I just got a few rides with brand new Takuma efoil with 1600 wing. This is a great cruising foil, however, I’m experienced foiler so I just want more performance. I have a basic electronics background so I’m thinking of some ways to upgrade the setup.
I’m mostly interested in some off-the-shelf components as I don’t have that much time. Ideally, I want to keep the original ECU, remote, board, battery, and only focus only on everything that is below the board:
A longer and stiffer mast (Moses aluminum) for more direct feel and flight height.
Direct smaller diameter motor for less noise and less drag.
Different wings setups as I have a large amount of Moses wings.
Just ride it as it is. If you want to build something, just build a DIY board. You can always sell the Takuma.
You are throwing money away trying to modify that board. All your gonna end up using is the board and maybe foil. Everything else will go in the trash. You’ll have to buy a Maytech remote and receiver, a ESC, a motor, and either modify, or build another battery. I’d guess you’ll spend about $3000.
Just my opinion. Check out my build, and other builds on this site. Knowledge is power. Read up before you destroy your board!
I agree with @Flightjunkie. Don’t try to mod this setup.
The advertissed 3kw is the peak power (can’t be hold for that long). I would say you have a continuous power around 1,5 - 1,7 kw and everything else was calculated with this power, included your ESC, propeller,…
Read carrefully all the other threads, you’ll find detailled data on power consumptions, price tags,… of the available solutions.
Thanks, very valuable information! My DIY setup would be definitelly the powerfull setup based on one of the successful setups from you guys.
However, I still fail to understand one thing - why there is no way to just replace the current motor with a direct motor that would not load the ECU more than the current engine? I fully understand that I will not win a lot, but all I need now is just a more silent motor and a bit less drag with direct smaller diameter motor. If I have it I can simply use stiff long Moses aluminum mast and a collection of my Moses wings. Is there some fundamental reason that direct motor will not work in this setup?
Not directly. Thing is, if you swap the motor you’ll most likely also need to swap the propeller (otherwise you’ll need to find a motor with same rpm to get at least same perf as of today). So if like all of us you are going with a combo motor + propeller than you need to know we’re pushing like 100A in the esc sometimes, when yours only allows something around 60 A max.
Meaning, if you swap the motor, you need a good prop, if you change prop (matched for given rpm), you need a matched esc too, and you still need to be sure your battery allows you to feed that much current without getting hot. All in all, that’s why we said don’t mod this setup, you’ll end up with lot of money and that won’t be worth it.
I had an impression that these days it’s possible to order even custom kv motor. So as long as I know the power of current motor and RPM it probably should be possible to find roughly similar direct motor? Or no way to be lucky here?
Ultimately you are going to be limited to the performance of 12s if you keep the battery that’s in the board. So you might be able to get to 40kph if you really tune the rest of the system well, but that also depends on the BMS that’s on the battery.
Ultimately to get the best performance you would need:
14s battery
new mast
new motor (FR best performance, 65161 cheaper and ok)
new ESC.
new wings that can handle high speed.
Modding an existing product always has its pitfalls. Look to all the battery mods on the evolve boards where once the mods were made guys started blowing up all the other components.
Thanks @Jezza, I fully understand the limitation of the current setup and I just want a bit smaller diameter direct motor. I know it’s not going to be much of improvement, but tiny bit of improvement + lower noise would make me happy with this setup. However, looks like it’s going to be challenging to find a replacement direct motor without any changes to the rest of the electronics. If still anybody would like to help - let me know what should I find out about the current motor/prop/etc in order to try to find direct motor replacement.
Thanks @Jezza, I don’t have exact numbers. But we could guess rought numbers from the battery and propulsion set labels I posted above. I would say that cruise power is only 1.5KW, so that’s 43.2V/35A. For a short time it probably can handle more powerful. It looks like Takuma claims the motor is 3KW, so maybe it makes sense that it cruises at half power. Do you have an idea what off-the-shelf waterproof direct motor would not fry this setup and would deliver the similar performance with a much lower noise?
I believe I also need to know RPM of the propeler in order to pick the right kv?
Trust me. They already optimized the motor. You think changing the motor will get you more speed, or better efficiency…I really doubt it. They already matched the best motor to the available power the battery and electronics can provide.
You change one thing, you will have to change everything. Just ride the board as it is. Sell it if your not happy and build a DIY board.
Do more research before building your DIY board. You might have not bought that Takuma board if you did your research in the first place.
Hey man. You’re e-foiling! Enjoy it! Don’t destroy your board. As is, it probably wont last that long. So, enjoy it! Read up, and start building a DIY board.
Thanks @Flightjunkie, the goal is really not the significant performance increase. It’s about the noise. I ride in very small lakes close to my place that are crowded in summer. Regular people will be annoyed with the noise of the current set as no one else is disturbing their pleasure during sunny chilly weekends. That’s why I want similar power direct motor, which hopefully will deliver a tiny performance increase too.
I’m happy that I bought Takuma. It’s a great efoil for anyone who is not a great foiler. Without duct I’m almost happy with the speed. It’s just noise and mast flex/length that I don’t like. That’s why I was so keen to play with mast/motor/wings.
If I knew more about efoils before Takuma purchase I would not by any efoil So happy with this purchase. It motivates to explore posibility to build DIY set, meanwhile I can still ride Takuma and maybe even play a bit with the motor/mast/wings until full DIY setup.
Give Rick a shout at Avante: Rick rkarr@avanteinnovaitons.com
He designed the Takuma and will know what the ESC and BMS can handle. He might even be able to suggest an alternative motor…
Hi there,
my brother has recently bought the e-takuma as well. While I have made my own(geared setup). I really dont think mine is more silent.
I have deep respect for the E-takuma creators, it really feels like a solid built. And a big upside is that you dont have to worry something breaks down all the time, but this also makes it a bit more boring;) The board feels a bit large too. My next build would be more lightweight/small board. But I understand this would be less accessible for the crowd.
So happy with this purchase. It motivates to explore posibility to build DIY set, meanwhile I can still ride Takuma and maybe even play a bit with the motor/mast/wings until full DIY setup.