My first week of EUC riding (V11 died! Bought an S18!)
My first week of EUC riding (V11 died! Bought an S18!)
So I bought a V11 during the prime day sale for $1600, which I still think is a great deal. However I learned the hard way that you can't push that wheel in "fancy" mode. I tried to ride up a roughly 4 inch high curb at walking speed, and it fried a mosfet. Fully dead, can only get power to connect to the app while plugged in. It has rolling resistance, which means fried mosfet.
I returned it to amazon, no questions asked, easy-peasy.
If you have a V11, DO NOT USE "FANCIER MODE" (which lets you pull more power and hit 34mph), unless you want to fry your device. If you don't believe me, youtube "overheat hill V11" to see how fragile this thing is.
So I put a bid on a craiglist brand new S18 and after watching lots of videos on it (including overheat hill) I'm convinced the wheel will cut out before it allows damage to come to the control board.
This setback hasn't deterred me at all. EUC riding is the most fun thing ever, and I cannot wait till I pick up my S18 tomorrow.
How come that personal EVs seem to have so many issues with power delivery? My (admittedly ignorant) intuition says that the battery and integration should be the hardest part while the motors and their power supplies are off-the-shelf components.
It's a fine balance between allowing the user to pull a lot of power, and not allowing them to pull so much power that it fries the board.
But I fully agree that it should be a solved problem. The hall effect sensor should be able to detect current down to the nanosecond and shut the board off instead of letting it get damaged. Kingsong seems to have that figured out while inmotion struggles.
eSk8 doesn't seem to have these issues, I wonder if it's because there's a popular FOSS software option
I tried the V11 and the S18 when they first came out and decided to buy an S18. Love it, though really I don't think you can go wrong with either (hardware issues notwithstanding). Congrats!
Agreed, as long as you keep the "fancier mode" off on the V11 it is a wonderful wheel. I loved it, it's got so much power (for me, a total beginner) and tons of range and speed.
But I'm also really looking forward to having the better suspension of the S18, and a wheel that I know for a fact can be beat to hell and back lol (after watching the stuff Wrong Way put it through on youtube).
How much distance have you put on yours?
Not a whole lot, unfortunately. I got a little bit of the old cancer and haven't been able to ride. I should probably just sell it at this point, but I would rather keep it and hope I can ride it again at some point.
What I liked about the S18 over the V11 is how much smaller it felt. It's still big and it's not that much smaller on paper, but it just felt noticeably smaller and thus more nimble. I don't like going crazy fast on my wheel (I don't think I've ever gone more than 28mph) so I don't need something big and planted; I prefer more maneuverability.
And yeah, the better suspension is nice so you can adjust it to meet your needs. For me, I have bike trails around here that are really annoyingly bumpy. It's exhausting on a normal wheel, but with a nicely tuned suspension, it just eats those bumps up. It was so worth it.