Nice video series!<p>With some incredibly odd timing, I documented building a onewheel right before the commercial ones existed, for a 2014 writeup:<p><a href="https://transistor-man.com/flying_nimbus.html" rel="nofollow">https://transistor-man.com/flying_nimbus.html</a><p>So jealous that off the shelf hub-motor in wheel assemblies exist now, i had to build a custom hub and dealt with the oddities of planetary backlash, then ended up fitting an early direct drive motor.
If you're remotely interested in this sort of thing, definitely check out the VESC project (<a href="https://vesc-project.com" rel="nofollow">https://vesc-project.com</a>), which is kind of the secret sauce that makes this sort of thing accessible to mere mortals.<p>There are a lot of hardware variants at different price and quality points but it's a great, hackable, open-source (GPL3) motor controller for smallish motors (in the 24-44 volt range—they typically use a gate drive/power supply controller with a 60V limit).
this is cool, BUT as a onewheel owner who's spent way too much time learning about them and the knock-offs, it's not the hardware that's the tricky bit. It's the software.<p>the knockoffs are NOT GOOD and thus even _more_ dangerous to ride because no-one else has figured out how to get the balancing software right.<p>so, yeah, if you go into this project, know that regardless of how awesome your hardware skills are, the software is the bit that's _really_ going to take a lot of time if you want an experience anywhere close to the official one.
This is cool and horrifying at the same time, just be very careful if you are trying such a thing.<p>We just had an initial support for VESC NRF/HM10 devices added into Gadgetbridge if this is of interest to anyone fascinated in this subject.<p><a href="https://blog.freeyourgadget.org/release-0_64_0.html" rel="nofollow">https://blog.freeyourgadget.org/release-0_64_0.html</a>
I'm a daily rider of a Onewheel XR. I've got a few thousand miles on mine, and I do a ton of trail riding here in Colorado. I'm pretty obsessed with these things.<p>All that aside, I would advise anyone who wants to try going this route to watch their ass.<p>A standard Future Motion developed Onewheel is an extremely dangerous device. I always, always wear a helmet on mine. If you wear a helmet, the device pretty much stops being fatally dangerous, and just becomes a source of rather mild injuries if/when you fall. I rarely fall on mine now, and when I do, I don't get injured due to standard skateboarding/mountain biking pads. All that being said, FM put a TON of energy and learning into their firmware. A onewheel that cruises on a smooth surface is relatively straightforward compared to one that can be reliably ridden in rough conditions, handle bumps/voltage sags/etc gracefully, and just be super durable as well.<p>I could definitely see an open source onewheel eventually becoming on par with FM's XR. But if you're an early adopter of this thing, be ready to fall, A LOT.
I never understood why these self-balancing toys are so underpowered. I want to see one built on top of a dirtbike engine that you need to wear serious body armour to use.
>As far as the battery goes, the XR has a 324Wh nickel manganese cobalt oxide battery (that’s a mouthful!) while the one I built has a 960Wh Lithium Ion battery pack.<p>NMC is a type of lithium-ion battery. The cell voltage of the ebike battery he's using is 3.7v, which means it also uses NMC cells.
I like one-wheel type devices but will always prefer electric unicycles. They have more range [0], more safety over large bumps (due to a larger wheel and facing forward) and are easier to carry around when you're walking. Unfortunately, due to liability laws in america most of the EUC manufacturers are based in China. I CANNOT wait for an american company to start producing EUC's!<p>I learned to ride an InMotion V8 [1] during the pandemic, and although there was a significant learning curve, it's now my favorite way to get around new york city. Definitely wear a full face helmet and wrist pads though if you decide to learn to ride!<p>0 - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1aRPKyjzj0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1aRPKyjzj0</a>
1 - <a href="https://www.ewheels.com/product/new-inmotion-v8s-728wh-battery-1000w-motor/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ewheels.com/product/new-inmotion-v8s-728wh-batte...</a>
I'm sorta terrified of this. I know more then one rider that broke bones, or got other injuries from the official version of these just randomly conking out. A DIY version made by a lot of people seems even more likely.<p>Also seems super inconvenient to move around. The XR was already annoying to take into shops as it was heavy and long. This is heavier and longer. Though the extra weight might smooth out the ride a bit. Surprised he went for a smaller tire. I feel like a larger one would take bumps better.
I like how the control algorithm doesn't even appear in this project because there is so much tech already made and cheaply available. That's a testament to electronic commodities: all of these specific little control devices ... gyros, 9D IMUs, ESC, etc. ... are available online for a few bucks. Still blows my mind.<p>EDIT: Whoa, the VESC stuff is really expensive.
<a href="https://archive.fo/bpFyg" rel="nofollow">https://archive.fo/bpFyg</a>
I am unable to read this, not sure if it's a hug of death
FFS someone please convince the author of this page to recompress these photos using high compression and a lossy format like jpg. Over a minute and still not loaded here.