The Student Build - Beginner/Small Budget - Inputs Encouraged

Yea, I watched a lot of Jehu’s videos in my effort to educate myself on batteries.

1 Like

Another major update is needed at this time! I have now glassed the foil mount into the board. I have also glassed the compartment with its integrated frame which allows me to screw and unscrew the polycarbonate lid.

As for the battery pack, it is now fully assembled and almost ready to go (still have to figure out some stuff with the bms). The cells are connected in parallel using nickel strips and are connected in series using 8awg wires as bus bars. This was a lot more work than I anticipated but I’m sure it will be worth it in the end. The configuration is 14s14p of Sony VTC6 cells.


Finally, I decided to watercool the esc with a small pump that will be linked to a thermostat which will automatically start and stop it (from mat’s build @Mat). I bought step down converters that will allow to bring down my voltage to power the receiver and the pump (instead of a ubec since I’m running on 14s). However, I have no idea about how I should connect these from my battery pack to the receiver/pump. So if any of you know a little bit about these tiny things, please let me know.
Feel free to ask questions or give suggestions!!

3 Likes

Following for ideas.seems a lot of good ideas

It’s time for another update!! After testing the board for waterproofness, it was finally time to test it out on the water. I’m happy to say it was a partial success lol. I broke the water pump and the remote surrendered but I’m guessing that’s part of the process haha. The compartment didn’t leak and I was able to ride for a total of 2- 3 minutes. The main problem was that the receiver (powered with a 5V step-down converter) and water pump (powered with a 12V step-down converter) would both shut down as I was riding the board. I had to turn the whole system off and then back on and everything would start working again. Then, I would go back in the water and get another 30sec of riding time before it would shut off again. I did a test on the dock and I could get up to approx. 70a before the receiver and the water pump would cut off. I’m assuming that the step down converters didn’t like the amount of current I was pulling. Is there any other possible explanation and how can I fix this?