Nano Go Kart Bolt On No Welding made from Broken Hoverboard Part 3
Channel: MIA Micro-FLIGHT
Date: 2020-09-06

This is Part 3 (Running it!) of  my journey on making a Nano go-kart from scratch with a re-purposed hoverboard using 2 independent 36-48VDC  350 watt E-bike brushless controllers, perforated telescopic galvanized square tubing  and a bit of creativity. 

I came across a used hoverboard or, more appropriately, wheel board, for a few dollars and I simply could not pass the opportunity to try to fix it myself. While the unit was repairable, I figure I was not going to use it in the traditional form for safety reasons. Too many people have gotten hurt on these products while trying to use them or when the units failed to stabilize. So I decided to gut out the stock electronic boards, and  re-purpose  the  brushless motor/wheel units. 

While there are many videos on hoverboard go-karts using aftermarket frame tricycle type frames, over the stock working hoverboards, this is different in the sense it is a complete build from scratch, using parts in similar ways to how I use on many of my "bolt-on" RC Products, in particular an early RC go kart I did with a similar H shape  square tubing architecture.

Because this started as a quick way to find out myself how powerful these hoverboard motors were, the framing and assembly was quick and dirty and therefore considered a DIY fun project. 

Since I always wanted to build a go-kart I could ride on. I have built similar for my kids when they were very young,  and yeah I am a big kid at heart, still, LOL, I decided to see how well the BL motor/wheel combo unit would work on similar projects. I started building a scooter but figured that a go-kart, although it requires more mechanical parts, was more fun and more stable and safer, so I went for the latter. 

The original battery that came with the hover boards was still in good shape. Many people do not know that you can revive a pack that looks like it is no longer holding charge, and  re-use them if you are careful and know what you are doing. I carefully dismantled it removing the BSM (Battery System Management) PC board which is supposed to balance charge the complete pack, but when improperly charged these types of battery packs with BMS circuitry can  actually catch on fire, or if the BMS circuitry fails to do its job which  is balancing the cells in the pack individually and keeping track of max spec voltage. There are many videos that show that. I personally do not trust BMS boards in hover boards or similar products, especially in packs that have 10, 20 cells or more, It is safer to make smaller packs and balance charge them with a good balance charger for LI-Ion or LI-Pol cells, under supervision, to make sure each cells reaches spec max voltage, and shuts off,  typically 4.2 volts per cell, 3.5v is minumum, 3.7v is nomimal. 

I use a Hitech 4 zone charger that can charge safely up to 4 individual packs 6S-cells.  In fact, in redoing the pack I made them as packs of 5S cells 2.2 ah each with their own balance connectors so that I could do so in the mentioned charger and it also allows me access to each cell should I need to boost charge the voltage individually of each cell, so that the whole pack can be balanced charged properly,  as a complete unit.  I also use XT60 connectors and have a couple Y  connector/cables in series and in parallel so that I could connect multiple 5S packs to make up for the 10S2P  42V Max 4.4ah  total that the hover motors typically use, via the E-Bike controllers designed for 36-48V 350 Watt operation.   Actually, at the present time I am only using 2 packs of 5S in series making up the 42 volts but they only supply 2.2 Ah capacity. Running the go-kart for about 30 minutes before the voltage dropping to 37.5v, (safe level for recharging and extending the life cycle of the battery). 

If you want to get an idea, roughly, of current consumption in terms of ah for a 2.2AH pack:
2.2A in 1 hr (60 min)
4.4A in 30 min
8.8A in 15 min
17.6A in 7.5 in ... and so forth
you get the drift? 
Formula of Power: 
Watts= Voltage x Current (If you know 2 of the variables you can find the other . 

I do not know the interest in this project, but if you want to build similar, I will detail more info in the comments. Just let me know what you want to know more of or if you have questions and I will share them in the comments, accordingly.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJCDDrsBg8M

MIA Micro-FLIGHT:
http://www.micro-flight.com