Bionic Wheels

Now shipping all boards with the new and improved 2012 electronic controllers and handhelds

2011-12-15T00:49:00.000-08:00

The new 2012 electronic controllers and now in stock. The new electronics are a big improvement over anything that has been out there. Smooth acceleration, solid digital wireless control and safety features are all standard features. Plus they are compatible with higher voltage Lithium batteries that will be available soon. To order a M6 Green Machine with the new 2012 controllers, please visit:
http://shop.bionicwheels.com/product.sc?productId=1&categoryId=2

The handheld remotes are paired with the controller at the factory. In case you have to replace a handheld remote or controller, you have to pair the remote to the controller. Click here for the instructions to pair the new handhelds to the controller.

The M6 sees action in Kuwait

2009-04-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

One of our customers, Justin, bought an M6 and took it to Kuwait where he is stationed and is turning heads with his Altered M6. He sent these cool pictures. A big Mahalo to Justin for the pictures and your service to the country.

Battery maintenance for Electric Skateboards

2009-04-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

I get many questions on how to properly maintain the battery pack on electric skateboards. The SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries the Altered boards come with hold a lot of power and are rated at 300 charge cycles, meaning you can re-charge them about 300 times. That said, depending on how you treat the batteries you can get more or less cycles out of your battery pack. It's kind of like slicing a loaf of bread. You can get many thin slices out of it or fewer thick slices. So, if you charge the battery after every use (smaller charge cycles), which is what I do and recommend, you will get more cycles out of the batteries plus you will always have a full charge available. You should never fully discharge the battery or leave the battery discharged after riding as this can cause the plates in the battery to corrode and quickly damage the batteries. The 2009 Altered boards will start to cut out intermittently at higher speeds when the battery Voltage gets low at about 75% discharge. That means it's time to recharge the battery ASAP, don't keep riding until the battery is completely drained and never leave the batteries drained without recharging them.
Fully charge your battery pack before using it the first time, always complete the charge cycle before using the board. Plug in the charger and wait until the light turns green ( charge cycle complete) as using the board before the charge is completed will shorten battery life. If the charger does not turn green after more than 5 hours of charging and/ or your battery pack or charger get hot (this can happen in hot weather or it the batteries are damaged or just old), unplug the charger, let everything cool for an hour or so and then complete the charge cycle. If the light still won't turn green, chances are you need to replace the batteries. It's ok to leave the charger plugged in overnight or even for several days if you forget but we don't recommend leaving the charger plugged in all the time. If you don't use your board at all, you should still re charge it once every three months or so and fully charge it before using it if it has been sitting idle as the batteries will lose charge over time. Like on a cell phone, you are able to get more use out of a new battery than a battery that is a couple of years old and when you only get 5-10 minutes of riding time per charge it's time to replace the batteries.
Replacement batteries are available through Bionic Wheels or Interstate batteries and are fairly easy to replace. We sell the 12V 11AH batteries for the M6 for $35 each and you should always replace all three batteries at the same time. We charge $120 for materials and labor for replacing the batteries on an Altered M6, and $99 for the Pro Line 600.

Altered boards have arrived

2009-02-19T00:43:00.000-08:00

We just got word that our shipment of Altered boards has landed. We will receive and unload the container soon and ship out all the pre-orders. If you have made a deposit, we will contact you shortly and send a shipping confirmation. Thank you for your patience!

How to calibrate the digital hand held remore

2009-02-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

The digital hand held remote is calibrated to maximum speed, neutral and break positions at the factory. Over time and due to drops or regular handling, it may need to be re- calibrated which is a fairly simple procedure. If you have one of these problems, re-calibration will probably fix your issue:
Problem 1: Break is not engaging properly when remote is pushed forward
Problem 2: Motor is moving or breaking in the neutral position
Probelm 3: Motor is not accelerating to maximum speed even though speed switch is set to high.

If you are experiencing any of these issues with the digital hand held remote, try to re-calibrate following these simple steps:

Turn handheld remote to side without logos printed on it, remove the two screws on the handle and lift handle cover. Use paperclip and insert into reset hole as in picture above and follow these steps.

1) Hold down reset button with paper clip while turning remote ON, then release reset button.

2) When RC beeps once, pull lever all the way back (to set max power setting) and release (do not hold in max power position.

3) When RC beeps twice, leave lever in neutral position (to set neutral)

4) When RC beeps three times, push lever all the way forward (to set max break position) and release.

5) When RC beeps 4 times, you are done, turn off the RC. If you made a mistake, start over.

6) To test, turn on board, then remote, wait 10 seconds, then test max power, neutral and max brake before using board.

Be safe and enjoy, Aloha!

Installing the new Digital wireless electronics on 2008 models

2008-12-04T02:19:00.000-08:00

The new 2009 36Volt controller box with Digital Wireless remote is compatible with both the 2008 Pro Module 600W model and the 2008 M4 800W all terrain model.

I took some pictures to illustrate the simple installation of the new controller.
Tools needed: 5/32" hex key, 5.5 mm wrench
1) remove the four bolts holding the old controller in place using a 5/32" hex key

2) Next unplug the white wires leading to the RC receiver chip (small box in front of battery, no longer needed) and use 5.5 mm wrench to remove red (+) , black (-) and brown (neutral) wires coming from motor.

3) pull wires running to motor out of old box and run through openings in new box ( keep red wire (+) seperate from black (-) and brown (neutral) wires. Note: the new motors come without the brown neutral wire. If your motor does not have a neutral wire, just connect red to mot+ and black to mot-.

4) re- attach motor wires to new controll board (red=mot +, black, brown= mot -)

5) the new controller integrates the receiver for the digital wireless remote, so you will not need to plug in the white wire running to the old RC receiver, you can just leave it under the box. Re install box with four hex screws, tighten until screw is flush with top deck, do not overtighten.

Done and ready to rock and roll!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

For answers to frequently asked questions and more repair instructions, please visit:
http://www.bionicwheels.com/Repair__Troubleshooting.html

Welcome to the electric skateboard blog

2008-12-04T01:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the electric skateboard blog created for people to share information about the amazing sport of powered skateboarding.
Here is a brief background of how I'm involved in electric skateboards:
I first ran into "Electric Louie", the inventor of the electric skateboard at Surf Expo in Orlando, Florida back in 1998. He was showing his invention, the Exkate electric skateboard with wireless remote control at his booth and I was blown away by the concept and creative design and engineering. Despite the steep price of close to $1000, I ordered a couple of boards from him- one for me personally and one for my surf shop in Honolulu. I never did receive the boards as Louis had trouble getting production up to speed and availability was very limited.
I did finally get an electric skateboard in 2006 and loved cruising around effortlessly, quietly and relatively environmentally friendly (not as green as pushing a regular skateboard of course, but much cleaner than almost any other form of motorized transportation).

Today my business, Bionic Wheels is the Hawaii distributor for Altered by Exkate electric skateboards, the offshoot of the original designs and patents developed by Louie Finkle in 1993.
Louie's now legendary X-24 board used a heavy duty one horsepower 24 V motor with his patented torsion trucks and patented hand held remote using low frequency signals that actually used the operator as an antenna.
Altered is now taking this technology to the next level. For 2009 they are introducing a digital wireless 2G signal (same technology as WiFi) that locks into the board with a unique code for each handheld remote and eliminates radio signal interference.
Altered holds the patent for the hand held remote control technology, which is why other electric skateboard manufacturers in the US only offers tethered boards or remotes with stop and go buttons that don't allow stepless acceleration and braking. We have not received the 2009 models yet but I just got a shipment with the new digital electronics and installed them on some 2008 model boards. My first project for this blog will be to post the instructions on how to install the new electronics to retrofit the older models. We will have the electronic kits available as upgrades when they arrive.

I often get phone calls and e-mails with the same basic questions, so I created this blog to answer questions, post tips and repair manuals, pictures, videos, fun stuff and more and hope it will become a useful resource for others that are passionate about the sport or just curious.

I do want to warn everyone that the powerful electric skateboards we sell are fast and falls at high speed can be very dangerous. Clint Patterson, an electric skateboard enthusiast and one of the pioneers of e-skating in Hawaii, died of head trauma caused by a crash while riding on a street on the North Shore of Oahu. We strongly encourage everyone to always use a helmet and safety gear when riding.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment or question.