Let's Bring This Project to an End: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Longboard Controller

The final step in bringing this project to life involves the wiring process. To begin with, I measured out a suitable length of red and black 4 square millimeter wire for the XT60 connectors, cut it to size, and soldered each one accordingly in its place. It's worth noting that the red wire represents "minus" while the black wire represents "plus." Next, I used sandpaper and acetone to clean the area around the charger cut-outs, prepared a mixture of two-component adhesive, and glued the two XT60 and balance extensions to the case.

While this was drying, I needed to reposition the thick power wires of my bigger battery in order to make it fit inside the case. To do so, I tore off any protective tape, used my soldering iron to move the wires a bit to the right, restored the Kapton tape treatments, and added duct tape to wrap up the entire battery. This was done not only to increase the overall size of it, ensuring a tight fit in its metal sheet case, but also to provide additional protection.

The resulting assembly is now ready for the next step. Let's move on to creating an easy-to-use remote for the transmitter.

Creating an Easy-to-Use Remote

For this purpose, I started off with an old Wii Nunchuck that I had laying around. Its a great economic design and can be used as a potentiometer once again. The C button will act as a cruise control, meaning while pressing it, the ESC will keep the current speeds no matter how you position the potentiometer.

Before programming anything, I first laid out the necessary wires, cut up unnecessary parts with a screwdriver, shortened the circuit boards using a rotary tool to save space and remove plastic structures inside the controllers for the same reason. After that, I sorted out three new wires to the potentiometer and button board and gathered all my necessary components.

The brain of the operation is an ATtiny45 which can be programmed with the help of my homemade programming shield. The necessary power will be delivered by a 380 milliampere hour LiPo battery connected to the charging circuit after removing its micro USB connector.

Next, I positioned my main power switch drilled the necessary holes, created the rough shape with a file and mounted all with two small screws. It's always a good idea to test the device during construction, so I also measured the current draw of nearly eight milli Amps which means the controller can run for huge amount of hours.

Now that everything is ready, I secured all the components inside the case with hot glue, closed it up and my electric longboard was finally ready to roll!

If you're interested in building something similar, you can find the schematics, codes, pictures, and a parts list on Instructables, which has a link in the description.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enlet's bring this project to an end. beforegoing into detail concerning the wiringI firstly measured out a fitting length ofred and black four square millimeterwire for the XT60 connectors, cut it tosize and soldered each oneaccordingly in its place. You know, redis plus and black is minus. Then I usedsandpaper and acetone to clean the areaaround the charger cut-outs, prepared amixture of two component adhesiveand glued the two XT60 and balanceextensions to the case. While that isdrying I needed to reposition the thickpower wires of my bigger battery in orderto make it fit inside the case. So I toreof any protective tape and used mysoldering Iron to move the wires abit to the right. Afterwards i restoredthe Kapton tape treatments andadditionally used duct tape to wrap upthe entire battery. This does not onlymake the overall size of it bigger whichensures a tight fit in its metal sheet casebut also adds a cushion effect that isimportant to lessen the vibrationsduring the ride. Once the wrapping andmounting was complete I continued bysecuring the enclosures and cable glandsin its final position and also startedmodifying the ESC this means Iremoved the original three wires on itsoutput and replaced them with theextended wires of my motor. Then Itreated the aluminium surface of the inner case and heat sink of the ESC with sandpaperand acetone and used thermal glue tobond them together. But just to be safe Ialso added the two-component adhesive on the sides of the heatsink and later oneven on the sides of the main circuit.Because the tension of the wires rippedit off. After letting it all dry I moved onby mounting the three position switchesto the designated spots. And now it istime to talk about the wiring diagram. Bothbatteries feature male XT60 connector and will be basically connected in parallelto the ESC but can be turned onindependently through their switches.So when riding the boards one batterygets useduntil its empty and then you change tothe other one. The second switchposition though connects thebatteries to the charging ports whichcan then be easily connected to asuitable balance charger that fillsit right up. In theory this allsounds relatively easy but inreal life there were some small thingsi would like to mention you shouldalways keep your wire length short and the lay out clear and simple in order to avoid amess because wires can eat up a lotof space. Hot glue can be used to isolatethe switch terminals from each other andwhile soldering two wires at one terminal of anXt60 connector does work fine. Threeat the same time is not recommended. bettercreate a separate tie point. During thisprocess I also checked wether the switchesworked fine with the help of mymultimeter and also added labels forthem. For the last step of the wiring I closed the charging ports with protectiverubber plugs I found on the internetand did a test fit with thebatteries which turned out to be asuccess. So we can grab the three pinfemale head of the ESC and continue withthe controls. For first try I connectedthe brown ground wire to the ground ofthe Arduino Nano and the yellowdata wire to D9. To send out an easilychangeable signal I also hooked up apotentiometer of an analog stick to A7. The I code then uploaded creates a smallvoltage pulse that changes the time of itshigh state proportional to the positionof the potentiometer. The longest andshortest time of this burst, X as areference point for the ESC which can beprogrammed in by turning it on whilecreating the longest burst, thenwaiting for the beeps and afterwardscreating the shorter burst andwaiting for more beeps. After countingthe number of cells of the battery,the motor control is ready to work andfunctions flawlessly. Only problem isthat the response time is way too fast.Imagine using such a motor brake whilestanding on this thing something woulddefinitely break. So I created a delayfunction in the codes which slowlyincreases or decreases the time of the voltage burst and therefore theacceleration of the motor slows downa bit. Of course you can configure acouple of other settings as well whichare described in the instructions of theESC. But you need to handle thisawkward beeping codes. And much easieralternative would be a programming cards. Just select your own settings,plug it in, give it power and there you go. But needless to say this setup is still notoperated remotely aka still not usable forus. To fix this I got myselfa 433 MHz RFtransmitter and receiver. The transmitterconnects to VCC, ground and the D9pin of the Arduino and the receiver'sVCC and CS pin connect tothe ESC's red wire and ground to thebrown wire. Without connecting the data wire of the receiver to the ESC, we cansee that everything works smoothly butas soon as we do just that the signalsuddenly gets eaten up almost completely and the ESC does not recognize thecommands. A simple circuit that can getrid of this problem is a voltage follower. Inthis case based around the NE5534 Ijust prepared a small piece of stripboardsoldered the receiver on to it with thehelp of bridge wire soldered in all the necessaryjumpers and drilled the mandatoryinterruptions. If you want to buildsomething similar then you can find theschematics, codes, pictures, a parts listand everything that is important onInstructables, link is in description.Once the board was completesI hooked it upand did a test run. Since there were noproblems I prepared a small piece of glass,did a 3mm hole through all layers and secure the board and glass to the case. Later Irealized though that this constellationis a bit fragile. So used two compound adhesiveto secure it but still usedsmall hole to attach a long piece ofwire to the internal antenna which actsas an external antenna. Now the onlything left to do was to create an easyto use remote for the transmitter. For that I started off with an old Wii Nunchuckthat I had laying around. Its an economic design and I can use the analog stick as a potentiometeronce again and to set button as asafety trigger which means no signal willbe sent out while this button is notpressed. The C button on the other handwill act as a cruise control which meanswhile pressing the button the ESC willkeep the current speeds no matter howyou position the potentiometer. Butbefore programming anything I first laidto correct this thing open, will bedriving screwdriver and cut up theunnecessary wires. Then I shorten thecircuit boards with a rotary tool inorder to save space and remove theplastic structures inside thecontrollers as well for the same reasonAfterwards I sort out three new wires tothe potentiometer and button board andgathered all my necessary components for the build. The brain of the operationis an ATtiny45 which I programmedwith the help of my homemade programmingshield you can watch my video about itif you want.The necessary power will be delivered bythree hundred and eighty milliampere hourLiPo battery which gets connected to thenecessary charging circuit afterremoving its micro USB connector. Iremoved the connector because a smallmicro USB adapter will act as anextension so the charging inputs can bepositioned at the bottom of thecontroller. Next, I positioned my mainpower switch drilled the necessary holes, create the rough shape with a file and mounted all with two small screws.And now it's time for the wiring. ThePins of the ATtiny can be spread outin order to sold the resistorsdirectly onto it. And afterwards I didthe rest soldering according to myschematic. It's always a good idea totest the device during the constructionand I also measured the current draw ofnearly eight milli Amps which meansthe controller can run of one charge forhuge amount of hours. At the end Isecured all the components inside thecase with hot glue, closed it all up and my electric longboard was finally ready torollI hope you like this video serious leaveme suggestions what kind of project youwant to see next. Don't forget to likeshare and subscribethat would be awesome. Stay creative and I will see you next time