Can these parts be used to make an electric scooter?

[esqueue]

I have a 10 inch balance board and I'm currently looking into scavenging the parts from it to make and AWD electric scooter. 

From what little research I've done, it seems that I can get 2 e-scooter controllers and wire them up to drive the wheels. I would like to avoid buying too many parts though. I wonder if there is a way to just replace the gyroscope/speed control boards with a throttle cable..  

I'll have to do tests to see what kinds of voltages that the board puts out during tilts.

[mboarder]

Wow can't wait to see the finished product!

[Keith]

You have to have some form of controller as these motors are 3-phase a.c. and can't just be powered from a battery.

The motors and wheels should be usable but modifying the existing controllers is unlikely to be trivial. You would need to be able to identify the separate functional parts of the controller, analyse the signals that are sent to the speed controller section and then duplicate those with a throttle circuit (which could be built using Arduino or any other micro controller).

Using controllers specifically designed for an eScooter ought to be a much safer option but it relies on finding ones that are designed to handle at least the same current and voltage as your existing wheel and where the wheel motor has similar characteristics and exactly the same position sensors as the eScooter is expecting. I suspect that might not be trivial either.

You could even use a powerful model ESC like those here providing you select one capable of the voltage and current your motors will use: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__61__182__Speed_Controllers_ESC_-All_Speed_Controllers_ESC_.html. It is likely you might have to go for an aircraft forwards and brake type only as I'm not sure any of the boat or car reversable ones will be powerful enough? You could then use or modify a servo tester like this: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__8296__Turnigy_Servo_Tester.html as the throttle control (or use an Arduino etc to send 1mS to 2mS pulses 50 times/second depending on throttle position). Most of these controllers do not require the sensor wires which would simplify things however there is a risk the motor characteristics might be different enough (control timing) that it might still not work.

Finally, I understand that a 2 wheel drive bicycle needs the front wheel to spin slightly faster than the backwheel whilst turning or you'll come straight off of it.

Sorry, I guess this is a rather long-winded way of saying this probably isn't worth trying to do unless you really enjoy an electronics challenge ;-)

[esqueue]

It appears that using the control board is well beyond my scope of knowledge. I assumed that the accelerometer speed and direction board (I'll call it speed board from here on) would just rely on an analog voltage change signal that could be mimicked my a hall sensor throttle cable but I am most likely wrong. Since the lights and pressure switches are all controlled the speed board the only signals that the speed boards are transmitting to the main motherboard are speed and  direction for each of their wheels. The speed board is connected to the main motherboard via a Red, Blue, Green, and Black cables. I've established that the Black and Red are Ground and 14v+ supply respectively which leaves the Green and Blue cables. These cables are most likely Data+ and Data- cables.

I know only the basics of electronics but I'll connect my crappy oscilloscope to the the remaining wires to see if the signals use pulse but this is a long shot as I've only used this thing to set the gain on my vehicle's amplifier.