As the roads dry, the fun continues! Some random pics! Nov 17th: -15C in the morning, with windchill -25C. Sharp turning became difficult as the bushings became much harder in such a low temperature. (Condensation on the motors and electronics after going indoor: I don't think that would be a problem as they should get hot enough at the end of a ride.) This photo was taken in the afternoon, about a few degree warmer Nov 22nd: around zero and everything was wet. Nov 25th: thin snow covered most of the area but the grip was firm. With the experience gained in the pass few days, I was traveling just about as fast on the sidewalk as in the summer.
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These are the three remotes that I've been using. (There is a fourth one, the Mini Remote, which I tried once and gave up.) Their throttle throws are:
E-GO 24mm MayTech 8mm Winning Nano 4mm Using the Nano remote would make one feel that the board is very powerful as a slight push on the throttle would give you a lot of power. However, it requires more skill and attention to use it safely. There are several problems with my DIY now: the remote does not power up any more (need a new receiver and remote); the voltage display show a percentage (always showing 100%) again instead of voltage (need to fix a switch on the display PCB); and the left rear wheel is slightly coming off again (need to find a stronger glue). I changed the remote today. I sealed the enclosure with silicone to protect the board from water damage as much as possible. After removing the screws, some more work was needed to remove the silicone before I can separate the enclosure from the deck How does everything look like inside after more than one year? Will there be a lot of dirt? Will some wire insulation be damaged by rubbing against the bottom of the deck? Will some connections become loose? Let me flip the enclosure over! Wow, much better than I thought! The motor side foam seal moved inward somehow and dust went in. Not a big amount and I am happy. The height of the CAN Bus connector had me worried that the three wires would rub against the deck and break. Instead, they were just bent flat against the deck. No sign of abrasion at all. The MayTech Remote receiver is just a pcb with no housing. To keep it in position, I secured a piece of heat shrink tube (yellow) on the enclosure as a sleeve for sliding the receiver into. I need to replace this receiver with the one that came with the Winning Nano Remote. (As before, I covered the battery with plastic wrap to avoid accidental shorting. Looking at the instruction sheet, I could see that the pin layout was somehow totally different! Anyway, I tried pairing it with the Winning Nano Remote. It was not successful. And then I realized that the receiver was for the Mini Remote that I didn't like. Somehow, I didn't store the receivers with their matching remotes together! A bad move. After a while, I located the right receiver and made a successful pairing. I engaged the brake and the motors just ran wild. I had to power the longboard battery down immediately. After setting the Min and Max Pulsewidth with the BLDC tool, the Winning Remote was working normally. I attached the receiver on the enclosure with industrial strength Velcro. After that, putting all the screws back on! As before, I sealed the enclosure with silicone and put heat shrink around the screws to make hand carrying more comfortable. (If I ever do another DIY, I will make a custom enclosure that will fit perfectly with the deck curvature.) In retrospect, I should have tried to fix the display problem too. Well, may be in 2019!
The Maytech remote of my DIY is dead. May be it's time to fix or attempt to fix all 3 of my boards! Obviously, this Kanthaka with Orangatang Kegel needs a new griptape. This should be easy, even though I have never ever changed a griptape before. This old Yuneec E-Go with a Sector 9 Slingshot deck was dead (again) after riding in the rain on May 18th (here). A month or two later, I tried pairing it with the remote again and it worked! Unfortunately, power output could be intermittent. It could be a problem with the motor, the remote (signal jam), or the electronic control unit (ECU). Since a back-up "repaired" ECU is all I have, I will try replacing the ECU. The Maytech remote is dead, could not powering up anymore. I am glad that it's dead after charging, not during a ride at high speed! Fixing this would be more troublesome than the other two boards as I have to clean everything, install a new receiver, and re-calibrate the Winning remote that I have using the BLDC Tool. Since I was moving, it's been a while since I last rode my electric for fun. Today, I went out for a long ride despite of the cool and cloudy weather. And wow, I saw new bike lanes almost everywhere! This one location at Main is just wonderful! The road (green area only of course) is all mine when the bike and pedestrian signal turns green! (All other lights stayed red for a while!) (Cloudy day, photos don't look great! Click to enlarge.) At many locations, there are colorful paintings: But bear in mind, we are riding a skateboard, not a bike! Colorful paintings make it harder to see the obvious. Plain green painting does similar things, though to a lesser extent. Pot hole like this could send me eating the road in no time While I was photographing this pot hole, a lady with the City of Winnipeg came to me and introduced me to the new Bikeway System in Winnipeg! (On this cool and cloudy Saturday afternoon, she and me were the only people around!) What? There are sensors that detect the presence of cyclists and give them priority? Cool! Oh, her name is Natalie. Is it legal to skateboard on bikeways? And so I asked. Well, it was only natural that Natalie did not know. I followed her back to her setup, which was not too far away Soon, a young lady from Bike Winnipeg (or Cycling Winnipeg? Bad memory of mine) arrived. Unfortunately, I could not remember her name even though we talked a bit. (I have really, really bad memory) She demonstrated "Two-Stage Turning" for me. 1. Go when the bike signal turns green. 2. Move and stay at the green area that is wider/bigger on the right. (This is what cyclists should do even without the green area or bike lane.) 3. Go when the bike signal turns green (top left corner of the photo). So now you know how to turn left! Soon, a few more people from either the City of Winnipeg or Bike Winnipeg (or Cycling Winnipeg) arrived. Natalie asked them if it's legal skateboarding on bike lanes. No one was sure. Advice from them: - refer to the Provincial Acts - stay on one side of the bike lanes before the red light (be courteous) - use the sidewalk where there is no bike lane Before I go, I was given a copy of Winnipeg Cycling Map Version 6. To get yourself a pdf version of the map and learn all the new features of the Winnipeg Bikeway, go to:
winnipeg.ca/bikemap Thank you ladies! I had a great Saturday afternoon! |
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