Benchwheel Penny Electric Skateboard

The Benchwheel Penny Board is a 28-in / 71cm single 1000W motor electric skateboard. It's what you would call a Chinese electric skateboard. The appeal is to make a battery powered Penny Board (the plastic boards), actually this is the size of the Nickel board and made of wood instead of plastic.

The range is 8km to 10km / 5 to 6 miles with a max. speed of 24kph / 15mph, but expect less if you don't upgrade to better quality parts yourself. Retail price 349 USD + shipping. Get a good price at aliexpress or alibaba.

Electric Longboard

Benchwheel website - boards
Benchwheel Penny Electric Skateboard product page - Aliexpress
Support email: info@benchweel.com

Features

Comes in two board designs: a classic look and a tech-look, both light-weight, resilient and durable
Excellent grip carved out grip at the board end for convenient carrying
Sturdy high-clearance metal box protects the batteries and electronics when going over rough terrains, the slim case design provides low-visible signature making the board appear non-electric
Large 80 mm high-speed PU wheels
36 Volt 1000 Watt high-powered brush-less motor provides top speeds up to 24 kph / 15 mph featuring regenerative braking
Ergonomic 2.4GHz remote controlling driving modes (speed/energy saving) and direction, the controller employs sine-wave modulation allowing fine-grained speed control
Recharge the controller only once per week, conveniently on the mini USB charging port
90Wh battery pack providing driving ranges of around 10 km / 6 miles, Samsung batteries cells with high discharge
1.5 hour quick charging
Gear ratio 1:3 (16-48T) for responsiveness and fast acceleration

Specifications

Company: Hangzhou Bench Technology Co., Ltd - Hangzhou, China
Released: January 2017
Model: D001 / D002
Re-branded boards: LiftBoard
Based- and improved-upon: Benchwheel Dual 1800W Motor 2015, Benchwheel Single 1800W Motor 2015
Board: Bamboo and maple composite, tech model 3 layer bamboo + 2 layer fiber glass, classic model 7 layer maple + 2 layer fiber glass
Controller: Custom Bench sine-wave modulation (FOC) controller (ESC), battery management and charger (BMS) - both separate boards
Battery: Lithium-ion 2.5Ah 90Wh 10S1P 36V (10x3.6V, voltage 32V to 42V) 520g 14 AWG wires XT60 connector, 10x Samsung INR18650-25R M (Lithium manganese nickel - LiNiMnCoO2) 20A discharge green 18650 cells connected in series
- Upgrade: Samsung 30Q 3000mAh 15A / LG HG2 3000mAh cells for longer range, or Sony VTC4 18650 2100mAh 30A cells for better torque - 6USD ea
Charger: 100-220V AC input, 42V 2A output adapter with 2-pin plug, CE RoHS, green LED for redy/complete and red LED for charging
Motor: N5065 170kV 14-pole 1000W 50A 61x49.5mm Ø8 bore Ø30 mounting pattern brushless motor with closed back cover
Wheels: PU 80x45mm 78A hardness - drive wheel has 8 spoke
Belt: HTD 225-3M 13mm 75 teeth 3mm pitch 225mm pitch length - on 16mm wide wheel pulley, 15mm belt does not fit
- Upgrade: SDP A 6R23M075150 3mm (HTD) Pitch, 75 Teeth, 15mm wide Single Sided Neoprene Belt with Fiberglass Cords - 9.90USD
- Change the drive train with 5mm pitch pulleys and belt for better power traction, less wear
Wheel pulley: 48T OD45mm ID36mm 3mm pitch 16mm wide grooves
Motor pulley: 16T OD16mm? ID8mm bore 3mm pitch 16mm wide grooves with key-slot for corresponding motor shaft
Bearings: 8x 608-2Z OD22mm ID8mm 7mm wide NMB skateboard bearings - bearing on drive pulley side is flanged to hold gear in place
- Upgrade: Zealous with integrated spacer 20USD, or Bones Reds ceramics 50USD, or Loaded Jehu (use in Boosted) 20USD, or ACER SK8 Ceramic 608 Bearings 35USD
Remote: Ergonomic, two-speed (full-speed/half-speed), jog-stick (forward/brake), 3-LED board-battery level indicator, 800mAh LiPo battery, mini-USB charging (no data), nRF24L01+ based 2.4GHz transmitter and receiver module - reliable
Grip tape: Tech or Classic design
Case: Aluminium with RGB LED light strip underneath
- Upgrade: Better quality grip tape
Weatherproof: No official rating, but electronics case is sealed except charging port and power button
Max. load: 100 kg / 220 lbs
Length: 70.9cm / 28-in
Ride height: 12.3cm / 4.8-in
Overall width: 26.0cm / 10.3-in
Truck hanger width: 17.0cm / 6.7-in
Board thickness: 1.2cm / 0.47-in
Package size: 76 x 30 x 19 cm
Weight: 4.8kg / 10.6lbs
Kit contents:
- 1x Benchwheel Penny Board Electric Skateboard fully assembled, half-charged
- 1x Benchwheel wireless remote pre-paired
- 1x Two-piece hand tool for maintenance
- 1x 100 to 240V AC 42V 2A DC adapter
- 1x mini-USB remote charging cable
- 1x EU power cable, or UK power cable, or US power cable, or AU power cable
- 1x Certification sticker
- 1x Quick-start guide leaflet

Remote operation

The instructions doesn't cover the operation of the remote properly. Albeit being a simple remote, there is a trick to switch between full- and half-speed.

Power on/off:

Press and hold the top-red button for 2 seconds to turn on or off the remote

Change between full and half-speed mode:

This can only be done after powering on the remote and before touching the joy-stick
Press the top-red button momentarily and the LED indicator on the remote will switch between L (half-speed) and H (full-speed)

After using the board, the only way to switch speed mode is to turn off and on the remote, then change mode

Pair remote and board:

Turn both remote and board off
Press and hold the power button on both the remote and board for 5 seconds until two beeps are heard
Turn both off and on again to use the now paired board

The controller comes pre-paired but if you hold the power button accidentally too long it can loose the paired connection.

Change between forward and reverse direction:

Power on the remote and board
Move the joy-stick forward once to engage the motor
Now, momentarily press the top-red button to change between forward and reverse direction

This can be done while using the board, stand-still or in motion.

Check board battery level:

Power on both the remote and board
Look at the lower three LED indicators on the remote, this indicates the battery capacity left
All three 100%, two 66% left, one 33%, blinking 5-10% left

When the remote starts to beep and the lower red LED starts to blink, it is giving you a warning that the battery is about to run out and needs to be charge immediately. The controller limits the max. speed. Under a 1km/mile left of juice.

Upgrades

Front and tail LED light mounts/reflectors - be seen
Belt cover - 3D printed to prevent grit coming in-between the belt and pulley
Current sensor, ESP current and voltage display - battery health
On-board web server with current and voltage chart history on OLED display/wireless OLED
External 2A USB power socket - to charge the remote and phone
Replace rear truck with dual motor and extra speed controller - more speed and acceleration
Swap over to HTD-5M 15mm 53T belt and 15-36T (or 15-40T) pulleys - for more efficient drive train