[No longer for sale] New-in-Box S18, black, 1100Wh, with used 300-mile batteries (SoCal, $1700, free US shipping)

[dycus]

Edit: Changed my mind on selling this as-is, I'm going to rehab my wheel with the parts of this one, then sell the resulting second wheel as a much cheaper beater S18.

Original post:

I wanted the new eWheels Molicel batteries for my S18, but they don't sell them separately yet, only in new unicycles. So I bought an S18, swapped the batteries, and am reselling it. I'm unfortunately going to lose some money paying for shipping, but eWheels ships a new S18 anywhere in the US for $2000, so I'm not sure it would be worth it to a potential buyer otherwise. The closer you are, the more money I'll make. If you want to pick it up locally, send me a message. I'm in Riverside. I'll even deliver up to an hour away or so if you'd like (including San Diego).

The S18 is brand new! I had to take it apart to swap the batteries but I've had my own S18 apart a couple times before so it was no problem. (This involves taking the pedals and hangers off, removing all the body panels, and removing the plastic body frame.)

I can say that the suspension on this one works amazingly, when I picked it up the wheel fell under its own weight super easily. While the S18 was on its side I could easily move the suspension by hand, just pushing or pulling the tire.

What's not brand new:
- While taking the body panels off, I accidentally made a small tear in the lower foam on one side. I glued it back together, and it's not very noticeable. It doesn't affect functionality whatsoever.
- I had to unstick and lift the rear of the upper foam on both sides in order to access a screw. I re-attached it with 3M 468MP adhesive transfer tape.
- After the swap, I aired up the suspension and rode the wheel briefly around my driveway to make sure there were no apparent problems. I also charged it for a few minutes. Everything seems good. I let the air back out of the suspension before putting it in the box (and it's in lock mode for transport).
- The batteries, of course. These are from my S18 and have 300 miles on them (10-12 charge/discharge cycles). The batteries are in great shape besides minor scratches and a dent, which I will detail below.

 

I was surprised to learn the S18 has a design flaw that can cause the front batteries to dent when there's a side impact. One battery is barely dented at all, but the other is quite noticeably dented. I couldn't sell this in good conscience without making sure it was safe, so I took it apart to verify.

Thankfully, there's about 2mm of clearance to the internal pack at that location, plus another 1mm under the yellow plastic to the components at that spot. I saw no evidence of damage to the PCB or components. The dent in the case was only about 1mm deep, so shouldn't even be touching the plastic yet.

The dent was ~73mm down from the top of the case, I've positioned the ruler so the 0mm mark is there (about where the edge of the kapton tape is). This is a higher-resolution image than the rest, you can click it a couple times to zoom in. I see no evidence of damage, I would be perfectly comfortable riding these packs.

Donor wheel mileage

The donor packs before being installed

The wheel right before it went back in the box

Edited May 23, 2022 by dycus

[Tawpie]

clever way to get a set of molicels! Thx for the heads up about the potential to dent the battery housing, it's something to keep an eye out for.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Tawpie

[nebulizer]

I live in Vista CA, not too far from where you are and I'm interested in it. 

[dycus]

18 hours ago, nebulizer said:

I live in Vista CA, not too far from where you are and I'm interested in it. 

Sent you a PM!

[dycus]

Wheel is still available, and dropped the price $100 to $1700.

[dycus]

Changed my mind on selling this as-is, I'm going to rehab my wheel with the parts of this one, then sell the resulting second wheel as a much cheaper beater S18.

[Nobuyasu]

I know this was originally a F/S post, but I'm curious to know your thoughts of the S18 with the Molicel batteries.  Was it worth it?  And would you mind sharing why type of rider you are (i.e. a hard core off road rider, like doing tricks and technical riding but not necessarily off road, etc.).  I'm new to ECUs and I'll looking to find a used S18 or 16X.  So this will info will help me in my search or even consider buying new.  

[Nobuyasu]

Bumping this thread in hopes @dycus sees it.  Also, trying to get my post count up so I can message people. 

[dycus]

Apologies for missing this!

I briefly wrote about it here:

What I will say is that if you are considering an S18, you should get it with the Molicels no matter what. The stock batteries are a known weak point of the S18, since they are high-capacity cells (not high-current) and there are only 3 in parallel. This causes large voltage sag under high-current conditions (like climbing hills).

I do a lot of off-roading with it and at 140lbs, I can get my S18 to beep on moderate hills pretty easily, meaning I'm reaching the power limit. In practice this usually means I just go slower, but sometimes it prevents me from climbing an obstacle.

[Nobuyasu]

46 minutes ago, dycus said:

Apologies for missing this!

I briefly wrote about it here:

What I will say is that if you are considering an S18, you should get it with the Molicels no matter what. The stock batteries are a known weak point of the S18, since they are high-capacity cells (not high-current) and there are only 3 in parallel. This causes large voltage sag under high-current conditions (like climbing hills).

I do a lot of off-roading with it and at 140lbs, I can get my S18 to beep on moderate hills pretty easily, meaning I'm reaching the power limit. In practice this usually means I just go slower, but sometimes it prevents me from climbing an obstacle.

Thanks for sharing the S18 thread.  I'm going to read up on this.  I'm currently looking between the S18 and 16X, so the information you provided definitely helps.  I'm pretty much your weight (135 lbs) and live in a hilly areas that has some pretty steep hills.