My Esk8s. A journal of sorts

[rafaelinmissouri]

Last night in the process of messing with stuff I had unbolted the enclosure.

It did not move because I have butyl tape and foam gasket around it…

When I went in the garage this morning it had dropped and I thought that was funny…

Why it was that my old mini seemed to unpair for a while will remain a mystery.

It worked again last night and all connections looked fine…

I decided to add a power button to the Khymera…
It seems like one of the hardest ones to roll to start…

And finally I added the Z-mote receiver.

So the Khymera is back together and I am about to go ride it.

And to make sure I have more work to do Z-mote #2 showed up today.

Yey.

[rafaelinmissouri]

I went and did 11 miles on my lunch break.

And all was good.

The wheels ran well without any major vibration or wobbles.
So a great first impression.

And the remote was also good.

It felt super familiar.
Holding it is a bit different because I hold the mini in a weird way.

I used my long finger gloves to see how that would work since winter is coming and it was good.

So I am pretty sure I am sold on it.

[rafaelinmissouri]

Okey dokey.
So this afternoon I broke out the Gravel Flux for school pick up.

This is after fixing the BN drives the other day.
So let’s everyone hold hands and sing cumbaya and hope they stay together.

They sound good to me. And lke always, they feel great.
But it was a short slow ride.
So not much in the way of abuse yet.
I don’t think I will be going down stairs anymore…

New video by Rafael Stoutz

New video by Rafael Stoutz

After getting home I rode up the block a tiny bit on the Dinghy and then the Rally Cat.

And boy.
Those are two very different boards…

Also funny to go from the giant ass Flux to the tiny ass Dinghy…

[rafaelinmissouri]

After work I was alone with the little dude and I wanted to get take out.

And I pondered driving. But then I realized I could ride.

So I get the Gravel Flux out and put him in the trailer

And I go up the block and remember to check my battery…

And I was at 43 volts…
So I made a U-turn.

And we went on 2 wheels like a normie…

It works. And it was a fun ride. And we enjoyed the super nice evening.
But it is just not as dynamic of a ride…

I did some pedalling… So hopefully I earned some of that cannelloni.

-It’s hard to keep boards charged-
-It’s hard to not keep boards charged…-

[rafaelinmissouri]

Another 12 miles on the Khymera.

And all was good.

[rafaelinmissouri]

Sweet.

I took the Gravel Flux out for 9 miles this morning and it was all good.
First morning ride with my neighbor Benji I think.

65 and sunny. So yeah.

The BN drive held up though this Ride.
So let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Oh.

Also I fell today.

But it was different because I knew I was about to do something that I could maybe fall on.
And sure enough I didn’t make the turn but I went down on grass like I actually knew what I was doing.
So it’s like it didn’t even happen.

I made the little short cut on the second try…

New video by Rafael Stoutz

Good times.

[b264]

@rafaelinmissouri

I decided to add a power button to the Khymera…
It seems like one of the hardest ones to roll to start…

What are the gear ratio, Kv, wheel diameter on:

• the easiest to roll start
• the hardest to roll start

[rafaelinmissouri]

So,
these are both on Unities.

The Gravel Flux seems really easy.
I just pick up the side and give a back wheel a good spin.
it is 4.8-1 - 140kV on 225 mm

The Khymera seemed to be the hardest.
it is 18/72(4-1) - 190kV on 175 mm

[rafaelinmissouri]

On the bench tonight is the Flux.

I’m going from 16/72 to 15/72…

Guessing from about 40 to 37…
I used to run 14/72… So.
Maybe the 15 is the spot.

Sometimes I wish it punched more…
I can always go back.

The more grandiose part of tonights plan is to install the Z-mote receiver.
But that may get pushed to later…
We will see.

[rafaelinmissouri]

Welp.
I made decent headway last night.
I did. Not get the remote installed. But I did go to bed before 1. So I feel like I did the right thing.

I got the 15tooth pulleys on.

It was mostly straight forward…
I have had some real epic battles with pulleys in my days.
But on the Flux they are set up far enough away from the motor mounts that I can get the gear puller in there no problem.

So getting them off and new ones on was easy.

However on wheel #2 something seemed funny when I was doing the belt tension.

And this is a new one for me.

I had a pulley that was way off center…

Here is the good one.

New video by Rafael Stoutz

Here is the bad one…

New video by Rafael Stoutz

–It’s always something–

But no biggie…

I also got the battery installed In the Z-mote #2 so I just need to get the receiver installed now…

Will go do that here in a second.

I would like to take a long ride on the Flux later.

It is another perfect day here in Missouri.
And I already went and did 5 miles on the GT.

[rafaelinmissouri]

Welp.
There is some digging to be done

[rafaelinmissouri]

I think this picture really means the end of an era.

We will see…

But ok, I put the Z-mote receiver in the same spot the Mini used to be.

Taped it all back.

And the Flux is back to life.

New video by Rafael Stoutz

I went and took it out around the neighborhood for an 8 miler.

And it felt pretty pretty solid.

The remote once again just worked.
I don’t know if it is possible to change remotes and have a more seamless experience than what I am feeling with my mini’s and the Z-mote.
But I am at a total of 31 miles between the two remotes.

I think the gearing is probably going to stay here at 15/72
It has a bit more punch and I liked it.
I did not get to the point of really noticing a difference in the top speed.

My back left(toeside) tire has a pretty notable vibration. So I am probably gonna put another tire and tube on to try my luck.

[rafaelinmissouri]

I played the Kenda lottery with the collection I have here.
And put a different tire on in the back

I ended up picking one with some wear.
Hoping it is a good one.

I went and did 9 miles around the neighborhood.

I think the tire is better.
But on freshies at high speed there is still a vibration on my back toe side…

I think I may have had another bad pulley…
Not sure till tomorrow.
I took the pulley out.
And put a used one on that I think is ok.

I am letting the loctite sit. So I have not tried it yet.

But the tire change alone did help.

The Flux is feeling pretty good.
Hopefully I will have the long ride I wanted to do today tomorrow.

Coming up soon for the Flux, I have finally decided to try the Radiom adapters and will put them on the Flux first.

I still need to figure out what durometer bushings to order…

[rafaelinmissouri]

So I had a new record ride today.
35 miles in one go on the Flux.
Previous was 31miles on my old Flux pack .

Turns out that is about all I will get out of my 12s9p
BAk pack…

[rafaelinmissouri]

–DIY is a disease–

It really is such a weird rabbit hole.
And what shocks me after all these years, is that almost every day I can still run into surprises.

So I did 35 miles on rhe Flux yesterday and that was cool right.

What was not cool is that I thought I had issues the whole time.

First it still had a good bit of vibration in the rear.
That is not that abnormal right…
It was better than the day before. But whatever…
Still seemed excessive.

The real kicker…
I had crazy belt skip.
I used to run 14/72 for the longest time on the Flux and it was fine.

I ran 15/72 before and don’t recall having such issues.
Before I had 465 belts. Right now is 470…
And with the idler it should be good.

It is a non issue really with the 16 toogh pulleys.

Also one of the wheels stopped way before the other. left side… Toe side.
It was weird. Also the more vibrating side.

I almost thought I had a bad motor and started looking for upgrades.

But last night the Flux went on the bench yet again…
Well. Leaning on the bench because I am tired of lifting that heavy bastard.

So I tell ya, I wonder how many times I changed the pulleys on this set of changes… Because I went from 16 to 15 and then changed the 15s twice…

And finally back to 16…

And I tell you.
I am super surprised and shocked at how much trouble something as simple as changing pulleys caused so much trouble.

Seriously. How does that even make sense…
(Granted I had off centered pulleys)
But yeah.

If it is not broken don’t fix it.

So I turned the Flux on this morning.
I bumped the motor amps from 90 to 95 amps…
And I bumped the throttle curve from 4 to 10…

And then I did 12 miles back on 16/72.

AND IT WAS PERFECTLY FINE!!!

Hot damn…

[rafaelinmissouri]

So on my lunch break I took the Khymera out and did 13 miles.

I wanted to get a fresh comparison to how the Flux was running.

And the Khymera is running really well.
And after getting that perspective I think the Flux is also running pretty well.

And I have to really start planning on a larger pack for the Khymera.

As it is it is a really good setup.
I am going to try the Radium adapters on the Flux first and if I like them I will also get some for the Khymera.

But it really is great as it is!
For 7 miles…
Then I have to stop super sending it.
The 12s4p 40t pack was pretty much all done after 13 miles. Down to 41volts.

What I expect I will do is make a 12s8p on the duck battery PCB to go in here.
But that may take a minute…

[rafaelinmissouri]

On other good news I took the Gravel Flux for school pick up and it continues to run fine.

[monsterbuilder]

I freaking love that you pick up your kids with the gravel Flux. They don’t know how lucky they are to get to have this experience!

[rafaelinmissouri]

It’s so much fun dude.

It is such a privilege for me to go get them every day.

I treasure it every time.

[rafaelinmissouri]

I went and did a 20 mile night ride on the Flux.
Benji rode for about 10 miles.

The Flux ran really well.

Ended up at 45.9 volts

It’s nice to go that far and not catch a whiff of battery sag…

So with that ride I’m at over 50 miles today!!!
.