Getting caught in the rain

[Swinefeaster]

...so it's gonna start become a rainforest here in Seattle soon. When it's raining out I'll have to sadly keep the onewheel inside. But if I am out and get caught in a downpour, what should I do? How paranoid should I be about rain?

thanks
swine

[Franko]

What kind of OW do you have? i have read that people waterproof/Badger-kit their Plusses and XRs, but i am pretty sure the Pints already have more water-resistance out of the box than those models, and don't need that level of waterproofing. I treat my Pint like it's an expensive electric item and avoid water as much as i can, but i've seen lots of videos on youtube of people in Pints happily rolling through all kinds of water with no apparent issues.

[Swinefeaster]

i have a pint, but i just ordered an xr. don't plan to ride it in the rain, but weather is pretty unpredictable out here...

[Swinefeaster]

the badger kit looks interesting. a lot of work, but not too expensive... might just do that.

[gasbreakdipper]

@Swinefeaster i live in PNW too but do not let the rain, mud or snow stop the onewheeling with my PINT. The pint has a way better designed undercarriage compared to XR. Its way easier to clean and theres no wood to get nasty. I do not use any screws on pint fender for easy removal, drying and cleaning.
I have a little fan that stay with the onewheel, its a usb battery bank fan you can get on amazon for like $15. I highly recommend getting one, just in case you get your onewheel too wet like mine did in Laguna beach after i got hit by a huge sneaker wave..that tryed to wash my pint out to sea..lol. I bought a huge jug of water rinsed it off and put it by the fan that night and its been fine. I usually set it on the rail after it starts drying so if any water did go in, it could come out.
That said i had to save my older xr from shorting out last winter from a faulty breached seal before i started using fans. The roads were so salted i threw my baby in the tub and hit the sensors and it made a wonderful waterwheel that my dumbass wasso fascinated with the moving water breached the seal right above where the power cord goes in. Later, after some malfunctioning I noticed CPU was a bit corroded from the water, cleaned it off and the problems stopped but i had to replace front lightbar. Now, I open my units up and COMPLETELY clean and inspect them like twice a year. You have that right. The way the unit is put together(beside motor in tire) is very simple. Anybody that has ever fixed any electronics can do it.
FM sold me a faulty XR and never took responsibility. Frankly, A THOROUGH INSPECTION IS A MUST FOR UNITS WITH AN EXPIRING WARRANTY, IMO! The XR undercarriage is laughable, so it must be examined appropriately for the use it is put through. The stupid battery tray warps causing gaps, the seal is too small. THERE ARE HOLES IN IT..smh. Its kind of unbelievable really.
The next XR probably won’t offer much more range but pretty sure it will be A LOT MORE REFINED UNDERNEATH...!lol

[Swinefeaster]

thanks for the thoughtful post.

you put it in the bathtub?!?! lmao i'm assuming you were not in the bathtub with it right? might as well plug in a hair drier and throw it in there too.

anyways, i did buy the badger kit. i found both my pint and xr were not that greatly sealed using the sniffer tool.

the pint was better off, but that controller seal was questionable. i ended up taking the controller and battery apart and siliconing over the gasket and it sealed fine after that.

the xr was more troublesome, and i had to take the rails off and void the warranty but i didn't take the controller/battery apart, just sealed like crazy around the seams of the controller/battery and then the sniffer help up 1.5 min just like the pint.

i heard that while going in water may not kill the boards, water can get inside and slosh around causing all sorts of weird glitches while riding. that's scary enough for me.

i also got the bearing protection seals too.

[gasbreakdipper]

@Swinefeaster nice. sounds like you’re doing what we in moist climates should all be doing..
Yea, thats what happened water was INSIDE with battery and cpu while operating. Battery would go from 50-70% right to 0. Then got dumped once at 50% no pushback, completely opened up unit after that and discovered a lot of corrosion on cpu(?) and footpad connections. I carefully cleaned it all out and my XR operated normal after that but had to replace lightbar.
My deduction was because i alway ride elevated, the nose up orientation kept the pool of water away from cpu so when i decelerated quickly water sloshed forward onto circuit board causing fall..who knows. What i do know is i have kinda lost faith in the XR.

[Swinefeaster]

@gasbreakdipper they are made in Cali so no wonder heh. that's pretty nuts about your water sloshing around. i'm pretty confident with my waterproofing job that i'll be good for a while. maybe next summer i will check again...