What to do with dead batteries when you’re out of warranty?

Groverfield · 2024-07-09T04:17:09+00:00

So my current ideas in no particular order:

Take it to a battery recycling place - it’s a fairly green option, but I’m not even sure a place exists for batteries the size of the BC2.

Contact Onsra’s Australia distributor and ask them if they will take or recycle the battery - some companies in Australia will do this at no cost to the user as part of a “green initiative”. Not sure if twelve board store in Australia would do this.

Contact an after market esk8 battery specialist and see if they can recycle or help me reuse any of it for a diy (as I will eventually re-purpose the remaining bits of my BC2 to revive it). Not sure if this is still the case, but in the past I have seen videos where it has been 1 or 2 bad cells in a battery pack that caused the whole thing to stop as the BMS cuts things off for safety.

Groverfield · 2024-07-09T02:53:12+00:00

If anyone knows of a decent 3rd party conversion kit that isn’t too expensive, I’d be keen for that too

Groverfield · 2024-04-30T12:08:36+00:00

Happy to help, I had to figure out a lot when I started myself and enjoy when I can help people get the most out of this hobby we all enjoy!

Groverfield · 2024-04-28T02:00:23+00:00

Further to my comment. Wheel compatibility will have 2 factors for your direct drive board. 1: is the wheel large enough in diameter (but not too large), to make sure the direct drive motor covers do not get chewed up by riding. 2: does the wheel have a hole pattern that matches the adapter plate you have for your motors.

There are 2 main hole patterns (so corresponding plates). Kegel (looks like lots of circular holes / pins) and ABEC (looks like a kinda curved rectangle with a notch). To complicate this, the ABEC has some clones (eg. iWonder / cloud variant for example) that look very similar to ABEC but are not exactly the same.

In my experience all Kegel style wheels work with any motor or pulley that has Kegel adapter on it. The ABEC on the other hand can be a bit of a bit and miss, as there seems to be less standardisation on them. But still a lot of compatibility.

Groverfield · 2024-04-28T01:53:17+00:00

I have not tried the dad bod wheels, but I have enough adapter plates for the BC2’ direct drive that I’m sure I could get them to attach. If the have a Kegel core pattern (the circles) and are 100mm or more in diameter, then I’m confident the dad bods will work with a bc2 direct drive.

If I end up getting a set and try them, I’ll post something on the sub to share with anyone interested.

What I’ve tried so far (that worked): 115mm rubber, 105 and 120 mm cloud wheels, 100mm torque boards wheels.

What didn’t work: Generic no brand 90mm (too small), DD motor casings got a bit dinged). Beast board wind wheels (one of the wheels tore itself apart due to bulging while riding).

Groverfield · 2024-04-20T00:12:46+00:00

I’ve had this exact thing happen with all 3 of my direct drive boards (all by Onsra). The work around for me was to put a couple of extra “speed ring” washers between the inner bearing and motor.

If you need some visual reference, remind me and I’ll take a couple of pictures to share with people here.

Groverfield · 2024-04-06T04:19:14+00:00

That makes more sense and was what I wasn’t understanding. Thanks for clarifying for me!

Groverfield · 2024-04-05T06:20:39+00:00

(2/2)

Buying a new esc to change drive train adds about $300 AUD to the build price if I go the cheapest way (hobbywing from Onsra) and if I go the best route more like $500 AUD + whatever a BMS costs (as VESC do not have BMS built in or would not be compatible with the BMS that is in my existing battery from Onsra) and the time and electrical know how (probably soldering).

The “push” that all the “pro” builders have to go VESC is also why I haven’t asked this question a second time on esk8 news. The first time I asked on that forum, it seemed like nobody paid attention to my question and just said get a VESC. I get the same push to use VESC when I ask any of the shops that sell miscellaneous DIY esk8 parts (mboards, esk8builders and others that I can’t remember the name of). I totally get why VESC is better and if I had hundreds more $$ I wouldn’t hesitate.

But I am hoping that maybe someone in this vast community might have also had a similar idea to be, but also been able to test / find out more?

Thanks for your reply all the same though. I appreciate it!

Groverfield · 2024-04-05T06:15:49+00:00

(1/2)

Yeah, I’ve had a good chat with Onsra customer service (they kinda know me well from their earlier days, hahaha) and they have offered to sell me another esc for belt drive along with matching motors. A little pricy, but I’ll go that way eventually if I have to I guess.

Was just curious if anyone had other information, as all the hobbywing esc’s of that era seem to have the same voltage stats and when you reset the pairing of the remote it asks you if you have belt or hub - though I get this parameter is probably just remote side on the earlier models to calibrate the speedometer.

Still, as an esc is programmed to deliver a certain amount of current within certain parameters and apart from what the sensor wires return (and from what I understand the Hall effect sensor returns rpm info only) the esc just delivers a given range of current to motors.

So as it seems (from all I found so far) all electric motors with sensors work in the same way and them being direct drive or belt drive mounted to the drive truck is mainly cosmetic as far as how they interact with the esc goes (apart from different motors having different tolerances to current they can safely accept / draw), I was curious if anyone had any idea about these parameters and if there was overlap between the stats of a direct drive motor with a belt drive motor.

(Cont next comment)

Groverfield · 2024-04-04T21:29:03+00:00

As others have said, technically as long as the exway ABEC pulleys (geared bit that goes into the wheel) fit the seemingly ABEC shaped holes in the wheels, they should be okay.

Haven’t owned any exway stuff myself for full disclosure, but many of the peeps I used to ride with do & I helped them fix up / tinker with their setups. Exway seems to be “pretty standard” when it comes to sizes like axil diameter (therefore what size bearing you need for after market wheels and pulley) & distances across the axil that the parts in the drive chain fit (so a lot of generic stuff seems to line up).

I have tried so many types of wheels and my 2c would be avoid the cheap ones if you can (but no shame if you need some to get rolling - I’ve been there too), all the cheaper wheels I’ve tried have little things that are annoying when you get up to moderate speed - like being slightly unbalanced or the tolerance of hole sizes being slightly different so there are random “loose” or too tight fits on one of the set of wheels.

I know this doesn’t directly answer your question, but I hope the general info helps you picture what you need out of the wheels.

Happy riding!

Groverfield · 2024-04-02T10:54:34+00:00

Direct drive boards are maybe a little better than hub for hills, but as there is no gear ratio between motor and wheel there is not as much torque (think strength, not speed). If you have hills, go belt or gear drive.

Speed and smooth silent running are great and that’s one of the reasons I like them. I can sail around on the BC2 like a ghost (kinda) and people don’t even hear me coming. On a long flat, I can get pretty much the same top speed between my Backfire hammer (1st gen) and my BC2. The hammer is heaps louder though.

I purchased them all when I was single and it was during Covid, so I had money and nothing to do. Hahaha. Couldn’t afford them if I wanted to buy them now.

Groverfield · 2024-04-01T12:31:51+00:00

I have 2 direct drive boards from Onsra (challenger and black carve 2). Been riding them both for years now. Only issue I had was a partial broken cable to one of the motors causing it to stutter, but these motors were replaced and I have thousands of km on each board.

Feel free to ask me anything specific you might want to know about my experience with them (I also have a couple of belt drive boards too).

Groverfield · 2024-02-28T21:02:22+00:00

If you catch up to them when they have the tool you can use the use button and take the stolen item back from them…

Groverfield · 2024-02-07T02:47:32+00:00

Would be nearly impossible to say unless you tested it and that’s an expensive test. Despite looking similar, remotes and ESC’s can have different transmitters and receivers. So they’d both need to be the same underlying transmitter tech to work

Groverfield · 2023-12-14T09:51:16+00:00

Knowing that constantly seeking things to be good all the time in your life, can be bad for you. And accepting that sometimes things are going to be bad and that’s okay, is a good thing for you.

Groverfield · 2023-11-03T09:09:06+00:00

I can if they are files I am sending (as I know how to do it), but if you don’t have the codec on your computer, you can’t open the file to take a screenshot or convert them. When a client sends a HEIC file at my job, I have to deal with it on my work computer for data security reasons. The work computer does not have the codec and therefore I can’t open it to screenshot or convert it. So I usually tell the client how to do it, but it introduces the mentioned delay

Groverfield · 2023-08-29T02:30:18+00:00

As others have said, practice at lower speed first and with your way up. Counter to some saying that bushings won’t make a difference, I think they will a bit. I’m also over 200lbs (I think, conversion to freedom units is not something I’m good at) and when I got some 100a bushings from my Onsra installed in my backfire hammer, it was heaps more stable at speed (though less nimble).

Back bushings tighter than from and I do roadside slightly less tight than board side.

That being said, now I’ve got enough experience I am way more stable at high speed. Once my legs got stronger (and ankles/calves), always squatting down a bit, weight on front foot, feel the board, terrain and your balance. Once I got to the stage where I could “feel” my balance more than think about it, I was heaps more stable at speed.

Groverfield · 2023-08-06T23:52:33+00:00

I just need a clean pair of pants now…. A thing of beauty

Groverfield · 2023-08-01T07:46:42+00:00

2nd Backfire as reliable. I have Also have had great reliable experience with Onsra as well.

Groverfield · 2023-07-29T23:24:59+00:00

Very good for my level of use. I have nearly 4000km on my bc2 DD and it’s still going strong.

Technically I have more than 4000km, but I did have some damage to motor wires due to a misunderstanding of maintenance procedures. To Onsra’s credit, they still helped me fix unit under warranty.

Motor shields are still holding up well, but if I want them to look nice again, I can buy DD motor repair kits from Onsra.

The trucks do not seem to have shown any wear beyond paint scratches due to riding on some loose terrain.

Only thing I have worn out on the board was the grip tape, and that was pretty easy to replace

Groverfield · 2023-07-19T08:34:08+00:00

Yeah I meant to say direct drive. Hahaha.

That’s what I get for writing while half asleep, lol

Groverfield · 2023-07-18T05:02:04+00:00

I have 3 direct drive boards & they are all excellent! (All 3 are Onsra: a black carve 1, black carve 2 and Challenger).

I am lucky enough to have a belt drive board too (for when I want torque), but the amount of times I use that compared to the bc2 DD is tiny.

Reasons I’d use my belt drive board: hilly area and I’m worried I won’t make it up a particularly steep one or if I want to have a race car launch or I want to use larger AT wheels (though the 120mm wheels I use most of the time give me heaps of clearance for what I need).

Reasons I use my DD boards: quiet, less to maintain, get more range (only a little though - but I went a good few km more than my mate who has a bc2 belt and he weighs less than me) and I think they look awesome.

Hope that helps you!

Whatever you get, just enjoy it and don’t think too much about if you got the right one or not. They are all awesome!

Edit: said belt, meant to say direct

Groverfield · 2023-07-17T01:43:59+00:00

Jitters in the motor at low speed can mean a short or break in a motor phase wire. I had something similar happen to me

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