What do you do with a hoverboard with a bad battery pack? Order a new battery pack and have fun!
But what if the replacement is bad , they don't want it back, and they give you a refund? Well, things got interesting.
Isabelle Simova got me started on the path with her Hoverbot. The only real difference between this build and Isabelle's is the shape and materials the body/frame is made of. HoverHaul's body is mostly made from metal bed frame 'L' pieces welded together with wood accents. I will be adding a rear camera with the rear proximity sensor.
In progress for several months now, just a few things are really needed to complete the project.
- Finish battery pack - In the intro, I mentioned the hoverboard had a bad battery pack, and the replacement probably had a bad BCM. I had spare cells, so I could at least make up any difference. I tore both apart, identified the 1 bad cell in the old pack, charged and checked all of the cells, as well as a few replacements just in case, and ordered a new BCM, holders, and nickel strips. I had over 50 good cells to work with! I've never built a 10s5p (2.5x standard battery size) or any other battery pack with BMS. Deciding not to build my own spot welder, I'm waiting on the shipment to arrive. This needs to be done before I can calibrate the motors.
- Motor controller board programming - Not sure if it is locked or not, can't find unlock utility, reset pin is a PITA to solder and keeps falling off, generally won't program (ST-Link V2 seems to be ok and talking to the board - well, it was, not it isn't. Ordered 2 more.). Step 1 really needs to be done first anyway, but without this done, I won't be able to drive it. Will consider a new board if I have to.
- Video doesn't work. - cat_video seems to be working, I can talk to it on port 8080, but I get no stills or video.
- Proximity sensors not installed yet.