in the components and have them work. You'll want to weatherproof the components somewhat, protect them from impacts. There are also miscellaneous parts you may want or need like switches, anti-spark connectors, battery level indicators, etc. One thing often missed in assembly, for e.g., is that people buy cool looking carbon fibre decks, crowd their receiver next to the dense batteries or high current wires, and then wonder why their low powered radio transmitter and receiver only works intermittently. Not all radios, and not all decks, but some. In conclusion: there are a whole lot of miscellaneous matters that aren't mentioned in the post and I didn't want people reading it to think it was going to be a single-blog-post level of simplicity to jump on a 50kph electric skateboard and off you go. Last word, I promise: 50kph is scary. All of you downhill longboarders who have earned your way through the school of hard knocks know this. For the rest of us, 20-25kph is plenty fast and hard to react on if you haven't learnt to ride on a non-powered longboard or skateboard. Have fun, and take it easy!