Newbie DIY builder but really confident 👍

[Solid]

Hello Esk8 Forums

I’m going to break this down as much as possible so its easy to read.

Mission statement: A functional feature-rich DIY board on a budget. I’m looking to make a realistically priced* DIY board from the equipment and material I already have. I’m super green to skateboards and electronics and the combination of both lol. I have some random scooter batteries and want to use them to make my first board.

*by realistically, I mean the price/performance/quality aspects are all at the level that I’m aiming for.

Wants:
Long range
Fast charging
Low weight (would be nice)
All terrain

My commute goals: Im looking for something to zip around locally so I can get by without a car atm. I live in Texas, so a lot of the terrain is flat af. I want the ability to just switch in-between pavement and grass fields.

Equipment I have:
Basic hand tools
A Ender 3 - 3D printer
Voltmeter

And finally, the main reason for this build is because I was interested in starting this months ago but now I finally have the resolve to do it That being said, I bought some scooter and laptop batteries that i bought from a guy for a hundred bucks. Putting the fact that i was super green and didn’t really know what to look for but now I have basically a metric ton of battery cells that I don’t know what to do with. My hope was to use them to make a board by using the cells from the laptops to make a battery but once again I’m green and didn’t want to burn down my house Which takes us back to now, I have the determination and the drive back to put some hours into my first board. I want to use the scooter batteries instead of making a battery with the laptop cells for previous reasons. I have a cardboard box full of these batteries, prolly at least 15 of them

Pictures|

Board that I bought in person, I was just looking for a longboard that I liked and got this.

Top of the scooter batteries, they’re in hard metal cases.

Back of the scooter battery, all of them have the same model #

Ender 3 that I own. I want to make a enclosure for everything using this but if now possible, then at least accessories for the board.

For the project, First step would be to sort out the batteries to see if I can even use them Then from there would be finding the right ESC and Motors and all the other stuff. That’s pretty much all I have for the initial post, I look forward to any help from you guys I am humble to learn anything to make this come true.

[tech.shit]

Looks promising my dude! Very similar to how I started out. Check out @boardnamics for drivetrain stuff he’s the king of esk8 CNC

[Solid]

bet, will do, thanks for the tip

[Razillian]

I like that you are pausing from just buying stuff with hopes of making it work.

Some general advice (and then specific): read through some of the builder threads and find boards similar to what you are looking to do. It will give you an idea on the parts you will be needing. Then refine your idea based on what you read in those build logs. Then see if the parts you like from those builds are even still being made and what the alternatives are.

Specific advice: get a helmet if you don’t have one already. Make sure its a good one (there are a ton of threads here on helmets).

I don’t do batteries (build them), but if I had to guess, those battery packs probably have their own bms which might make charging all at once “interesting” (see the movie Serenity for a definition of Interesting). But that’s a guess and I could be really wrong there. See if you can dig up a tech data sheet for them. Personally I’d open one up to see what’s really inside and if they can be repackaged into one bigger battery.

Could you post a pic of one of those packs sitting on the skateboard, just looking for relative size.

Define long range
Define all-terrain

Welcome to the forum. Read everything you can here and then read some more, your wallet will thank you

[Solid]

Thanks for the reply,

I’ll try to look through some more builds but I suck at navigating forums honestly and I sometimes get lost in the vocab. Will definitely look into a helmet but thats kinda putting the cart in front of the horse

Actually, I just did a search into the batteries and it lead to this Hoverboard Battery Ultimate Guide to Samsung LG [Jan 2020] | StreetSaw. Then I did a search on the swagtron website for their T3 model but thats as far as I got. I can open one up, origanally i was scared to for some reason but after doing the laptop batteries breakdown in my closet ( that was dumb btw, its a stupid fire hazard) it doesnt seem that difficult.

Also for my definition of long range, here’s some google mape estimated distances to my favorite spots:
Distance from
home to local gas station : 1.17miles
home to bff 2.44 miles
home to Local mall 4.93 miles
home to trendy mall 3.82 miles
home to barber 3.49 miles
home to fav grocery store 5.15 miles

Largest length is 5.15 miles and I’m just looking for something to take me there and back plus another 5 miles if possible.
As for all terrain, I really mean sidewalks, streets, and some mowed grass fields to cut across some wide openings.

And here is the packs for scale

Thank you for the tips and questions, hopefully whatever helps me will eventually help someone else down the line.

[Red_souls]

Looking good, definitely put some research into reliable parts so your build lasts a long time. That’s what I did when I started my first build as well (approaching the finish line with it) interested to see what your going to do, definitely will be following up!

[Linesflag]

@Solid

Long range
Fast charging
Low weight
All terrain

Pick 3.

[jack.luis]

Don’t bother with recycled cells, your time would be spent better doing some over time at work so you can buy a battery from one of these guys

[WIKI] Trusted Battery Builders (Serious)

Felt that this was needed. A list of approved Battery Builders / Shops Please provide Information if you bought a battery from one of these builders and experienced any problems Worldwide User Web link Social Contact @eboosted eBoards Peru Custom Builds For His Enclosures - PM @longhairedboy Long Haired Boy Instagram PM US only User Web link Social Contact @thisguyhere eSk8Life Custom builds - PM @M.Hboards ESN thread - PM @DuckBatterySystems DuckBatterySystems Ins…

[mr.shiteside]

Laptop batteries are almost definitely not gonna work for eskate, because laptops have different requirements. For most laptops it’s basically a case of supplying a total of 5 - 35W (very low power output) and focusing on either fitting as much capacity per gram or per dollar as possible. Laptop battery packs tend to be about 6 cells (+/- a bit depending on the size of the laptop) so 35W total means each cell needs to provide a bit less than 6W

Eskate also cares about capacity per gram, but even in a $429 prebuilt board that I’d consider the barest minimum entry point into decent eskate the pack needs to provide >1000W. 1200W in the case linked above, 1800-2500W being the start of most DIY territory. That cheapo pack comes out at 60W per cell peak, over an order of magnitude higher than the laptop. This is a little exaggerated Tbf; a lot of eskate cells can spend their life providing ~25W, but being capped below 10 is unworkable even if you’re lucky and the cells aren’t damaged and are perfectly matched which they won’t be

[mr.shiteside]

Also the good news is you don’t need a crazy battery pack to get the range you’re looking for, and in general having about 24km (15 miles in old money) isn’t considered long range.

+1 on what Jackson said, picking a pack from a known good builder is a better idea, reclaiming cells is a nightmare. If you do want to use what you have though, open up one of those scooter packs and post pictures in the battery thread; if it’s not toxic you can likely close it back up and use them. If those 3 packs are the capacity they claim to be, and they’re in good condition (both are big ifs), then in theory they’ll get you to around 25km. That involves swapping packs every 8km though, and depending on condition the range could be anywhere from 0-15/20km

Also +1000 on getting a helmet quickfast. Your first ride should be with protective gear, this is the biggest thing you’ll get shouted at for here (the only other being wildly dangerous battery stuff)

[Solid]

For sure, I want it to last but I dont want to spend a arm and a leg. I will look into it and any reccomendations too.

[Solid]

Ok, that’s nice to know about my battery needs for the range
yeah I would definitely do @jack.luis 's idea but I want to see if I completely lost out on these scooter batteries. I can just recycle the cells down the line or do something with them but I wanna exhaust all my options.

Here’s the top of the battery without the cover |

Its pretty snug in the case, I tried taking it out but then I realized I didn’t know what i was doing and I didn’t want to break anything.

Same as always

[Solid]

Sorry was messing about with the editor, I actually rather have Long range, Fast charging, and all terrain. I can lift fine and I wanted to add a hand grip too for ease of carry in places I cant ride.

[Solid]

Also here is all the batteries laid out on a table, Theres about 25 of them

[Linesflag]

Np, all good. There is generally a tradeoff, and if you want more everything offroad, shits gonna get heavy.

@Solid

Theres about 25 of them

You paid 100$ for ALL of them? Wow.

[mr.shiteside]

25??? Lol that’s so much battery capacity my god

[Solid]

yeah but im waiting for that worth to be proven when I can actually use these things lmao but once i thought about it again, I wouldnt mind a heavy board personally.

[Solid]

I did some more looking but still couldn’t find more past the fact that swagtron uses a similar one and the model number confirms this. I just don’t know what to do after this point, I opened one and don’t really know what Im looking honestly.

[Flyboy]

Well, you aren’t looking at much yet. What’s the construction of the inner black case like? Could the top come off with some persuasion?

[Solid]

I tried tugging on the black section of the battery but it has 0 give, its super tight in the case. The black section also extends into the papery bit on the side. I’m just cautious with batteries as we all should be, so I wanted any advice on what to do next. I can try tugging on the black section to see if I can dislodge it but I dont want this to blow up in my face literally