In a rather crude attempt to breathe new life into my first electric skateboard that died on me after only a few rides, I am presenting my repurposed Benchwheel B2. Not sure if this qualifies as a ‘build’ so please feel free to move this to another section, mods.

I tried to achieve 3 things here;

use stuff I had lying around the house

more consistent performance

get more flex out of the deck

What I ended up using:

2x 3S 5000mAh Turnigy lipo batteries in series

2x 6S 4000mAh Basher lipo batteries in parallel

HXT 4mm plugs

2x Turnigy lipo alert

braided sleeve

black silicone

sandwhich box

With the original li-ion batteries performing badly from day 1 and dying on day 3, my first thought was to order a bunch of new Samsung batteries. I then realized I had some big unused 3S and 6S batteries lying around. With the stock electronics rated for 24V, it made perfect sense to use them, especially with a bunch of dedicated chargers lying around (been in the RC hobby for almost a decade now). They obviously weren’t gonna fit the original housing, but I wanted more flex anyway, so - I took out all electronics, removed the battery and armed myself with my ‘trusty’ old metal saw and started hacking away at the enclosure. Honestly, this was the hardest part for me because this particular saw is old, dull and pretty much useless, but about an hour later I was finally left with the two pieces I needed. I removed the old plug and soldered my own HTX. I couldn’t be bothered with a new balancing plug, as I prefer charging externally. I then screwed the box to my board, sealed everything off as good as I can with foam and silicone to protect the electronics from dust and the occasional spatter, charged my batteries and went for a test ride.

Conclusion I am loving this electric skateboard now. The flex feels great. It’s not “Boosted Board” flexy, but very comfortable with my 84 - 85kg. It’s not as fast as let’s say my Landwheel (which is simply nuts!) but I can ride up to 25km/h which I find perfect for daily commuting. Mileage is a comfortable 15 kilometers before my lipo alert (set to 3.4V) starts beeping. And one of the best aspects: we have lots of steep hills here, and this boy brushes them off like they are nothing. All in all night and day difference to how this thing ran stock, I am really loving it!