I fully understand that it is not the optimal board but I have learnt so much and I can and will move all my electronics and gong foil to newer boards on and on again, maybe for years to come I doubt I would have even started this project at all if I didnt stumble upon the original rifle case efoil on YouTube, so big thanks to those guys since it has been so much fun I will for sure build my own board st some point.
Also the reason I am struggling is because of my very draggy 3d-printed foil and the fact that my motor only produced like 1500w of power to begin with. I have almost zero dubt that when the motor is producing a bit more power and the Gong foil is installed it will fly. Felt really close today even with the poor setup
Wow that is amazing how little power you need to get foiling with that setup! For sure gonna make my own board at some point but for now a rifle case will have to do!
This is a good thread that I based my build on. Not the first one to do this but a nicely detailed thread to get your head around an alternative when you’re ready.
And I have lift of! Super easy to get out of the water and up in the air. Staying up though, thats a different matter haha Got a lot to learn now! Amazing feeling every time you come out of the water foiling!
Thinking of CADing and 3d-printing a bow section to bolt on to the box so that it will be more streamlined and make the gliding phase smoother. Also to make nose dives less dramatic.
If you get issues with stability going straight forward and board wanting to cut left or right then have a look at any clearance in the mast to fuse connection, mast to base plate, base plate to bottom. Any small flex there kills the learning and all good riding and Gong is known to have issues.
I have glued my base plate to the mast with epoxy, that made a huge difference to the quality of the ride.
When I was exploring a rifle case build I was thinking of taking two carbon fiber tubes mounted offset from the lengthwise edge and rolling Eva foam around the tubes and stretch it under the board and back to the other side to make the edges of the case rounded and soft
Just my average laminating epoxy but filled with silica and ground glass fibre.
It doesn’t need to creep into gaps, you clean surface and mask the mast up to where the base plate ends, spread it on mast and base plate inner, thin and as evenly as you can, insert mast, screw together and wipe off the excess. It is really simple but made a world of difference for my board.
The epoxy cracks after a while since forces are so high but it still gives support to remove the flex.
Next mast i’ll do i’ll wet out some kevlar cloth with epoxy, cover mast in it and see if i can jam the base plate and mast together.
I don’t care if they’re mated permanently, if I ever need to remove it i’ll just heat the parts until the epoxy softens.
@Larsb Yeah that makes perfect sense. In my build I poured a too-thick silicon gasket inside my hull to seal my mast wire bulkhead in battery compartment and I overlapped the edges to make sure I got a great seal (and I did) but it makes reinstalling my mast so difficult I risk damaging that gasket so I leave mast connected to board. So I was thinking of ways to epoxy the mast to baseplate while mast and baseplate are attached but yes it would be way easier to epoxy by decoupling mast to baseplate.
When your connection eventually cracks from the forces how do you get a clean slate to redo it? That was always in the back of my mind—would hate to have a hardened layer that makes the alignment of parts off center with second application of epoxy.
The happy phase was short lived. Now I have other issues.
Got some water in to the electronics box from the water cooling connectors (got them siliconed now as a quick fix). Everything looked fine but the usb cable got a bit wet. Probably should have rinsed it in fresh water ASAP but I forgot it to the next day. Now when trying to connect to my PC it does not work to autoconnect anymore the PC makes a connection sound but it does not show at all in VESC program. I got the VESC app and the bluetooth module so I can connect via that though.
My biggest issue is that the damn Maytech remote is acting up again and does not work so I tried to connect my new Flipsky Vx3 pro via the app but I cant. None of the connecting options available in the VESC app.
I have paired the remote to the ESC by the look of the firm blue light. But cannot connect it in the VESC app.
Any suggestions? Could the ESC be damaged from the little amount of water that got in or perhaps the USB? Also the remote screen constantly shows this and makes a beep.
Ouch! Just a drop of water can kill the esc, receiver or bms if you get it onto the pcb. Let’s hope it isn’t that.
Some things seem ok though, if vesc pairs via bluetooth then it’s not totally dead. Could just be water in the connector, take a hairdryer and see if usb wakes up.
That remote shows zero voltage, is that on the remote that you used to ride? What is the battery voltage?
Error message could be that nothing is actually wrong on the remote but that the bms has cut power or receiver is faulty. That it pairs shouldn’t be possible if bms is off though (but depends on how everything is wired)
I’ve had issues with daly bms in some previous builds and they have a poor reputation. Does it have programming/readout of the cell voltages?
I have the Flipsky 75200 with so called “waterproof” water cooling case. The silicone on all the cables and everything looks solid. The battery is in a separate box and did it is very waterproof. Only reason water got in the electronic box is because of the water cooling.
Yes it pairs to the VESC app and I can see all the settings from before. The receiver for the new remote and the old Maytech is showing a constant blue light so that seems to connect in one way or another. But I cannot use the input wizard in VESC to find the remote and start using it.
I have tried a hair dryer without any luck. Maybe I should dip the USB in fresh water and then dry it.
I dont have a multimeter where I am right now but this is what the battery is Daly app is showing when I plugget in the charger. Should 14s really go to over 55v?