Hello guys! I got really interested in efoils and finally decided to build one. It will be my first build. I have experience in some areas and completely lack experience in other areas. I am writing this post so I can get some feedback - help, recommendations, etc. I will gladly share my experience afterwards . I will be buying the needed parts shortly after this post.
NB!!! Driver weight: 75-80kg.
Parts list:
Motor: I will go with the FS65161
Propeller: Flying rodeo Ultra - 3blades. Question 1: What pitch would be optimal? What would you recommend?
Esc/Vesc: My original plan was to use Flipsky VESC 75200 with water cooling. I would prefer not to use water cooling and settle on the APD 200F3[X]v2 connecting it to the mast(passive cooling). The problem is that I have neither the experience, nor the tools to create a plate that connects to the mast and cools the ESC. I will gladly take any advise for this part.
MAST/Wing: I will use the Gong V2 CURVE Alu carbon - XL. Is that size okay for my weight?
Remote: Flipsky VX3 ESK8
Battery: I plan to build 14s10p or 14s12p battery using 18650 batteries that I can find cheaply. I am looking at around 2600mah per cells. I will not be using a BMS. Question 2: What thickness of nickel strips do you use? Question 3: What chargers do you recommend?
Board: I have a friend of mine that will help me, so I don’t really worry about this part. I just have to buy the materials. I plan to build 90-100l board. using foam and fiberglass with some additional supports for the mast( It depends for what kind of ESC i go).
**Question 4: Can you recommend what resin to look for? (Does it need to be UV protected). ** Question 5: How are the rubber pads that you put on the board called?(the ones for stability and grip on the top of the board) Question 6: Can you recommend hatches that you have used. I plan to buy some from aliexpress, but I am not sure which are good.
Kill switch and anti spark: I can design some using a high current relay and some Mosfets, but to be honest I would like to avoid it if possible in order to keep things simple. Any suggestions?
Question 7: Do you cover your wing with fiberglass? If so - only the wing or the whole bottom part of the mast? Question 8: Do you put any liquid inside the motor? If so - can you give some advice on this part?
I will really appreciate some feedback and hopefully I can start sharing my experience in the incoming weeks .
In my build (which will be finished in 1-2 months) I use FS65161 100KV (most people go with 120KV, so if they have the 120KV version in stock order that) and Flying rodeo ULTRA 6" (David adviced me on that one, I am not sure how it will perform, but we will see). The pitch that you choose is connected with what KV motor you have, but most people that have 120KV use 7" (anyone correct me on this one if I am wrong). For the wing I do not have GONG one, but from experience I can tell you that for 75KG person the XL option may be a little big, but better that than smaller. It will be easier to start, but later on, you might fell like driving a tractor with that big wing. (ofc you can buy a smaller one after you know how to ride it). Maybe someone, who uses GONG can recommend you on that one. For the charger I can recommend you to charge your battery as slow as possible and battery health will last longer, but if you need fast charges you can go with 15-25A. I have 12s 20A charger from alixpress and for now it is working as it should without any problems. I paid somewhere around 200EUR for it. The answer on question 5 is EVA foam. THey are pretty expensive in my opinion, but it is as it is. For the hatch I went with building my own, same princip as Lift foils. In my 12s18p battery I have 35E cells and 150A ANT BMS. I have to tell you that having BMS was one of the best decisions I have made, mostly for the turn on and off function. It has MOSFETS that keep the sparks away when turning it on and off, on top of that you have app on mobile device to monitor the cells. Most of the people on this forum puts liquid in their motors to prevend corrosion and burning. A lot of people use CORROSIONX and it seems to work just fine. I personally will put mineral oil in mine, because some people had some problems with corrosionx destroying their silicone wires, but it may not be the issue. There is a guy on the forum that made tests to see what happens when the silicone wire is in diffrent liquids. Seems no issue, but I will probably stay on the safe side on this one
I didn’t answer some of the questions, because I am not sure of the answer so I will leave that for other guys to check out.
Thank you for the advice! It is greatly appreciated! For the charger, I might combine 2-3 cheap ones and get a 8-10a charger for slow charging.
I just have one question - Do you use the BMS for discharging as well?
Yes, I use mine for both charge and discharge. It is 150A ant bms and for me this is more than enough. I have samsung 35E cells and they can not output much more i think, so 150A is perfect for my build. But mostly I use it because of the MOSFET turn on and off option. (on the beggining I was thinking about relay, but too much complications and extra weight).
12s 18p - the weight of only the cells in the battery is about 11 kilograms? How much does the finished battery weigh and wouldn’t it be better to use high-current cells with fewer parallels?
Yes, with sealed case for battery, the total weight of it will be 10kg (the cells with BMS are 9.3KG). Well I had 35E already ready to use and I think it will perform just fine, if not I could take one or two of the pararel out. My battery can output 150A without a problem, so I think I wont need that much.
. I will be buying the needed parts shortly after this post.