12232022 Update:
New DD power system recommendation…
https://rideonsra.com/en-ca/collections/motors/products/direct-drive-motor-electric-skateboard-12s-kit
10102021 Update:
The DD power system is no longer available from https://goeskate.ca . They have a belt drive replacement that is superior but also a bit more pricey.
Original Article:
This is my easy build for owners of the Backfire Ranger X1 or X2. All you need to do is order another Ranger Deck and a new ESC enclosure with power switch and you can reuse your existing battery.
If you own an RX1 or RX2 and you are tired of the short range, this DD setup will almost double your range. However, it’s not for off road use.
This DD setup with big urethane wheels (107mm - 120mm) rides much smoother than the stock RX1 or RX2 on pavement. On broken pavement, hardpack, rumble strips, the solid urethane wheels will be worse than rubber wheels. You’ll get bounced to death and lose grip at higher speeds. The 120D Cloudwheels are the best compromise of smoothness and grip but suffer a 10% range penalty over solid urethane like the ABEC Superfly 107s.
Using the latest small diameter (105mm) rubber wheels will improve shock absorption and grip but your range will degrade back to almost stock RX1 and RX2 levels.
I have wobbly wheel and customer service issues with my Torqueboards TB110 72A. In addition they are dangerously bouncy on poor pavement, big cracks, and potholes, so I cannot recommend them for safety reasons alone. https://forum.esk8.news/t/tb110-72a-wobbles/37354/32
Here is my recommended parts list for this build:
The DD power system is no longer available from https://goeskate.ca . They have a belt drive replacement that is superior but also a bit more pricey.
If you need a battery these are your options:
Dont forget the OEM charger if you don’t already have one.
https://backfireboardsusa.com/collections/upgrade-kits/products/electric-skateboard-battery-14ah-10s4p-for-backfire-ranger-x1
or
The ESC in the goeskate.ca kit is a standard current generation low end Hobbywing. It is uber reliable and totally unconfigurable.
The ESC enclosure is the newest two holer. It features a full top cover, rubber seals, rubber grommets to seal the motor and power wires.
The ESC enclosure is a work of art. It also has pretty much the dumbest power switch location that favours aesthetics over function. I had to counter sink it with a dremel and use the Backfire stock switch in order to prevent future disappointments, i.e. inevitable impacts with road hazards.
The motor wires were way way too long. I noodled long and hard about cutting them down, but my laziness prevailed so I went with the “stuff it in and close the hatch” option.
The most difficult thing to do was mounting the ESC onto the enclosure. The ears were just a little too short. So I fabricated extensions from polycarbonate packaging and bolted them onto the ESC, then screwed the ESC onto the mounts with grommets from RC servos I had lying around.
Next thread the wiring carefully thru the grommets, one connector at a time. Be patient, it’s frustrating but can be done without damaging anything.
Neatly squeeze the wiring into the ESC enclosure and bolt it all closed.
I added a power extension to be able to add an outboard battery pack in parallel and or charge using the XT60.
I left the threaded connectors on, in case I needed them in the future. Again I was too lazy to cut them off. I also feared an accidental wire cut.
I changed out the stock ABEC adapters for the Kegel adapters. No loctite was stock…
All finished ready to ride!
In its current form with two Ranger X1 batteries in parallel I have gotten 90km range at eco speeds and 70km range at group ride speeds:
The 2,000km Review
What I liked:
- Incredibly smooth ride on good pavement
- Quietest personal electric vehicle anywhere
- Good acceleration and top speed (for 10s)
- Ultra reliable Hobbywing ESC and Onewow DD motors
- Exceptional range with two RX1 battery packs in parallel
Needs improvement:
- Kegel pullies were too short causing excessive wear and play
- Less than stellar braking performance with 110 and larger wheels (for 10s)
- Wobbly, bouncy, fast wearing Torqueboard TB110 72As wheels
Summary:
The overall performance has been very good with the exception of a Kegel pulley wear out problem and weakish brakes. I definitely recommend this eboard build to anyone who already owns a Backfire Ranger and wants a premium urethane ride using the same battery pack. I also recommend goeskate.ca as the supplier of this Onewow manufactured Direct Drive (DD) power system.
I have ridden mostly on paved roads of poor to average quality, this includes broken pavement and some gravel patches. I got caught in the rain for about 5 km where I had to ride at walking speed to minimize water spray onto the motor and wheel bearings. This resulted in no noticeable bearing damage.
If you own a Backfire Ranger and don’t have this DD power system as your second board, what are you waiting for? I stopped riding my RX1s on cross country trips because this DD powered board gave me twice the range and 10kph faster cruise speeds with most of the comfort.
The Power System:
This Direct Drive (DD) power system is manufactured by Shandong Number One Intelligent Technology Co.,Ltd (Onewow). This is the same DD OEM rebranded as Elofty, Boundmotor, Onsra, Transzite, etc… My DDs were purchased from Goeskate.ca, a Toronto eskate company who sells complete eskates as well as individual DD power units like the one presented here. I highly recommend this company for their technical expertise and customer service.
Reliability:
The DD motors and associated Hobbywing (HW) 10s ESC have been perfectly reliable. The first thing you notice about these DDs is how incredibly quiet, smooth and wobble free they are. This is a truly stealthy drive system.
After 2,000km of mostly street riding, I may have had two dropouts but can’t be certain as it reconnected quickly enough to not cause any issues.
Ride Performance and Handling
The acceleration and braking are 8/10 compared to 10/10 on the stock Ranger X1 and my Backfire G2T on permanent speed 3 (turbo), both with the same 10s4p battery packs. The DD performance might be better with 97mm diameter wheels but I did not bother trying as max acceleration is not as important as road hazard clearance provided by bigger wheels.
The 12s powered DD has way more grunt and top speed than my 10s version. I ride with a number of guys who use the 12s version and it is a revelation. For safety reasons, I prefer my 10s powered option. I have had no injury causing accidental acceleration events due to dumb thumbs or pocketing the remote. With 12s I would not have been as lucky.
I am disappointed by the relatively poor braking performance on 110mm wheels. I wish it had stronger brakes. I know going to a 12s battery and ESC will solve this issue. But so far I have adapted by braking earlier and just riding with greater care in situations where I may need to brake due to approaching road or vehicle hazards.
The board tops out at 45kph on the remote speedometer and around 40kph on radar. On my 100km plus distance rides, I cruise at 30 – 35 kmh continuously. The motors are cool to the touch at these speeds. I have gotten real world ranges of 50km – 70km, riding at group ride speeds, using paralleled RX1 battery packs (10s8p Samsung 35E).
I replaced the stock bushings with the standard Riptide DKP setup. The handling of the DKP trucks is very good but hard carving slaloms on the TB110 72A wheels are sluggish compared to 120 Cloudwheels. I think the moving mass of the 570g TB110s compared to the 470g Cloudwheels is the cause. Again, I think smaller 97mm wheels would provide the best carving response but road hazard and driveway ramp clearance would be compromised.
Talking about clearance, on every long ride I invariably end up banging the motor cans going up driveway curbs, broken pavement or over rocks. It doesn’t take much effort or even bad surfaces, all you need is to approach a 2 cm tall irregularity at an angle so one drive wheel hits it before the other, then bam! The motor strikes. The shallow approach angles are the worst for such a hit. Driveway curbs are the worst problems because they appear so innocuous. If you run over a bump and hit it with both wheels at the same time the motors never bottom out. I’ve learned to cringe and live it with. I taped on replaceable plastic shields to cosmetically protect the cans. But it doesn’t really do much as they get torn up with each ride. None of the scratches and gouges caused any motor blips or malfunctions.
Talking about malfunctions, these DDs will not fall off your trucks like the Torqueboards DDs have been known to do. It’s impossible as these DDs slide onto the truck shaft like a urethane wheel, are held in place with a big ass M10 nut and then your wheels go on the end of the same shaft secured with a standard M8 nut. These DDs won’t fall off during a ride, ever.
Fast Wearing Kegel Pullies
I don’t know if the wear is due to the Kegel teeth (posts) being too short, the wobbly TB110 72As I received from Torqueboards, the partial centre set of the core design, etc. A new set of Kegel pulley designs are expected in 2021 that might fix this issue.
The Abec pullies on 120 Cloudwheels have no such problems.
Torqueboard TB110 72As wheels
These big urethane wheels ride much smoother than the stock Ranger X1 or X2 on pavement. It’s not even close. I thought the X1/X2 rubber could only be eclipsed by pneumatics. Alas, it was a pleasant surprise that the big urethane is smoother on smooth surfaces than the typical wobbly and bumpy Ranger rubber.
However, on broken pavement or road bumps the TB110 72A urethane is worse than the X1/X2’s absorbent rubber. They bounce dangerously like 4 huge superballs. That’s the trade off. Double the range of rubber with super smooth glide vs. bouncy ball effect on broken pavement.
I think I have worn about 2-3mm off the wheels (2,000km), so the wheel diameter went from 109.5mm down to about 107mm.
Cloudwheels 120D
These are every bit as smooth as the Torqueboard TB110 72As wheels, with the added benefit that they soak up imperfections way better than the TB110 72As. There is no bouncy ball effect that will throw you off the board when you hit cracks or bumps.
I have not done a range comparison yet, but the CW120D it might be a tiny bit worse than the TB110 72As due to the higher rolling resistance. With broken-in (worn smooth contact patch) CW120D wheels gripped as well as the TB110 72As.
The 3,000km Update
The motor cans are getting more and more bashed up, as can be expected.
The TB110 72a Blues have chewed up all 6 of my Kegel pullies now.
So replacement 120D Cloudwheels pumpkins from Toronto supplier, Diego at https://goeskate.ca, were installed. They rattle in the ABEC pullies but have not damaged them, yet. There is about 0.5mm of rotational play.
The noise from new CW treads is horribly loud. It sounds like a belted board now. ugh. I can’t wait til they wear flat.
The range is about the same as the TB110 72a. Wind, hills, speed and throttle management seems to have a bigger effect on range than the difference between the two wheel types.
The dangerous bounces on bad pavement are gone. This is the biggest plus. Overall shock absorption has improved slightly. It’s never going to be pneumatic smooth. Overall rideability is similar. It is slightly lighter and carve changes are a bit easier with less inertial resistance. It is less smooth on smooth pavement due to the goofy tread.
Max speed appears to have increased or it’s the noise making me think it’s faster. It doesn’t matter to me, it’s fast enough because braking is weak. Hill climbing and braking are considerably worse. 10S is no longer a good idea for 120D CWs. Or the stock hobbywing ESC is not really viable for 10S braking.
The 6,000km Update 10102021
The DDs began overheating at 5,000km. Typically this happened on runs faster than 30 kmh, and longer than 20 km non stop, in temps above 25C. Warnings included a message on the remote and an auto slowdown to speed 1.
This apparently a known Onewow DD issue with the bearings having insufficient lube. I’m not sure I would characterize this as a defect because, you know, I rode 5,000 km without incident. This is an eboard not a Camry. I would consider this a good range to require a bearing replacement.
In the interim I have just gravity dripped oil into the bearings whenever the warnings occurred. This temporarily solves the overheat issue for the remainder of a 100+km ride. It’s an awful mess but it does work. The real solution is a bearing replacement or strip down and thorough cleaning and relube.
120D Cloudwheels are now at 3,000 km. The tread has finally worn down to the point it rides as smooth as the TB110s when they were new. The 1.0mm play in the ABEC pullies feels like it is worse. However, it hasn’t negatively affected performance yet.
I’m still riding with a smile so it can’t be all bad…
** The 8,000 km update 12232022:**
New Onsra DD power system recommendation is the same as the original power system except it comes with with the latest 12S hobbywing ESC and the generic HW remote on a unique frequency. This power system is compatible with the Ranger X2, 12s3p battery packs, or any other 12s pack that can deliver at least 25A continuously.
This year marks 8,000 km on this eboard and power system. The last 5,000 km have been on the same 120D Cloudwheels.
I contacted Onsra for technical advice on taking the motors apart to clean and lube or put in new bearings, what I thought was the reason for overheating shutdowns. Christian and Fabian suggested overheating maybe in the ESC not the motors. The overheating issue was due to insufficient cooling of the ESC. I removed the salad cover from the ESC case and viola! No more overheating warnings and slowdowns. Also, make sure to have a good thermal paste contact between the ESC and external heatsink.
I really can’t say enough good things about this entire set up. I know during the same two years @rafaelinmissouri has built and ridden another 20 eboards, while I have been happily cruising longer and longer rides on my trusty setup. I now regularly run 150 km in a 15 hour day, carrying only an 8A fast charger to top up during breaks. The Backfire Ranger deck is still OG. The Riptide bushings are still good. I am still using the same OG Backfire Ranger X1 battery packs, made in Dec 2018. I still get about 70 km on the initial charge.
It’s winter now in the Great White North, so I’m preparing for next season with a 12s Ranger X2 battery upgrade and the Onsra DD power system, if my Ranger X1 batteries do not survive til spring…