got it. ¿and what about the motors? could they be damaged somehow? what kind of ride behaviours should be avoided (beside battery concerns you already explained) does them have a max rpm for example?
Got a response back from CS and guess what? My kit isn’t broken. The fast flashing light just means it’s in pairing mode, so re-pairing the remote fixed this issue.
Just to confirm I’m not an idiot, I read through the manual, FAQ and google results again, and this fast flashing pattern meaning pairing is not mentioned anywhere. It’s also a different pattern from the slow flashing that you get when the remote is off (= aka not connected) so there was no way I could know that.
Why the board disconnected from the remote after a “Low Voltage” warning, and more importantly: Why I randomly got a Low Voltage warning with a 60% battery that then disconnected the remote - I have no idea.
I’ll work with CS next to see about the motor sounds, and gently try to use that battery to see if the Low Voltage issue comes back.
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So if you hold the power button a really long time when starting up (about 5 seconds), you would unpair the remote. The same could happen if you held the remote power button for a long time.
Not saying that’s what happened for sure. Just that those two actions would make it happen again.
Thanks for sharring the problem and the solution. Congrats on being back on the road again.
Perhaps add an edit to the top of your earlier posts stating the problem and the solution. Then others won’t have unecessary product reliability worries.
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Watch Ronnie’s last video and don’t do any of those things. Don’t ride throug salty grit in the spring time. Wait until the april showers rince the salt off the roads. Lubricate your motor bearings frequently. Lubricate them again if you hear a squeek.
Good theory, but I’m not holding the remote in a way that could put long pressure on the power button to unpair it. I’m nowhere near the buttons while riding
Then there was also the “Low Voltage” warning on the remote before it all happened, with the board not turning on until I re-inserted the battery.
Edited the above post 
Could be an internal battery issue or something like that, let’s see what CS ends up saying.
This is true, but be aware that the Revel BMS is wired for discharge, so I believe it should be able to cut off before the cells are actually damaged. The Revel kit’s 0% charge is at 3.6v, still well above the safe discharge for lithium ion cells. I don’t think there would be a situation where you could damage the battery from riding at low charge, but either way, it is still good information to share and be aware of.
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For what it’s worth, I was able to ride the Waterborne Surf Adapter (both front and rear) down SF’s streets going about 30mph with ease. Granted, it wasn’t on an ESK8 with added power but there was definitely no loss of stability on a regular board. It actually felt more stable and forgiving than without it.
Surprisingly enough, it’s quite the opposite. The rear adapter makes a HUGE difference when traveling at higher speeds. A majority of speed wobbles happen when people lean back and shift their weight to their back foot when going fast, rather than keeping a stable and evenly weighted stance along the center of the board. This added weight to the back foot puts pressure on the rear trucks and causes a bit of understeer, your body would naturally try to counter it, speed wobbles get worse if you counter it wrong, and that’s when a harsh fall is inevitable.
The purpose of the Waterborne Rail Adapter in the rear trucks is to increase stability by limiting TURN but increasing LEAN. In essence, your rear wheels are almost always looking straight when using the Rear Adapter. No matter how much you LEAN, the rear wheels won’t TURN nearly as much. This lessens the chance that you’ll experience any understeer, and in turn means less speed wobbles.
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Adding to my last post, if you are considering using the Waterborne Adapters then I highly recommend that you use just the Front Waterborne Surf Adapter with the Revel Kit. I’m a huge advocate for both and as much as I love using both, I just can’t figure out a perfect solution when it comes to using the Adapters in correlation with a Revel Kit.
Which is completely alright, the Front Adapter does amazing on its own and I’d only really recommend the Rear Adapter when either pumping as a form of propulsion or if you’re traveling more than 40mph (which i’m sure is crazy fun but i value my life).
Ultimately what it came down to for me was the ride height: (all with 90mm wheels)
- Stock: 4.5 inches
- Just the Front Adapter: 5.125 inches
- Both Front and Rear Adapters: 6.5 inches
There’s no other way to implement the both of the Waterborne Adapters together and yet still maintain an appropriate ride height without making extensive modifications to the Revel Kit, voiding it’s warranty. 5.125 inches is kinda pushing it a little bit, but is definitely bearable and something you could get used to over time. 6.5 inches however can be pretty dangerous, your center of gravity would be so high that the added stability granted by the Rear Adapter would be obsolete.
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TLDR
- Buy just the Front Waterborne Surf Adapter
- Slap it on the front of the board, add a 1/8 inch gummy riser pad because the Revel trucks are incompatible with the Adapter by default.
- Mount your front trucks to the Surf Adapter
- Use a 1/2 inch riser in the rear, in addition to another 1/8 inch gummy riser pad, and mount the Revel drive to it
- Tighten the rear truck’s bushings as tight as possible without warping the bushing (the cone shape of the bushing should still maintain it’s cone shape). This should emulate the Rail Adapter, keeping your back end stable while the front end does most of the work. Think of it like your back end being a pivot point, allowing for much sharper turns while maintaining stability.
- Test ride and adjust bushings accordingly
- Boom you’re done
Side note: the gummy riser pads are used so that the ride is a bit smoother and also to keep all the hardware from coming loose from street vibrations
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You might want it even thicker or not actually need to buy one, the Revel kit comes with a 0.5inch front riser.
You’ll most likely need new bushings too, the default ones are better than average Chinese bushings but they aren’t nearly as good as Riptide or anything like that. The pivot cups are also not great.
The front Waterborne Adapter itself adds a 1/2 inch to the ride height, and also comes with two 1/2 inch risers in order to level the rear of the board (1 being an extra). I had only mentioned the 1/8 inch riser because the trucks that come with the Revel Kit have too long of a base for it to fit flush with the front Waterborne Adapter. It’s kinda hard to explain without visuals, I’d share a picture but unfortunately I can’t share pictures on here 
Luckily I bought my Kit as a complete, and it spared me some troubles because I was able to purchase it with some soft 83a Orangutan Nipple Bushings 
Oh shoot haha that makes sense then lol I forgot about it adding ride height itself
We seem to be saying opposite things but might be mostly in agreement despite the contradictions.
I’m saying that the ESC will give you a vibration alert long before the BMS would need to cut off the power and that the BMS can’t cut off the power completely. This is certainly true of overcharge. It may be only partially true of discharge.
The Revel Kit has a low power limp mode that supports braking only and no acceleration. I don’t know if it is the BMS or the ESC that instigates the limp mode. So you could be right, the BMS might have some discharge control in the form of a low voltage limp mode. Or I could be right and the BMS may have no say on the voltage that reaches the ESC. Limp mode could be a function of the ESC.
I think limp mode only happens at spectacularly low voltage and it is intended to keep the rider safe with operable brakes vs keeping the Cells safe from overdischarge.
Even with a BMS that has complete discharge control (it can pull the plug on the ESC) - it is still possible to damage cells by repeatedly rebooting the system.
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So firstly…wow… you are the waterborne authority. Nice write-up.
Second. I have one more monting suggestion that you might love.
Picture a six wheeled board with the Revel kit positioned a few inches in front of the rear trucks but retracted from the pavement. Pull a lever and the revel kit drops down like landing gear and allows you to ride electric. you would get to use both of your adapters front and rear. You would also get frictionless pumping. Finally no modifications needed to the Revel kit.
If you mounted the Revel kit on a hinge, you cold spring load it to push against the ground. Retracting the drive wheels would involve pulling the drive trucks up to the deck and locking it into position,
Hundreds of different ways to do this.
Your thoughts?
I just talked myself into building one. It would be a foolproof way out of getting ticketd for electric skateboarding on the bicycle paths. Just retract the drive and pump past the ticketers.
you know if you got the geometry right on a very long flexible board, then you would not need any retraction mechanism. you could just stand in the middle of the board to engage the electic drive. Shifting your weight away from the middle, the drive would lift into the air.
Hey Justin: So you are a waterborne pumper? Cool. you know, from watching the videos, I thought the pumping looked cool but I also figured I could ticktack twice as fast on a short light kicktail deck. But you are not really saying the waterborn is faster than tic-tacking, you are saying it conserves more energy for longer rides. Is that correct?
Not a water borne adapter but did make my backfire super carvy. Never went high speed though so stability wasn’t an issue.
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For various reasons I’m slightly interested in trying out the 105mm cloudwheels but I’m not getting my hopes up for a revel board kit compatible adapter.
Guess my wheel squeezing might move onto the 72a 110mm wheels.
The Revel is indeed great on itself. it still have more have potencial though. just imagine some set of compatibility and accesories. would be a blast.
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What accessories did you have in mind?
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