Thanks for the kind words Emenel! I did my first trial run yesterday, and I have to say that I could not have been happier with the result. I am a nurse, and felt way over my head at several times building this, but it was really sweet when the board (that I was lying on) would gain enough speed to leave the water surface and then almost complete silence, and the speed quickly increased. Very rewarding yesterday, it wasn’t perfect, but it awesome after the many many hours I worked on this not knowing if it would even work at all.
Good luck to you! As for me, I am ordering more board building supplies shortly (the board I have weighs a ton and was sorta a conversion for this project to save money - encapsulated existing foam board into a shell to include the electronics).
Thanks for this info @dirigible My first trial went really well on the Crazy Foil Mast, Fuselage, and rear wing (I 3d printed / carbon fibered my front wing). I am a really new newby, so I certainly did not test the CrazyFoil extensively at all yet. I will definitely check out the Gong equipment for my next build, and I really appreciate your input - I saw a lot of Gong posts previously, and after looking at the website, it definitely is a nice option price wise (also since a lot of the commonly available .stl files fit those without the modifications I have had to make for the Crazyfoil Mast). PS - Go Maple Leafs in the playoffs!
@dirigible How’s your build coming along? I think I’m going to follow down the path of buying the battery you mentioned. Have you received yours yet and done successful tests with the motor and VESC?
I got my Flipsky kit a week ago, Gong Allvator L foil came today! Waiting on my blank from Greenlight Surf Supply, should be here in the next couple of days. I’ll post pictures after all of that comes in.
@tritodd nice! You get any video, by chance? Or maybe some pictures of the build and finished product? Would love to see how yours developed over time.
@Emenel Build is slow going, just because of competing priorities. I have everything I need (batteries, Flipsky kit, foil, foam, battery enclosure…) except marine epoxy, which has so far been lost in shipment twice by Amazon.
My foam is cut to basic size with hole for battery box, with aluminum rails installed in bottom for mounting the mast. Next I think I’m going to be cutting a lip around the foam battery hole so a lid can be nested into it, then moving on to final shaping and fibreglassing.
@dirigible I hear you on competing priorities…my kids are 4 and 2.
You’re definitely making progress though, battery box looks like a clean fit. Aluminum rails make sense for mount mast. No idea how I’m going to do that part yet. I asked about the battery specifically because a few people said in another thread that they weren’t ideal. So now I’m thinking about tackling a battery build. We’ll see.
@Emenel My kids are 7 and 9. While I wouldn’t trade parenthood for anything, I really cherish the free time I’ve slooowly been getting back as they become more independent.
I agree that building a battery pack is the way to go, if you’re so inclined. My concern was that if I didn’t seize the moment and buy some batteries I’d never finish the project. I can always go back and tweak things after I’ve got a proof of concept.
Great news, things started showing up to my door! Gong Allvator V2 L foil got in this week:
And just got the pre-cut blank from Greenlight Surf Supply.
Didn’t realize it would come cut in half, but that’s probably just my ignorance showing. I got some of this to glue to two halves together.
Now I’m trying to figure out what to do about a battery. I thought about getting the Turnigy 20000 mAh battery to save time—but as I mentioned above, some people on another thread suggested against. So I think I’ll TRY (key word) to build one. I might be owing @torqueboards a lot of drinks soon since he’s offered to help me NOT blow my hands off.
Right now trying to figure out how many 18650 30Q’s to buy and what type. They seem similar but vary a lot in price. These are $5/each, these are $1.93, and these are $2.40. Is there some big difference that I’m not picking up on?
The expensive ones lock genuine, the cheap ones look like knock offs. Stay with genuine quality cells from a reputable seller. Too risky to get a burning pack.
Samsung 40T 21700 and Molicel P42A 21700 are also good cells and less spot welding.
@sat_be I was afraid someone would say something like that. Makes sense though, thanks for the heads up! It sounds like even building a battery pack will cost about $700-900. Sound about right? Makes buying the pre-mades tempting.
[quote=“sat_be, post:31, topic:15470”].
Samsung 40T 21700 and Molicel P42A 21700 are also good cells and less spot welding.
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I assume the bigger mAh means less batteries? That would be helpful, another good tip.
Exactly, less cells. If you bild a smaller battery it ends up chaeper (at the cost of a shorter run time) 12S8P =96 cells.
They’re different Molicel batteries, but @deeproot mentions here that the compromise is more on speed than run time. But that’ll obviously depend on rider, board, etc. In any case, thanks @sat_be for the info. I’ll check prices on both Samsungs and the Molicels. Gotta try to keep this as cheap as I can.
Go with the Molicel P26A Cells. I ordered from here: Molicel P26A 18650 2600mAh 35A Battery
Fast ship in USA, they are $3.90/cell now. My battery is 14s12p - 168 cells. I get about 1hr of runtime. My Samsung 30q battery performs exactly the same as my Molicel battery. I have over 50 rides on each battery now and see no difference other than the cost!
Tips:
- Don’t skimp on the batter size. You want a long ride time.
- No need for a water pump, water pressure from moving forward will push water up the mast to cool the vesc. I started with a pump but then removed it because it was not needed.
- Flipsky 65161 - 120KV, Fliteboard Propellor, Maytech MTSKR1905WF, Flipsky 200A VESC (Not a single issue, ever, rock solid!)
- Don’t use the Flipsky prop. Use this one: Flite Propeller | Fliteboard™ USA only $45. (Had to drill out on drill press with 12mm drill bit).
- See my post to look at my hatch. I originally has hinges and cam latches. Water ALWAYS got it. My new method is a piece of acrylic and screws. I epoxied in 18 T-Nuts (under the silicone gasket) and screw the hatch down. It takes longer to setup the board but well worth it. Now it’s always bone dry!
The one thing I would change if I make another board would be the length. I would shorten the front of the board by about 10-12" just to make it smaller.
Hope this helps, cheers!
@Emenel nice! It’s all coming along.
@deeproot What was the main difference between Flipsky propeller + Fliteboard?
Or it could cost whatever the price of your house is when it burns down. Newbies shouldn’t start out with 200 cells in series / parallel. Learn with a much smaller battery or it could get painful physically and financially.
Lithium fires are pretty crazy to manage… Potentially impossible to manage if you are sleeping and it’s on fire in the garage.
The Molicel P42A are even cheaper per per capacity than the P26A. 4Ah vs 2.6Ah (14.4 vs 9.36Wh, 3.9$ vs 5$. 8 to 10P with 12-14S should be big enough. A 14S10P battery with P42A has a nominal capacity of 2.016 KWh. I run one with 96 cels (12S8P, 1380Wh) which gives me 40-50min riding time, dpending on the wing and average speed.
I hear you, makes perfect sense. And who knows, I might still follow you on Turnigy and see how it goes, for that same reason (time). We’ll see which way the wind blows. In any case, keep me posted on your progress!
@uberfoil What I hate to say is that you’re probably right, and this has crossed my mind more than once. I don’t have any other reason to build a battery, that I can think of. This is the first time in my life the idea has occurred. You think I’d be safer building a bunch of smaller batteries and then connecting in series for my first build? Or should I get another hobby that requires smaller batteries?
This is also helpful, and I know you mentioned that less spot welding. It’s good to know I have other options that will keep the cost down. I guess I’ll shop the options and see what makes sense.
50 min. sounds good. You happen to know what average speed gets you 50 min? Or what your max speed typically is?