list of accidents and solutions

[marc]

I would ask you to share your experience and opinion about EUC accidents, their causes and solutions. We need this exchange of information for our safety and for avoiding that EUCs will be forbidden by laws in the future because they are too dangerous. Please keep every accident very very short and to the point. Here is my experience after >9500km:

1st EUC:  unbranded unicycle 14" wheel 300W nominal:

- motor cut-off at 15km/h, not even fallen, I continued running => don't buy unicycles with very low speed limits, with very low power!

- smaller wheels makes you slow down  at every discontinuity on the road (pavement, pits) and they can make you loose your balance (=our main fear) and fall more frequently at non-flat roads => buy bigger wheels for riding stability. I think even 16" is not big enough. my next EUC will be again 18" and not the Gotway Tesla because power is nothing without control. 

The rest is with Gotway Msuper v2 18" 1000W nominal, speed limit 45km/h: 

- balance lost but not fallen,  tilt forward at 45km/h without helmet, motor did not cut off (if it did: I was nearly dead) (what is tilt forward? => when reaching max. power the motherboard keeps on delivering max. power instead of cutting the current: so you lean forward but without acceleration of the wheel but without cutting off of the motor too, this makes you loose your balance in forward direction, if you react quickly by leaning backwards you save your live which was the case here) I was not fallen but I lost during a second my balance to forward direction but this was the most dangerous incident I ever had => buy a EUC with backward tilt before EUC limits (was not the case for GotWay!) , buy EUC which continues delivering max. power at his limits (Gotway is very good at this point, he knows that motor cutoff is the worse thing that a EUC can do, it avoids at all prices)

- fallen at 5km/h: at day I ran in a large tunnel where it was a little dark (since I ran at day I did not had my light on), I saw a pit of 15cm, I leant heavily backwards to brake, the motherboard gave his full power to brake again without cutoff, I leant so heavy backwards that I fell backwards at +-5km/h, no injury =>buy a EUC that keeps on max. braking power without cutting off (Gotway is good at this point) , buy a EUC with very powerful lights (even new EUCs have tiny lights which are insufficient to see dips on the road), buy bigger wheels since I would fall forward instead of backwards in this case if I had a 14" wheel because a 14" wheel can fit more in large dips. 

- insufficient braking power: due to my heavy backpack and at low height (maybe it is my weight which is relatively low in comparison with total weight) I braked too heavy so that Gotway could not increase braking power after reaching it max. braking power => I lost my balance during a second to rearwards direction, I reacted quickly by leaning forward to decrease my deceleration. => by a EUC with high power so that your motor can brake with high deceleration in case of need. again no motor cutoff after reaching max. power (very important)

- fallen at 5km/h, at standstill I accelerated so much that motor reached max. power and kept this max. power to save me but this time my backpack was too heavy so that I could not react at time to decrease my forward leaning ( I am not used to ride with backpacks, so I had to be more attentive, my fault), I fell forward at +- 5km/h with a full cover motorhelmet on, small injuries but the full helmet did his job. => 3kW motor did not give enough acceleration power => buy EUC with highest power.

I would like to know what solutions there exists for overheating of mosfets. Fans? passive cooling with the wind? susceptible for dust? battery and motherboard behaviour at end of their life.

[Joe Holliday]

On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 8:01 AM, marc said:

I would ask you to share your experience and opinion about EUC accidents, their causes and solutions. We need this exchange of information for our safety and for avoiding that EUCs will be forbidden by laws in the future because they are too dangerous. Please keep every accident very very short and to the point. Here is my experience after >9500km:

1st EUC:  unbranded unicycle 14" wheel 300W nominal:

- motor cut-off at 15km/h, not even fallen, I continued running => don't buy unicycles with very low speed limits, with very low power!

- smaller wheels makes you slow down  at every discontinuity on the road (pavement, pits) and they can make you loose your balance (=our main fear) and fall more frequently at non-flat roads => buy bigger wheels for riding stability. I think even 16" is not big enough. my next EUC will be again 18" and not the Gotway Tesla because power is nothing without control. 

The rest is with Gotway Msuper v2 18" 1000W nominal, speed limit 45km/h: 

- balance lost but not fallen,  tilt forward at 45km/h without helmet, motor did not cut off (if it did: I was nearly dead) (what is tilt forward? => when reaching max. power the motherboard keeps on delivering max. power instead of cutting the current: so you lean forward but without acceleration of the wheel but without cutting off of the motor too, this makes you loose your balance in forward direction, if you react quickly by leaning backwards you save your live which was the case here) I was not fallen but I lost during a second my balance to forward direction but this was the most dangerous incident I ever had => buy a EUC with backward tilt before EUC limits (was not the case for GotWay!) , buy EUC which continues delivering max. power at his limits (Gotway is very good at this point, he knows that motor cutoff is the worse thing that a EUC can do, it avoids at all prices)

- fallen at 5km/h: at day I ran in a large tunnel where it was a little dark (since I ran at day I did not had my light on), I saw a pit of 15cm, I leant heavily backwards to brake, the motherboard gave his full power to brake again without cutoff, I leant so heavy backwards that I fell backwards at +-5km/h, no injury =>buy a EUC that keeps on max. braking power without cutting off (Gotway is good at this point) , buy a EUC with very powerful lights (even new EUCs have tiny lights which are insufficient to see dips on the road), buy bigger wheels since I would fall forward instead of backwards in this case if I had a 14" wheel because a 14" wheel can fit more in large dips. 

- insufficient braking power: due to my heavy backpack and at low height (maybe it is my weight which is relatively low in comparison with total weight) I braked too heavy so that Gotway could not increase braking power after reaching it max. braking power => I lost my balance during a second to rearwards direction, I reacted quickly by leaning forward to decrease my deceleration. => by a EUC with high power so that your motor can brake with high deceleration in case of need. again no motor cutoff after reaching max. power (very important)

- fallen at 5km/h, at standstill I accelerated so much that motor reached max. power and kept this max. power to save me but this time my backpack was too heavy so that I could not react at time to decrease my forward leaning ( I am not used to ride with backpacks, so I had to be more attentive, my fault), I fell forward at +- 5km/h with a full cover motorhelmet on, small injuries but the full helmet did his job. => 3kW motor did not give enough acceleration power => buy EUC with highest power.

I would like to know what solutions there exists for overheating of mosfets. Fans? passive cooling with the wind? susceptible for dust? battery and motherboard behaviour at end of their life.

Any answers to this?