5 ms·

I ride electric unicycles and I have a question about these OneWheels: when you are rolling, the wheel self balances, right? And when you are reaching the power

I ride electric unicycles and I have a question about these OneWheels: when you are rolling, the wheel self balances, right? And when you are reaching the power limitations of the board, does it let you know of this in any way? The EUC will either tiltback (the wheel will literally stop you from leaning even more, so you are forced to lean man) or it will beep very loudly for several seconds, before it finally cuts off either because you fried the board or because the wheel is protecting itself.

eknkc 3y ago
It has a tilt back feedback. However it is possible to miss it and there is not much buffer after you hit the feedback point. I believe they just released a new firmware along with this recall and they have added something new. Might be vibration or sound but I can't remember exactly what.
- thinkmassive 3y ago
  Yes that’s correct, the firmware update is to provide haptic feedback by modulating the motor to cause vibration. It sounds like a great idea, hopefully it works well.
  - bredren 3y ago
    The idea of sound + vibration notice of porential power related shutoff was requested openly and repeatedly at least since 2019. If this is such an innovative and important feature, there is no reasonable way to explain why it took the company so long to release it. Here’s the announce copy from their email on the update: “Today we're releasing an innovative new safety feature called "Haptic Buzz". Haptic Buzz is an audible and tacti e alert that riders hear and feel when nearing the operational limits of the board. Haptic Buzz provides riders with additional feedback that is immediate and intuitive so they can ride with more confidence than ever.”
    - thinkmassive 3y ago
      Sounds like a great improvement. I just installed it on my GT, looking forward to trying it out. If you have more technical details I’m interested to understand how it works. In the distant past I started my career in a power electronics research lab, building motor drive systems among other things, so a deep dive into HapticBuzz would be amazing.
thinkmassive 3y ago
It has a very obvious pushback effect. I haven’t ridden an EUC, but I suspect the difference is you only have part of each foot as leverage to counteract it, so the device can more easily counteract the rider trying to push through it. Turn the rider sideways with each point of contact about a foot out from center, combined with a much smaller tire and lower wattage motor, and it’s easy for the rider to counteract it all the way to the system’s limit. Then again I’ve seen videos of EUCs doing nearly double the top speed of a Onewheel. It’s all relative to the rider’s ability and willingness to continue stomping the accelerator as it increases in resistance.

eknkc 3y ago

It has a tilt back feedback. However it is possible to miss it and there is not much buffer after you hit the feedback point. I believe they just released a new firmware along with this recall and they have added something new. Might be vibration or sound but I can't remember exactly what.

thinkmassive 3y ago
Yes that’s correct, the firmware update is to provide haptic feedback by modulating the motor to cause vibration. It sounds like a great idea, hopefully it works well.
- bredren 3y ago
  The idea of sound + vibration notice of porential power related shutoff was requested openly and repeatedly at least since 2019. If this is such an innovative and important feature, there is no reasonable way to explain why it took the company so long to release it. Here’s the announce copy from their email on the update: “Today we're releasing an innovative new safety feature called "Haptic Buzz". Haptic Buzz is an audible and tacti e alert that riders hear and feel when nearing the operational limits of the board. Haptic Buzz provides riders with additional feedback that is immediate and intuitive so they can ride with more confidence than ever.”
  - thinkmassive 3y ago
    Sounds like a great improvement. I just installed it on my GT, looking forward to trying it out. If you have more technical details I’m interested to understand how it works. In the distant past I started my career in a power electronics research lab, building motor drive systems among other things, so a deep dive into HapticBuzz would be amazing.

thinkmassive 3y ago

It has a very obvious pushback effect. I haven’t ridden an EUC, but I suspect the difference is you only have part of each foot as leverage to counteract it, so the device can more easily counteract the rider trying to push through it. Turn the rider sideways with each point of contact about a foot out from center, combined with a much smaller tire and lower wattage motor, and it’s easy for the rider to counteract it all the way to the system’s limit. Then again I’ve seen videos of EUCs doing nearly double the top speed of a Onewheel. It’s all relative to the rider’s ability and willingness to continue stomping the accelerator as it increases in resistance.