Onewheel cheap mods

[Lia]

@blkwalnutgrwr I've had a few people point out a scraper for the rear pad to me when I mentioned I'd look into a way to stop fender dirt buildup. Might be of use to prevent the now even getting up there in the first place?
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3019030
https://onewheelrider.eu/en_US/p/Wheel-Scraper/151

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Maybe an EGO blower!

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Last year riding my V1 daily for miles in the very wet Northeast Ohio spring weather, despite Badgering months before, moisture got to the BMS and caused it to do strange things, dumping me a couple of times. First, I took out the BMS. Then, tired of charging EGO batteries and the onboard battery both, I took the onboard battery out -- replacing it with a weighted dummy battery box. I had picked up a technically unusable wiring harness that was throwing an error 16, cut off all the little lines except the main power cables and used that to connect to the EGO battery on the fender. Works just fine. No back lights, but I rarely ride where they would be meaningful.

This year, nervous that the wet weather might get to (or might possibly have gotten to already) the BMS in my Plus, I made a similar modification. This time I completely took out the battery, BMS, battery box, and wiring harness -- with no dummy box in its place. I must say the Plus feels light beneath my foot with only the footpad and bumper there. Road noise is slightly increased. Slight adjustments to riding make it feel somewhat like a different board, adding some variation to my many thousands of miles. Works and feels fine, but no back lights. With the weight of the board reduced, the weight of the 7.5ah EGO on the fender seems less noticeable -- at least on the paved rails-to-trails I mostly ride. Now the only batteries I have to charge are the EGOs.

(A footnote on charging the EGO batteries: Household funds paid for an EGO Nexus Power Station with two 7.5ah EGO batteries included. In the case of an electrical outage, like we had in high winds here last week, I contribute my other EGO batteries to the power station for longer run time. In return I can use the 7.5ah's for my Onewheel, and for EGO firewood-cutting chainsaws. And, the EGO Nexus Power Station doubles as a very convenient, four EGO battery, sequential charger. Beneficial all around! The Nexus, nearly silently with NO generator fumes, ran our upright freezer and some lights for close to 24 hours until line service was restored.)

[RickN]

@lemur I like the green wrap-a-round version for functionality.

I tried last summer the fix a piece of bristle style door sweep to the underside of the footpad, allowing the bristles to brush up against the tire. Didn't work very well for a couple of reasons; crumbs of debris stacked up on top of the bristles, wet or dry; in dry the bristles acted like a van de graaff generator creating static electricity, the whole board was thick with dust when I got home :) .

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Hollow underneath! No stock battery, no stock BMS. The emptiness there adds springiness to the trailing footpad, and a lightness underfoot that feels uplifting -- to my riding style.

[LidPhones]

@blkwalnutgrwr
So on your OW+ Did you cut and seal off all except the battery (+,-) to connect your EGO up to?

[LidPhones]

I dig that open cavity look, kinda cool with nothing there.....

[blkwalnutgrwr]

@LidPhones -- In a word, yes, I clipped all the little BMS and taillight wires, and had an XT90 soldered in on the battery cable in place of the original connector. The first harness I did that to for my V1 had had a broken wire and an Error Code 16; for the second one for my Plus it pained me to modify an actual working harness because I could not locate another damaged one.

[stinkyface]

@blkwalnutgrwr ever catch the remaining rear plastic on rocks or things? I'm curious if the rear bumper could hook into something and bring you down.

[blkwalnutgrwr]

@stinkyface -- Rarely it is that I ride around catchable obstacles, so I had not thought of the possibility -- thanks for noticing that it could happen. Maybe I could put a float plate underneath, or maybe do away with the bumper entirely. You've set me thinking...

[blkwalnutgrwr]

@stinkyface -- Now, without the bumper to catch on anything. Thanks! (Edit: I also added a couple fat sheet metal screws up through the rails into the tail end of the footpad.)

[blkwalnutgrwr]

My stomach clenched and dropped figuratively after a fifteen mile ride yesterday. Putting the Onewheel in the boot of the car I noticed the XT60 to XT90 adapter to the SOLE and ONLY power (the EGO battery) cocked at an odd angle. Tugging at it, the adapter broke apart easily. Oh my guts!!! Over any bump the broken solder connection could have let go, and I would have been rudely surprised and hurt on the ground. Hence the clench of my stomach just thinking about it.

Apparently a routine tip-over cracked the solder joint. And this is not the first adapter to fail -- one was likely the cause of my fractured ribs last month. Looking closely at the broken adapters I see that NO WIRE TWIST was used with the solder -- it was just one connector directly soldered to the other -- with only the solder and the shrink wrap holding them together. Easily broken!

Needless to say, I have now eliminated the XT60 to XT90 adapters from the set-up, going back to straight XT60s and taping them each time. The reason I had gone to XT90s was anti-spark, and a more secure connection. But the connectors on the EGOs were still XT60, so I had found adapters on ebay. Mistake! Oh! -- Be careful out there!

[Lia]

@blkwalnutgrwr Oh damn glad you caught that!
Not exactly what I want to hear having just finished redoing my VnR setup that still has an XT90 >.>

Shocking the solder cracked enough to come right out , I struggle a little soldering those myself so I can see why it may have happened.

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Emergency Onewheel brakes got tested today. Riding my V1 for the first time in months today, the power cut-out mid-ride after some miles of riding. (I suspect my shoe was not suited to the sensor.) So, my natural reaction was to shift weight back to rebalance, and... more... to slow down...
Of course, though, regenerative braking does not work when the motor is free-wheeling. Luckily, just last week I had outfitted my V1 with a first generation of emergency brakes -- short lengths of bicycle tire screwed onto my hollow rails. Though not perfect, they did what I needed them to do -- slow me down, absorbing some of the forward energy. At a somewhat lower speed I did tumble backwards... with no damage or hurt. The emergency brakes left two black skid marks on pavement.
Now to think about modifying them to make them better!

[b0ardski]

@blkwalnutgrwr maybe look at urethane rollerblade brakepads?

[blkwalnutgrwr]

The skid marks -- I went back with my Plus to see. The distance of skid was about 12 feet. Looks like I wobbled, pressing harder on one trailing rail, then the other. Again, I am thrilled with how much energy skidding on black rubber bicycle tire dissipated -- after the skid the backwards fall was gentle! And again, this was freewheeling after power cut-out.

[Lia]

@blkwalnutgrwr I can just imagine the look of confusion on some pedestrian coming up alongside.

They look down and see a single wheeled device but behind it are 2 distinct parallel skid marks that look identical to that of a vehicle with at least 2 wheels.

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Hi @Lia -- On another site someone commented that Sonny Wheels added a Slider with locked wheels to the back of one of his boards as his emergency freewheel brakes. The skid marks from those would likely look similar to the skid marks above.

[blkwalnutgrwr]

The newest version of freewheel brakes: Cut-down 2x2 wood fastened inside the rails, with heavy black rubber stall mat slices attached beneath. This version has not yet been tested in real life. (The extensions make mounting the board easier, too, by softening the sharp angle of repose created by the lift.)

[NotSure]

@blkwalnutgrwr said in Onewheel cheap mods:

This version has not yet been tested in real life.

Just add the sink already!

[HanahsDax]

@blkwalnutgrwr That motor matches your rig well. @stinkyface provided inspiration for the idea with his polished hub. Glad to hear you are making good use of it. That front foot pad looks familiar also. So happy to see parts live on and continue helping a wheeler ride.

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Hi @NotSure -- It turns out all the extra weight seems not to make any difference in the way I ride, which is mostly narrow carving on paved Greenway.

And with no onboard battery under my trailing foot to damage, I can leave the board in the car all the time, in the hot summer and freezing winter -- not carrying it in shuttle from car-to-house.

And if ever I run out of battery on the trail, I find a hooked stick and walk, pulling the Onewheel along -- not actually carrying it and all its weight.

So yes, I could add the weight of a kitchen sink, or its equivalent. (The funny thing is I really considered using a scrap bathroom sink for a fender -- but the dimensions were not quite right.)

[NotSure]

@blkwalnutgrwr said in Onewheel cheap mods:

The funny thing is I really considered using a scrap bathroom sink for a fender -- but the dimensions were not quite right.

The world needs this... Add a working bellows, a wrought-iron hook for a carbide lamp, spray paint it all bronze, and win every steampunk contest ever!

[blkwalnutgrwr]

@NotSure -- Bellows? Almost! Had you seen my idea back in this thread of adding a clip-on battery powered fan to blow away the snow that the wheel kicks up in winter so it does not create its own snow fender?

[HorsePlay]

@blkwalnutgrwr said in Onewheel cheap mods:

(The extensions make mounting the board easier, too, by softening the sharp angle of repose created by the lift.)

Oh, I love the words you chose. 'Repose' ... 'angle of repose' ... almost poetic. (Do these draw from Mechanical Engineering language?? Kinda makes sense that they should. Word pictures!!)

[HorsePlay]

@blkwalnutgrwr said in Onewheel cheap mods:

Cut-down 2x2 wood fastened inside the rails

I think these need to be painted to look like flames ... or rocket exhaust?

[blkwalnutgrwr]

This post is deleted!

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Yesterday I put the Kiil suspension on my board -- which means my wooden fender/battery platform no longer fits. So, I needed a different platform for the EGO battery, as the sole power I use. The simplest, cheapest solution was a reprise of the Johnny Appleseed stock pot fender. It covers the wheel, shocks and all, giving me a sturdy platform for the battery. And it performed well on the trail, not interfering with the vertical movement of the wheel, springs and shocks. It will, however, not be ideal in wet conditions -- I guess I cross that bridge when the rains come.

[lemur]

@blkwalnutgrwr
I assume you're running a Plus and an external Ego battery. What I did was to use a printed XR battery box with the Plus lid and broke apart a 5 amp Ego battery and reconfigured the layout, added a14s bms, rewired the charging circuit to use the original charge port. The Ego pack was a pain to break apart, but the cell groups had tabs that I soldered together. I'm waiting for my Kiilguard 6.5 to arrive, getting excited!

[blkwalnutgrwr]

@lemur -- Cheap and low tech are most of my modifications. I admire your (and Lia's) facility with the electronics and precision equipment. Besides running my Plus with an EGO 7.5 or 10.0ah, I also use the batteries in mowers, chainsaws, a string trimmer, and a power station. A heavy EGO battery atop a platform higher than the Kiil 6.5 is less than ideal for balance; I am trying to think of ways to bring it down some.

[NotSure]

@blkwalnutgrwr said in Onewheel cheap mods:

Yesterday I put the Kiil suspension on my board

hopefully looking forward to seeing it!

[NotSure]

@blkwalnutgrwr said in Onewheel cheap mods:

I am trying to think of ways to bring it down some.

mini trailer hitch and carriage please!

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Weight of the 10ah EGO bear-hugged to the side of the Johnny Appleseed stock pot with a ratchet strap just above the arch of my foot. I used a spacer block under the battery resting on the stock pot handle to get the right height -- kind of similar to the position of a Flight Fin. The balance is much improved over the weight on top of the bottom of the stock pot.

Looking up under the stock pot fender at the Kiil suspension.

I cut an arc out of the back, blue-barrel footpad to accommodate the round stock pot edge. The sticky stuff is the adhesive from some former grip tape, and the grit was thrown up through the little bit of a gap there.

With the Johnny Appleseed fender off.

Not as soft and smooth a ride as I imagined it could be -- perhaps I need to learn about adjusting the shocks and spring travel. Or perhaps I ordered the stiffer set, as I was at the cusp of the weight ranges. In fifty miles or so so far, I have been able to take pavement root ridges at higher speeds without bouncing my feet out of position. Time will tell if my hip joints thank me for less jarring rides (my ankles and knees don't complain). Note: The board is nose heavy due to the absence of battery under the trailing foot.

[Lia]

@blkwalnutgrwr I love the evolution of this board.
Any plans for the future or are the modifications an act of necessity with any given situation?

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Hi @Lia -- The continuing change and evolution in the character of my own Onewheels is something that I, myself, enjoy too.

In its current state I am finding myself with the urge to ride even more. After getting back from a fifteen mile ride I get the urge to go out again. Surprised and amazed at how much I like the balance of the heavy EGO 10ah battery just above my leading foot, I find my cruising speed has increased some. And while the ride is still not slushy-smooth, it must have hit an enjoyable sweet spot.

Maybe in time I will look for a stock pot (or other cooking/baking pan) that is not quite so deep. As it is I have an unnecessary two whole inches of head room above the Kiil suspension. Other than that, I also plan practicing dismounts made more complicated with my leading foot tucked under the battery. A great method to get lots of practice is to pick up roadside trash -- stop and go, stop and go -- again and again. Too, I might add a second safety ratchet strap holding the pot down -- once in a great while a ratchet strap has loosened during a ride, although never really causing trouble.

And by the way, your reconstructed Pint is handsomely impressive! You did a great and satisfyingly thorough job with it!

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Another small and cheap modification to the Johnny Appleseed stock pot fender/battery holder that I added yesterday is a set of 3/4 inch black rubber shims to the rails under the back rim. Thus tipping the "hat" allows my trailing foot closer to the wheel with more room and comfort for the angle of my lower leg while riding.
Now then, besides filling the gap in back, I will need to increase the height of the front spacer block under the battery so it doesn't pinch my arch and toes.
Another note: The only reason the roundness of the cooking pot works at all is that I have extended rails and a narrow, smallish Hoosier 5.5 treaded tire.

[Swinefeaster]

@lemur i have a lot of ego stuff. curious what the range is compared to a stock xr battery?

[lemur]

@Swinefeaster The stock Plus is 130 wh and the Xr is 340wh. Adding a 5a Ego will give 252wh+130wh = 382 wh. Slightly more than XR range.

[blkwalnutgrwr]

@Swinefeaster and @lemur -- With solely and only a 10ah EGO (560 watt hours) powering my Plus I can get 24-27 miles of flat pavement range. A 7.5ah EGO battery gets me 18-19 miles.
Edit - 10/31/21 - Riding MUCH harder and faster (averaging 20mph) with suspension and colder weather, my range is reduced to almost half of that mentioned in this post.

[lemur]

@blkwalnutgrwr That 10a Ego is impressive, about the same as a Jw or Chi extended battery for a XR (567wh).

[blkwalnutgrwr]

@lemur -- I feel pretty much unlimited powerwise with a total of five of the 10ah and two 7.5ah for use with my Onewheels... (and mowers, power station, chainsaws, etc...) And I can parallel, and/or I can swap batteries -- great for distance!

[biell]

I have been meaning to post my cheap mod for a while. I have broken a Landsurf luggage-style handle (forget what it was called) and a Silverhandle by cutting too close to rocks, so I designed my own, very cheap handle. I actually still get these caught against stuff and eventually they rip too. But, now it only costs me 10¢ of velcro a couple times/year to replace.

The mod is simple, put two adhesive loop squares on your rail to keep the velcro strip from moving around, then cut a 2" wide (or wider if you prefer) trip of velcro and wrap it around the rail. Now, you can pick the board up from the rail even without gloves and it is nice and comfortable.

If you have to carry your board a really long distance, this is a comfortable place to hold the board to swing up and rest on your shoulder. Let your body take the weight, and your arm is just for balance. I have carried for over a mile this way before when I have run out of battery.

[HanahsDax]

I usually ride without a fender but I took a page from @blkwalnutgrwr’s book and used an old bungee cord to secure my fender during today’s rain.

[blkwalnutgrwr]

@HanahsDax -- The knot is a nice touch!

[blkwalnutgrwr]

Long post. Strange idea. Before riding with Kiil Suspension, I rode with the Ignite Lift Kit on my Plus of many miles. Riding smooth AND high is the gist of the idea that follows. First, I have seen posts somewhere of riders who habitually ride with the sensor in the back; I propose to do so -- testing the ride before I go further with my cheap, somewhat destructive, modification. If all is good, then I plan to cut down and shorten by a few inches the rail tails (now in front) and mount a high footpad there. Keep in mind I have no battery box. In back I plan to mount the controller in an equally high frame, atop the rails, and extend the rails back for my freewheel brakes as described in another post above. The result should accommodate the Kiil Suspension while putting me up as high as I care to build. Benefits to me are more clearance in front for tight turns, plus the smooth feeling of suspension -- AND the head in the clouds feeling of a lifted ride. Oh, my! Wish me luck!

Edit: Right at the start I ran into my first problem: The wooden rail extensions I use for the framework of the freewheel brake... are also what I screw the back footpad into. I had wanted to take the rail extensions off in order to practice riding with the sensor pad in back. Now, my options are cut the rail extensions short, or redo the back footpad... which I would be doing anyway. The issue is just that I wanted to ride sensor behind the wheel to confirm that my body is okay with that before diving in deeper. Another bit is that I am riding with the Kiil suspension system... so my whole framework needs to be adequate for the stresses of that. Hmmm...