I bought a Verreal Mini Hub Duo and I am looking to convert it to a belt drive for wheel options and also reduce its weight at all if I can. I don’t really know anything about DIY Esk8 so I thought this would be a relatively straightforward project where I can learn a little bit about building in general.
I’ve read that I have to replace the ESC because the kV is different for Hub and belt motors so right now I’m trying to figure out the specs for the existing battery, which I plan to keep, but I’m having trouble understanding the label on it. Can anyone help me identify this info? Thanks.
Belt/Weight: Yeah, I knew that belt drives were a little bit heavier but I was hoping I could find lighter trucks as the ones for these Hub motors are super beefy.
Battery Amps: So knowing how many amps it can pull is the main stat you need to know when pairing it with an ESC? I’ve messaged Verreal to see if I can get a proper stat sheet on all the parts.
depends, if u going vesc, then yes u will need that info to not hurt urself. if u plan on getting the belt drive version of that same type of esc, then verreal would gladly sell to u
I can also confirm that even if everything else stayed the same on the board it will still be heavier if you swap out the hub motors for belt drives. The motors for belt drives are a bit lighter than the hub motor counterparts but then you have to add in extra weight for the clamps, motor mounts, and the pulleys if you use a metal wheel pulley.
Based on other trucks made for hub motors, your hangers on the back are likely lighter than the equivalent sized hanger as well which will add a little extra weight.
The problem with ESCs is that you often have no way to know what they are and aren’t compatible with motor wise. The best you can do to find out is if the company selling the prebuilt sells the same board and ESC with the option between hub motors and belt drives. Even then they might not even disclose that they use a slightly different ESC in both of them.
Sometimes they will work fine with different motors and at worst you have to ride in “reverse” mode all the time, but other times the esc will just not work at all.
If you want to gamble on the ESC working to try and save some money, then buy a different esc and hope for the best, but if you want to make sure the new controller will work then go with a VESC. Look for used ones if you want to save a bit of money on one.
So, since the only thing I’m really keeping is the battery, as well as the deck in the enclosure, can’t I fairly easily find an ESC and motor compatible combo online? Are there recommended retailers that people on this forum use regularly?
There was a small typo on there. Meant to say to buy a VESC to ensure motor compatibility. You can buy another ESC and the motors known to work for them from a prebuilt company, but typically they over price their parts.
You might want to shake out the esk8 subreddit as they have a buy/sale thread where you can get parts from prebuilts for cheaper. I grabbed a meepo esc for only $20 because the remote was acting up. Said remote didn’t fully die until several months later and a cheaper remote could be bought from amazon (this is not typical and I wouldn’t expect to be able to buy a replacement remote that cheapily)
I honestly got lucky that the version of ling yi esc I bought worked fine with the motors I had aside from having to ride in reverse if I wanted to go forward
