Goofy kind and sweet,
with those fluffy pom pom feet.
Sweet cuddly kind and cute
with a furry butt that goes ‘root toot toot’
She is so sweet, cute, cuddly, and kind.
Every day that goes by
I am glad Fiona is mine.
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im right there with you. when baby passed away last night, a part of me died literally… dm anytime
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Before Fiona was mine, there were some rabbits, in cages on the property on which she lived.
So that might explain why, on our multiple leash free after dark perimeter checks, when we see rabbits, 8 times out of 10, she does not go apeshit crazy, like she would for a squirrel, or cormorant.
But why do the rabbits show so little fear of her?
She’ll trot to within 2 meters of them, and they will simply maintain that distance from her. I can egg her on to go after them, half heartedly, but they seem to have an unspoken understanding.
She goes in for surgery next Wednesday.
That mammary tumor has to come out.
Hoping it was never going to flare up again was not a good strategy.
I’m thinking about not sending it out to determine if it malignant or not.
I dont want to subject her to more surgeries after this one, or chemo. She turns 12 in September, and the official book on this breed says 10-12 as a male working dog in Poland, is the expected lifespan.
If she were spayed in her youth, she might not have the tumor now, and then I might expect 14 years as a well loved pet, but she is intact, and while not too late for uturus removal, in theory, i think that ship sailed.
I just wanna enjoy every good day with her, and she loves rolling in the chariot, and I love towing her to the park, and she is semi famous in the area, and well loved. People who I have never spoken with call to her name as we roll past.
I used my wired hand held voltmeter with audible alarm today.
I set it to 36.5v, and took off with a full 41.96v 10s2p battery.
By myself, first max acceleration, it started beeping when I got to 16mph.
Let off throttle, and voltage rose to 41.2v in a second hit braKe and it is 4!.8v by the time I’ve nearly stopped
So, lots of sag at full throttle. The dmegc-26 18650 cells are only rated at 2600mah and 15 amps CDR.
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Holy sag batman! 
Working those cells hard!!
Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery for Fiona 
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This Dmegc-26e 10s2p pack has to have at least 2k miles on it now.
It gets pretty dang warm in use as well, especially on a hot day and third charge cycle of the day.
When i swapped in a 10s1p P42a, and felt at least 15% more torque, all other factors being equal, I was pretty stunned. I lost some range with 4200mah vs 5200, but there was more torque upto the very end.
I bought the Dmegc cells for 2$ each on black friday 2023. It was my first battery build, and I didn’t want to ruin expensive cells with inexperience.
0.1mm copper, 0.1 nickel steel sandwich, 10awg to xt90s.
I can fit 10s2p of 21700 in this enclosure, Just can’t justify that expenditure right now, even with the measured excessive sag, and known heating issues with this pack.
I assume 20 Tabless cells will have far less sag and thus more torque and far less heating. The BAK 45d at 4.75$ each, is so tempting, but so is Eve 40pl at 5.25$.
I’d love to use 0.15mm copper and 0.1 nickel steel on next battery build, but welder does not have enough power. There is a copper to copper welding flux from Glitter that seems it should allow my desires, but a heftier weld battery might do it too.
Fiona and I are gonna roll to the pavillion now…gotta make every day with her count. I wish her mammary tumor was already excised, and we could try kayaking again.
Not sure my shoulder would comply, but in terms of what Fiona loves the most, barking at cormorants from her Mahogany Kayak bow platform, tops the list.
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3 rolling sessions today.
Late morning, afternoon and evening. 42v to sub 34v each.
Nice weather.
Very appreciative just to roll the hood with Fiona again.
Gave up testing Inboard M1hub motors via ‘Aladdin’ 7s single drive ESC.
I had been close to reviving the mini with just one hub motor, but testing the one ok behaving motor, under load, had me stop.
I can use OG focboxes on 7s, correct?
Cant afford to make a new battery right now, but I have an OK 7s2p battery, 104wh, 2000 mah cells, unknown CDR.
It will fit inside the new enclosure.
I have an unknown version of the mini remote.
I only ‘need’ 16mph
If the inboard Hub motor sensors are non operational, can I use HFI with OG focboxes? I’ve no issues with pushing to start or hip flicking to get going.
Just want a viable backup powertrain.
I tuned some of my Surfboard sanding gear today, in order to make ungodly amounts of dust, quickly, outside.
The 12.5 amp Milwaukee polisher with 8" power pad was giving my shoulders a workout, the day before I dislocated the right one 3.5 months ago
Fiona’s Chariot can be shaped, and smoothened, and lightened further, without compromising strength.
It can be made purdy, and stronger.
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Been carrying a DC boost /step up Converter, and a 4ah 5s 72wH Ridgid drill battery and a wattmeter in Fiona’s Chariot, on the last couple rides.
Not that it is required.
The crushed shell trail can chew a lot of my limited battery capacity.
Getting to the end of CStrail at full throttle, and then charging at 120 watts/~3 amps while we bark at cormorants pelicans, ospreys, and turkey buzzards, allows us to then cruise back a lot faster, and be able to make it up the ‘hill’ at the entrance. Then have 6 more miles of range, and not have to baby the throttle.
The ‘400’ watt’ booster gets pretty dang hot at 120watts output.
It is this one:
This booster is odd, as one turns the voltage potentiometer CCW to raise voltage, but CW to raise amperage, and it is not linear. Dialing in 42.00v unloaded, requires a very fine touch, amp dialing is linear though.
I much prefer this smaller booster.
It has a third potentiometer, that controls the amperage at which the red LED light turns green. Voltage and amperage adjustments are much nicer and intuitive, than the larger red booster, and it seems to stay cooler boosting 12v nominal to 42v, at 2 amps output, than the larger red one, which has no led at all to indicate it is powered up.
I smoked one of the red ones at about 250 watts output, boosting from a 12v battery without enough airflow.
Since my charge port can handle 5 amps, and 5.2amps is a 1C charge rate, and the BMS is good for 10amps charge, the hot booster is the limiting factor.
I have 2 charge ports, but the second one is still unwired.
I have 2 boosters.
I have two 4.0 ah Ridgid drill batteries, and 2 2.0ah.
I don’t know if it is safe to parallel these boosters.
I don’t know if I need to charge at the parks, at 6 amps, but 2 amps has proved a bit too slow.
Also this battery gets too damn warm as is.
So all of this becomes unnecessary with 10s2p of tabless cells. Far less voltage sag, far more capacity, far less heating.
But I have no funds for 20 tabless cells at the moment, or anytime soon.
I do have a third style of Voltage booster. 6amp max input. It can be easily attached to a heatsink.
I smoked one of these being an assuming idiot. Both the voltage, and the amperage potentiometers are turned CCW to increase.
The plan with this model is/was to use my 7s2p prebuilt enclosure, and attach booster to the ESC’s ventilated heatsink, and make an enclosure lid, and use the Antispark switch that TranceJunkie sent in the esk8 goodie box and have a 104 wh portable charger. Perhaps even charge while riding.
I was working on this before shoulder separation, but not since.
I have second style of this white booster rated at 10 amps input, that I have tested boosting 7s to 10s, but not at 10 amps input.
Again, both potentiometers are CCW to increase volts or amps.
I would rather cycle the remaining life from the 7s2p battery, than abuse my 5s2p Ridgid batteries, and the higher the input voltage, the higher the output wattage can be.
After a 2.5 month Hiatus of no esk8 and my subsequent return to stand and roll joy, I am loathe to not have at least one functioning Esk8, and that means I need a backup.
I fear the limited lifespan of my 83mm hub motors, and their 172f/77.8C temperature that I am measuring on their exterior after a harder run, and their seemingly irreplaceable sleeves.
I will have No funds anytime soon for anything Esk8 related, so I got to use what I already have.
I have the Inboard M1 hub motors. They did not want to work properly on a 7s single drive esc. I dont wanna risk my 10s ESC with them until I know they are OK.
I have 4 OG focboxes, and a new enclosure designed with huge heatsink to mount two of them, and house only a 10s1p 21700 battery, but which can fit the 7s2p as well.
So that is the plan. Use what I got to make a backup powertrain to Velcro cinch strap to the long cruiser, or to the Mini, or even midsize.
Hopefully, before it gets to be 94f everyday, I’ll have a new 10s2p of Bak45d, Eve40pl, or Ampace JP40’s in the one enclosure and 10s1p in the other.
If the M1 motors work on the OG foxboxes, then they should also work on my Puaida/lingyi esc too.
2 OG foxboxes are not gonna fit my 10s2p enclosure’s heatsink without major modifications.
Fiona does not seem to mind the inflatable collar, so far. The one time i tried to use the cone of shame with her she went nutz with frustration
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oh poor babe. remember you can trade and hunt in the freebee section as well!
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Cold font coming.
Strong southerly winds.
NW horizon dark grey.
Pansies hiding inside.
Time to roll to our spot.
Somebody got a haircut.
Ridgid drill battery charging esk8 at 120 watts.
Earlier today, when I said time to go…
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Bringing the portable charging set up, and departing our various destinations at full charge, is a bit regrettable, when I decide to not bring it.
Having the full torque available when leaving those destinations is very noticeable, even though I am trying to stay outta the throttle, and ride safer and stress my towing shoulder less.
Been storing Ridgid drill battery, booster, wattmeter and wiring in a fanny pack which is attached to the front of chariot basket.
So when we stop, I rest chariot level on the back.of the esk8, and connect Fiona’s leash, then command her to jump out.
I pick up esk8, put it in chariot and turn off remote, and attach it to velcro cinch strap.
Unzip fanny pack, extract booster and wattmeter. Attach barrel plug to charge port, and see battery voltage. Attach booster input to drill battery output, which stays in fanny pack, then connect booster(set to 42.0v, and ~3.1 amps max), to wattmeter, and watch 0.00 amps shoot to 3, and watts go from 0 to 120-128.
I use Anderson powerpoles connectors which seat and unseat much easier than XT90 or 60, but are sexless, and allow a self defeating idiot to connect booster backwards, which can fry it or pop the charge port fuse.
Fiona is usually at end of retractable leash and waiting, and then helps me pull the chariot.
The process must be reversed when leaving the park, and takes about the same amount of time, about 30 to 40 seconds, I estimate.
It would be nice to reduce this time.
It would be good to not deep cycle a 4.0ah Ridgid drill battery 2 or 3 times a day.
The 7s2p battery could be used instead, and the higher the voltage booster input, the more efficient it is, and the higher amp output it can deliver, but I have not fully vetted the booster which i plan to attach to the ESC heatsink inside the 7s2p enclosure.
That 7s2p pack might be used as a backup powertrain instead.
Fiona gets her Mammary ectomy tomorrow morning.
She seems to like wearing the recovery suit.
I assume it will be a while before we can roll together again after today, so we are gonna put in some miles today.
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Fiona’s double Mastectomy, 2 days ago, went well.
They removed the abdominal bandage today, and the Surgeon said it looks to be healing as well as can be hoped for.
She’s got most of her appetite back, and seems fairly content.
She is stapled shut, and those come out at 2 weeks.
The bill came in 400$ less than the ‘low estimate’.
I wish this meant I could afford 30+ tabless cells.
Yesterday, I loaded my 2 tall saw horse tables, and all powered and hand sanding tools into Fiona’s chariot, rolled them to the backyard, unloaded chariot, disassembled chariot, set up some shade and made ungodly amounts of dust, sanding the overbuilt chariot lighter, and more wind slippery, and perhaps more visually appealing.
Today, I did the same, but working more on Oversized teak handles, and Doug fir basket.
I meant to weigh it afterwards, and take photos, but there is still a bunch of dust to still make, and I need more sandpaper, and to look at it with fresh eyes.
It feels lighter, even though everything else felt twice as heavy, when I was wrapping things up for the day.
The surfboard sander requires a lot of strength and precision, and my shoulder is running out of steam far faster than it would have, pre dislocation, but the fact that I can even use it at all, has my spirits up.
I used to be able to use it one handed 20 years ago and sand multiple boards back to back all day.
No chance of that anymore.
The Milwaukee 5540 polisher/sander with the 8 inch or 5 inch sanding pad, is a heavy, torquey SOB. Mine is an older, Made in the USA version, and its only issue ever was fiberglass dust impacting the variable speed trigger, which was not difficult to ooen, cleanniut and return to service.
It is still on the original brushes, somehow.
80 grit sandpaper spinning at upto 2900 rpm on an 8" powerpad, removes material quickly.
There were times I was making so much dust, I couldnt see the workpiece, through the cloud of dust I was standing in, and a dust mask on top of a beard is not so effective, but better than no dust mask.
I’ll take some better pics tomorrow.
The chariot floor needs better padding, and furry footie traction, to increSe Fionas
comfort. I need to find a better method, so She if comfortable.with her butt centered uo against back wall of basket, and front paws splayed and planted.
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Was really hoping to shed more chariot weight, before adding some more with epoxy and fiberglass. The power and hand sanding tools all have new paper, ready for Monday.
I glued a bunch of the chariot’s screwed joints together a while back, and can still extract the screws. I want to fill the recesses with epoxy and then return the 3.5" deck screws. The western red cedar is pretty soft, and the screws go into endgrain, so their hold is not profound.
Hydraulically forcing the epoxy inside should greatly increase their hold, and prevent long grain splitting, and seal them.
I did this with some other shorter thinner screws into the doug fir and plywood, but used CA glue.
As I needed to use the chariot, while designing and building it, a lot of the fasteners will not be hidden, and the woodworker in me is not enthused, but everythjng is a compromise.
I’ve gotten my TS101 soldering iron to draw as much as 58 watts on a 5s2p drill battery. My first esk8, a 99$ single hub motor prebuilt came with a 7s1p.
I charged this to 24.0v, and the TS101 then maxxed out at 68 watts. I guess using the properly capable USB C source is required to get the full heating potential, and the Ralim firmwear improves function too, but I doubt I need any more potential and can imagine me screwing up downloading the firmware.
The 58 watts and 10awg to XT90 worked well. 10 more watts on top should be golden.
At 3.48v per cell, the 7s1p quickly sags pretty hard to 22.x Volts.
I am not comfortable exceeding 24v via the 5.5x 2.1 barrel jack, the manual states 28v via the USB-C is the max, 24v via dc barrel jack, but I can’t afford to smoke it.
Fiona behaved odd this AM. She didnt want to tinkle in back yard, she normally does first thing. She then sniffed her food and walked away. Took a treat happily though. Then sat staring at me, grunting while I tried to drink coffee.
“What do you want?”
She looks through wall where front door is.
We go for a walk, and she is pulling hard. All went normal.
Return to coffee and she sits stares and grunts at me.
Go for another walk, and she is pulling hard in direction of the crushed shell trail, a mile away. Barefoot, i declined, and she reluctantly turned around.
She didn’t want to go back inside the house. I opened garage door and she sat and scratched the car’s door.
So we drove to the crushed shell trail, and she went apeshit when we got close, and crushed my balls jumping out driver’s door the second I opened it.
Cabin fever I guess.
Misses rolling in the chariot.
I went for a solo roll yesterday.
Bunch of new unbroken, uncompacted shells on sections of the trail. The 83mm hub motors were not happy, or capable.
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Have you considered a kydex floor for it?
Not familiar with texture of kydex.
am thinking a thin Volvo rubber floor mat over some Yoga matt padding, and making it so that neither can move on the floor or in relation to each other, maybee some butt bolstering .
Somethjng she can splay her front footies and have total traction, but not be harsh on her belly, for when she wants to lay down.
A lot of broken shells and twigs have been getting under the yoga matt.
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Kydex is the thin, strong, light stuff that people use to make iwb holsters and formed knife holsters. You get it in sheets and thermoform it.
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Have you thought about fleece?
My camping fleece consistently stays cleaner than all my other gear.
It’s nice and soft and I’m sure she would have enough grip once she digs her paws in
Maybe that on top of something like a horse mat, I bought a bunch for my gym floor awhile back and it’s really good for the small vibrations.
Or what about even shag carpet type of material, I’m sure you could even find one that matches lol!
Hope shoulder is doing okay. I hate dislocations.
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I had not considered fleece. The horse mat looks to be pretty heavy. I’m trying to keep the weight down, and her belly cool. The weather is nice now, but soon it will be much hotter.
I have been using antislip drawer liner, under a yoga matt, and another layer of liner atop that, all held down with screws and large washers at the perimeter. On top of that some rolled towels as butt bolsters, and changing out a clean light colored folded bath towel for her abdomen and butt to rest on. Her bad mammary kind of rested on the floor, and I was trying to keep that area soft and sterile.
The yoga matt is kind of squishy. Balancing on one foot atop it is more difficult than barefoot on floor. I’m thinking it is not confidence inspiring for Fiona either, and a different style/density Foam is the call. I don’t care if her claws eventually tear it up, but I’d like her to have great traction.
She started standing while we rolled the bumpy CST, pre surgery, and then the butt bolster towel prevented her from splaying her back legs for a wider more stable stance.
I can feel her move around in the chariot, through the handle, and I’d prefer she not move at all, and keep her butt up against center of back wall. I definitely don’t want her standing. Hopefully she heals up quickly and we can roll together again soon, but likely should wait at least 10 more days.
I want to set up some shade for her too. I have a ‘flexible’ 100 watt solar panel that i built a lightweight frame for years ago, which would be around the right size. I got to see how well my voltage boosters step up its ~ 19 to 21vdc output and regulate that to 29.4v and handle passing shadows.
I was thinking solar could charge the 7s 2p pack while underway, and then use that 7s2p through a different V booster to charge 10s esk8 battery while we walk the parks. Might never happen though. The 72watt hour Ridgid battery was providing all the extra range I needed for where i will ride around here, and the 7s2p is 104wh.
The 7s1p battery, at 24v, as a powersource for the TS101, certainly does not last very long. Glad its bms is not bypassed on discharge, or it would be dead and done. I went back to 5s Ridgid battery as 58 watts was more than enough for today’s soldering tasks.
I really like the TS101. It’s an absolute joy to use compared to a basic 40 watt weller iron, or 100/140 gun.
My favorite Router Speed Controller is back in action. It was just the 3 position rocker switch. Crusty contacts.
I have a second RCS, that does not slow my vacuum, belt sander, or angle grinder enough. I think there is a hidden potentiometer to regulate the minimum, but I have to desolder the PCB from the switch to find.it, and didn’t bother.
Am super happy to have the good one back in action, at no cost, and glad I took pictures before desoldering and disassembly.
I did get half of the 3.5" deck screws epoxied in place. The pre threaded cedar receptacles certainly drank a lot of epoxy. I thought 18 grams was going to be more than enough for 9 screws, to have some left over to thicken with wood flour and fill the cavities over the screw heads, but I was wrong.
Should go flip the chariot and mix another batch.
I took 150 and 400 watt boosters out of the new unused parts bin, wired them up and functioning. The 150 watter has two empty solder pads, for a fan. I am not sure this works, and if so if it is for a 12v fan.
I should know the next time I can get it hot. A 50mm fan would bridge the heatsinks perfectly and it then could handle 150 watts output . 84 watts output with no forced ventilation has it basically as hot as I want it to get.
The 400 can handle ~120 watts 10s output with 5s input in free air, but has no switched fan provision.
The shoulder is improving slowly. It will never be the same.but hopefully I will be able to paddle a surfboard again at some point.
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Fiona’s incision from her mastectomy got infected.
It is a hard place to keep clean, and the recovery suit, an XL, is too tight in her chest and too loose on her abdomen, and now is cut to pieces, so I’m thinking a T shirt and binder clips changed frequently while i await delivery of a different style recovery suit.
I’m to flush inciaion with warm water and keep it clean, and hopefully new antibiotics reverse the infection’s course.
I left Fiona alone with Alzheimmered mom yesterday for a few minutes, and returned to find inflatable donut collar removed, and my mom trying to cut the recovery suit off of her with scissors, and Fiona furiously licking the incision, snorting and whining, going at it.
I handled this situation poorly, and should not have let it occur in the first place.
The Alzheimer’s is so freaking cruel. My mom used to skydive, became a licensed pilot, was commodore of a yacht club. She had great organizational abilities, and respectable mechanical abilities in her day too.
Now, she is this pathetic shriveled human who can’t form a coherent sentence unless she is angry and making threats, or saying how she wishes she could just die.
I hope I have the wherewith all to self euthanize, well before I get to that point.
I’ve been ignoring the noisy bearing in my hub motors, but not riding much since Fiona’s surgery. Mostly just a few laps at my ‘racetrack’, where Fiona can see me from open garage.
One motor is making noise at full throttle when cooler, and a nearly fully charged battery.
The 83mm hub motor truck has the board turn so much nicer than the 90mm hub motor truck did, and I can really start pulling some G’s.
Between the twitchy wide turning radius of the 90mm hub hanger, and the ebay lingyi’s sketchy throttle, I had stopped running the racetrack entirely, as the turning radius was not tight enough, and delayed throttle and brakes just made it dangerous and unrewarding. I could get no flow going.
The two trucks look to have such similar geometry, that I am confused as to how they can feel so completely different. Smaller wheels, slightly more deck angle effectively wedging the front TKP truck more?
More cupping of the board side bushing within hanger?
The 90mm motored truck was twitchy at speed, I was considering dewedging it, but for the already poor turning radius, might have made a wedge.
I have made no further effort to test the Inboard hub motors individully, on 7s and OG Focboxes. Should, could, but the Vescanxiety is strong, and my procrastination tendency stronger.
I flipped the chariot base over, removed the long screws, and got the receptacles to drink thin warm laminating epoxy, and returned the screws.
4 of the rearmost screws seemed to have stripped their receptacles on their final drive. These 4 would have the most stress on them with Fiona in the back and me pushing the handle down, pre wood glue.
The joints have all been wood glued for 6+ weeks and that glue joint has not failed. These 4 screws were long coarse thread Pocket screws, with their flat underside. I used these so the cedar would not split from the V shaped head of the fatter longer deck screws that I used on every other joint and which did split the wood slightly on some. None of those deck screws stripped their receptacles.
I counter sunk them a bit more, hand tightened the final turns, and covered them with wood flour thickened/colored epoxy, so perhaps they will be less obvious, and their appearance bother me less.
I have been trying to remove more chariot weight by ‘hourglassing’ the upright basket supports. The sander was taking too long and access is limited. I started using rotary wood rasps on the dremel. I’d love to get it to 26lbs or less, but not sure that is possible without compromising its strength, and whether it weighs 77 or 78lbs with Fiona inside is picking fly shit from the pepper.
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Decided to test my newly wired 150 watt Voltage booster, which has two pads on PCB marked fan, and to which I soldered two leads
I was unable to spot anything which looked like a thermistor/thermocouple, but what do I know. I got it to 58C, at 140 watts output, and never measured any voltage on the ‘fan’ wires.
So that answers that, to my satisfaction.
Here is the 400 vs the 150 Vbooster, and a powerful 60mm x 27mm Delta 12v fan.
There is an xl4005 V bucker on the Delta fan. I removed the 10k ohm trim pot and replaced it with wires leading to a 2k ohm fingertwist pot and wired the 10kohm trimpot in series.
The trimpot is dialed low, to set the fan’s near minimum start up voltage. With 2k ohm pot then dialed to the max, max output voltage from a 18v nominal drill battery input is about 14v, which the 12v fan can handle no issue. Danger zone is ~15v+ on many 12v fans.
I might mount up a 50mm fan to the booster’s heatsink’s with a similar bucker so I can use any 7s, or 5s powertool battery to power the booster and portable charger my 10s junk.
I did order some inexpensive 24 v 50mm fans, and presume they can handle 29.4v, but will they spin with only 12vdc input?
I basically don’t own an AC/DC 10s charger. I just use these boosters from my 12vdc Lead a id Agm batteries, and have adjustable voltage power supplies to keep those topped up and happy.
On the workbench, I aim larger 12v fans to blow over and around the boosters, but exceeding 80watts output, or 120 on the 400, without forced ventilation, has them get uncomfortably hot.
These boosters work well as ‘car chargers’. With a good fan mounted to the heatsink they should be able.to maintain a respectable charge rate without overheating. Both say 60v max output, though I have never dialed either past 42.5v. My inline wattmeters say 60vdc max, and I dont wanna risk them but will check with a DMM, if requested, to ascertain their max output voltage, under no load.
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