Started look into BMS options. For now these two stand out:
Or this, a more simple one only used for charging. This might be enough to keep using the charger I have… right? In this case would it be safe to use (discharge) the pack without an active BMS on it?
Any other options?
@hummieee when you said “simple discharge balancer”, what did you mean? Could you point me to an example please?
If you want a canbus enabled bms that talks to the vesc, the FlexiBMS and Ennoid BMS are some more options. Very small but a bit more expensive.
That’s one problem! I don’t know exactly what I should want in this build. Do I need the BMS to be that smart and talk to the vesc or should a good vesc with a set low voltage cutoff be enough?
Definitely not needed, but many of us prefer it. Way easier to open an app and check your battery’s health than measuring voltages manually.
For your space-limited situation, I’d just get a daly, something small but solid.
+1
I think any BMS where you can open an app to check cell voltages is fine. The CANBUS enabled BMSs are smaller, and there is constantly development around the communication with the VESC. Eventually, in addition to a low voltage cut-off, it will be able to reduce power if one group in an unbalanced pack gets too low to protect the pack.
All these BMSs should be used in a charge-only configuration, with the VESC connected directly to the battery… but the charge port running through the BMS.
Roger! This makes it quite clear.
I’ll go back to looking at VESCs now, see if maybe the one mentioned for sale above would fit.
Can I get some advice on choosing a remote? Just random googling shows quite a lot of options… is there anything close to (in shape and quality) to the boosted one?
Closest remote I can think of is a Flipsky VX1 pro.
Basic, relatively reliable… 2.4Ghz Remote VX1 Pro for DIY electric skateboard – FLIPSKY
It’s more expensive but the remote I mentioned previously, the Hoyt Puck, is the most reliable and popular option we’ve got. Some people print different cases for them in case you don’t like the original puck shape.
That puck shape is indeed a bit weird but having it reliable is more important.
I randomly ended up on focbox website but while their vescs are out of stock, I did notice their remote looks exactly the same as the flipsky one you mentioned. Btw, what’s the difference between the two options "for vesc4 and for vesc6? Would this work with any other vesc out there?
There are a few used ones for sale on the forums.
MakerX DV6 - $175
Focbox Unity - $170
Spintend UBox 75v V1 - $175?
Spintend Ubox 100v V2 - $265
Any will work, but the first two are probably better choices if you want small size
DV6 is 106 x 71 x 23mm
Unity is 117 x 68 x 19mm
Good suggestions above on remotes. Some more options for remotes:
Z.Mote - been 100% reliable for me.
Tried a VX4 recently. Was actually pretty nice. Early ones had some firmware issues?
This doesn’t matter. Just need to switch the TX and RX lines on UART based remotes that say that.
Personally I like PPM based remotes better, more adjustability and while not proven, I think less lag. If they have an additional UART connection for display data that’s fine.
Yeah, that’s the same remote, rebranded for them. But try not to buy from Massive Stator, they’re run by a jackass who screwed over the scene quite a bit.
& Yeah, for vesc4 vs vesc6, just a matter of switching the connection on your remote receiver
Thanks guys! Completely amazed by all the help I’ve been getting here. You’re all awesome. We’ll have the board running in no time.
@haven, I’ll PM you later and maybe I’ll take that DV6 off your hands.
If you are keeping those LiFEPo4 cells make sure you get a BMS that supports LiFEPO4 cells.
The LTT one will work I think because it’s programmable via bluetooth, but the mboards one you linked probably not.
If you switch cells to more modern ones then homie I gotta say if you’re changing the battery and the esc and the bms and the enclosure (you will need a new enclosure to fit your new cells) but keeping the underpowered v1 motors you’re selling yourself short.
My recommendation to you is:
These are great points that nobody else mentioned.
You could even get the Zealot and swap everything to the Boosted deck! Like this 
That boosted deck with zealot parts looks awesome. I bet it’s way more comfortable to ride than the stock v1 boosted wheels.
The specs are indeed impressive on these zealots board and getting one would probably be the easiest solution.
Now, we can’t do that. Not sure how to explain, money is not necessarily the issue. It’s the idea that lately I’ve been getting all sorts of unrelated “toys” and if I want to keep my status with my wife in good standing, I need to keep new buys to the minimum. The whole premise for this build was to use/re-use what we already have and not waste/throw away good parts.
I know the v1 motors are quite outdated but for now, for me, they’re quite fast enough. The story with the a123 cells, well, the original plan was to rebuilt the pack and just use it. It didn’t work out and I ended up with a bunch of spare a123s. I don’t want to waste them. I can make an enclosure to fit a 12s2p pack which should give me over 10 miles of range.
Technically at this point, the only things we’d need to buy are the VESC, remote and some sort of BMS option. Selling the v1 remote/ESC may even offset some of this cost but that’s not the point for now.
Btw, @GnomeMeansNo good catch about the BMS. That mboards one doesn’t seem to have a lifepo4 option while the LTT one is programable and it does. If I can’t find a simpler one, I’ll get the LTT.
Worst case I could even skip the BMS as I do have a pretty beefy balance charger used in the RC world but I really didn’t want to have to use that every time with the board. Staying portable with the simple boosted charger would be the goal here.
What about this one? This would work for our use case, right? Connected just for charging and bypassed for the load.
Actually, on 2nd thought these might not be idea. The LTT smart BMS might be better. I’m thinking with these, if I use the boosted charger brick, there won’t be a way to tell when is charging complete…
Yeah, and LLTs are pretty cheap. If you can fit it in the enclosure, I’d just grab the LLT and call it good.
I was about to go ahead with the Hoyt Puck remote but last second I realized it doesn’t show the board’s battery charge level. With no obvious way for me to quickly check the charge left this is kind of a dealbreaker. How are those using the puck dealing with this?
The other one (flipsky/focbox) might work well too… not sure where to get it from. If I order from flipsky website, it’ll come from China, right? Any US retailer suggestions for remote options?
If you’re planning to use an LLT BMS, you can use the app to check your charge.
