Upgrading the cheapest street-legal E-Scooter I could find on the Internet!

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In this video I will be having a closer look at the cheapest street-legal E-Scooter I could find on the Internet. It is called the eScooter Street One from Aldi and I will not only tell you my personal opinion about it but I will also upgrade some of its electrical features. That means I will try to increase its speed, range, charge up time and also change the fact that the lights require their own little batteries. Let's get started!
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Music:
2011 Lookalike by Bartlebeats
Killing Time, Kevin MacLeod
(incompetech.com)

[@Sheevlord]

> Using resistors to drop the voltage DC-DC buck converter: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@Yeesha666]

At least he uses resistors, not sticks or stones

[@DoctorX17]

Adding insult to injury, a big fat bundle of resistors, lol

[@thefirstsin]

Diode: Am I a joke to you?

[@karsnoordhuis4351]

@@YoureUsingWordsIncorrectly thats what conrad is for. Yes its more expensive but its there in a day (or two)

[@Sheevlord]

@@VincentFischer The lamp probably has a resistor already, since it runs off 3 AAA or AA cells. 3 x 1.5V = 4.5V, while the forward voltage of a typical white LED is 3V. Besides, dropping 42V to 4.5V via resistors is so inefficient that it might as well be a war crime. Typical cheap buck converters are a couple $ a piece, and are typically 80-85% efficient (depending on the voltage and current).

[@jamess1787]

"I didn't increase the speed. To stay street legal of course." 😂😂😂😂

[@Lunas2525]

You might also have been able to get more efficiency out of replacing the controller and thus increased range that way and you could have used a buck converter to bump the voltage down. if you put more battery on in series. A boost circuit might let him burn the battery lower than normal and get more speed.

[@jamess1787]

@@Lunas2525 boost, not buck =)

[@signalworks]

The hell you talking about “bumping voltage up” is perfectly fine. You’re missing the part where he mentioned the buck converter - those only reduce voltage

[@Lunas2525]

@@signalworks if he wired the two packs in series a buck converter could be used to output 36v-72v he could set a range lets say 42v-36v above 44v i would imagine the motor would be getting hot if not hitting its limit they will suffer only so much over voltage. The other thing i was thinking rolling his own battery off 18650 it looked like there was almost room for 2 packs extending it by say 2 more banks of 6 cells to make it a 44v pack vs 36v. To run the lights he just needed to run a voltage regulator that will drop the tail to 3v the headlight seemed to run at 4.5v imho better off stripping out for a 12v system. And a regulator to take 36-72v and put out 12v the head light and tail lights would output serious light then...

[@joeythehat9]

Careful! I fell off of one because of a tiny bump in the road when I had one hand on the handlebars. I wasn't even going that fast and it was bad. There's a reason these things aren't popular other than looks...

[@heinrichvasturburgen5371]

The resistor set up is a very inelegant solution when all you need is a cheap little buck convertor.

[@pablorodriguez6318]

Oh man! Right? He knows too why did you do that Scott! XD

[@smow7422]

Yea. On top of that, if the voltage drops, the light brightness will decrease too

[@sprint955st]

He did say ‘price-related non-optimal’

[@heinrichvasturburgen5371]

Yes very inefficient too. Im surprised, hes normally good at this stuff. How many watts do I need to dissipate= how many resistors I need to put in parallel seemed to be the main calculation here.

[@greatscottlab]

It is a simple and sufficient solution. A buck converter would have drawn standby current which would have drained the battery. The resistors waste around 4W of power which sounds like a lot but when you keep in mind that the scooter drains a 154Wh battery in an hour then the 4Wh for the resistors are pretty much irrelevant. But sure, you can use a buck converter if you want.

[@shadowthenightfury2572]

Will you ever make a collab with electroboom in one video? :D

[@greatscottlab]

Maybe someday....

[@justsomedude4660]

@@greatscottlab we need it

[@joshua4302]

Shadow the nightfury the problem is that they live so far away (I guess)

[@shadowthenightfury2572]

@@joshua4302 yea :(

[@lgnator1623]

I just found out that all my 5 favorite KZbinrs are from Germany🤣

[@MrFastFox666]

Man, I'm sorry to hear that Germany has such scooter laws. If I were you, I would have bought a Xiaomi M365 though, even if it isn't technically street legal (would people really notice?). It probably has larger tires (8.5 inches, which you can upgrade to 10 with little modifications), has a higher range, and a top speed of 15 mph, or 24 km/h, which can be easily increased with a custom firmware up to 35 km/h.

[@ligius3]

They would notice - the scooters require a license plate.

[@1Hippo]

Yeah, i don't get why he even bought a street legal model if he wanted to modify it anyway.

[@PATILGameking]

His last statement was So inspiring and Energetic. 'stay creative and I will see you Next time'

[@thisfeatureisbad]

DIY or BUY: Electric Scooter

[@tomf3150]

Better buy an all terrain electric scooter, not those flimsy things

[@s.sradon9782]

I doubt that he has the lathe, welder, foundry, forge, pipe bender and etc to take care of the mechanical aspect of such a project otherwise, it is a great suggestion

[@zumbazumba1]

It will cost you less to buy it.

[@tobimai4843]

Well if you want to drive it on the street, you have to buy

[@andrejhanus36]

@@zumbazumba1 i made myself e-scooter which is driving 25km/h it is combined from simple scooter and hoverboard. I bought used scooter for 40€ and broken hoverboard for 35€. With some other electronics from aliexpress price was under 100€.

[@cavosavosk]

I was lucky enough that i found with a friend an elecric scooter in e-waste It had its rear tire and rear disc brake damaged and batteries were really low After repairs it was running like new and now comes the fun part We are making some upgrades which are mainly: better torque(achieved by simply tinkering with controller), higher speed (getting a new sprocket for the rear wheel) and better range (getting a new set of batteries). But we need to stay somewhat "legal" (atleast here in Slovakia) so there is an switch for slow mode and fast mode.

[@exvils]

which model do you have? i've been watching guys on yt with their modified e sur-ron bike's hitting 70mph.. that and this vid makes me want to get electric scooter/bike/bicycle napr. :D íst 50kmh na kolobežke len v plavkách na domašu/širavu

[@mistikmcgameplays1066]

hey how its that battery connector called? I bought a electric long board but it did not came with the battery and I don't know how that connector is called

[@JustinBerke]

Awesome! Really functional upgrades. Great work. 🤜🏼🤛🏼

[@oneknowwhatsup]

that external dc port solved speed too u can just hookup higher voltage baterry ( be save dont use more than 20% increase)

[@SaggyMadeTheSound]

If u are in the uk a lot of road men are selling there e scooters to help upgrade there scooters in Facebook marketplace so you can get them for like 100 pounds

[@debiancool]

You should start a series called 'Buy.... and modify?' where you just buy the cheapest of a product and make it good, and then compare it to buying something like the final product, or maybe you could incorporate it into DIY or buy? Good stuff regardless

[@Ludiks]

Very cool, it is now a E-Scotta ^^

[@marksworkshop8724]

Why not use a LM317 5V refulator or similar chip instead of resistors for the lamp? Also, you could increase the battery pack capacity by replacing the current 18650 cells with Samsung INR18650-35E that have 3500mAh capacity....50% more.

[@airgunningyup]

another way to overcome the top speed, which is often cheaper is to swap in a motor rated for slightly less voltage .. SO if this was a 36 v configuration , a 24 v motor of similar spec would make the top speed 27kph or so.. and the battery and controller could remain stock

[@BH4x0r]

i know how i got this idea late but it would make a cool video if you used a VESC with Field Weakening on this escooter to demonstrate that VESC's can defeat the max RPM by voltage, basically by sorta defeating the BEMF and thus increasing the max rpm aswell a newer VESC6 or one with 3 phase shunts atleast can also do Silent HFI, which is silent brushless and sensorless drive it NEEDS a shunt on each phase to be able to do Silent HFI though, otherwise there will be a high pitch. you can try HFI on older Vesc's aswell but it wont be silent be sure to turn off phase filtering on older vescs on new firmware aswel

[@OuTannu]

Creative with resistors! :P

[@priestbrooklyn1094]

Gotta luv this guy, does what we all think about but can't do for various reasons ✊🏿

[@Anonymous-qx5uk]

I got the street-legal Doc Green ESA 5000 from Lidl in Germany for 300 Euro on Black Friday last year. It does not require batteries for the lights, the range is 22km, the motor is 350W and the bigger battery helps to maintain 20km/h even with a small charge left. The other good thing is that the chassis is an exact copy of the M365 and a lot of accessories are cheaply available from China. It is not perfect tho, the battery indicator is not connected to the BMS and thus is a simple voltage display that does not work well with the voltage sag that the scooter experiences under load and also does not have suspension nor pneumatic tires. There is another version that is basically identical, it is called ESA 1919 and you can currently buy it for around 350 Euro and I still think it's worth the 70 EUR over the Maginon Street One.

[@juhopeltola3993]

In finland one can build anykind of electric vehicle that goes 25km/h. No matter if it was moving bathtub, as long as its top speed is 25km/h. It is easy to limit whit potentiometer in throtle wire...

[@alfiolocatelli5093]

I did something similar, I bought a very cheap one on gearbest for 170€ and I added Bluetooth and powr save breaking.

[@julianhernandez8437]

Really cool upgrade

[@ebikeengineer]

I love the electronic upgrades. I have a suggestion for the mechanical ones, LocTite Blue on all the screws & nuts used for the lights and reflectors. I'ts fairly inexpensive and works.

[@rawfpv1207]

I've added a second battery in parralel on an m365, they have custom firrmware you can change the rpm limiter and current draw, got an extra 9mph becuase there is an extra bank of cells to draw curtrent from, little bit worried the mosfets will burn out though

[@therealfox]

Endlich mal wieder was interessantes, auch wenn der Scooter nach dem Umbau nicht mehr "legal" ist.

[@hujohnny7785]

Great product, easy to clean -worked out great !

[@er.kakshshah2868]

Great job Mr scott i think you are one of those persons without i can't learn anything about arduino and other electronic stuff.

[@gamertube6244]

Hey can you show us how to keep our electronic components organised ??

[@richardnanis]

I have to agree with the bad light tuning. you can easily cure the quiescent current problem just by switching the DC-buck converter on when you need the light ;-) The resistor network is not an improvement - its the opposite! Just leave it on extra power - much more efficient.

[@M0UAW_IO83]

I'm now curious if you need insurance for a bicycle or is it just powered devices like the e-scooter? Also, larger diameter wheels, higher speed for given RPM...

[@berrinhyusein3744]

Brother u are genius!! Great idea,good planing and amazing skills!! Excelent work !!

[@philsponsel3824]

Hey Scott, so you bought a scooter without german street papers and you got them afterwards? was it worth it moneywise or did you spend so much that you could have bought one with papers in the beginning?

[@e-pi5189]

Your insurance company would be proud:) good work though!

[@DerinTheErkan]

I think I saw a TÜV sticker on the side of the scooter. Is this scooter only going to last until its next TÜV or could it pass as it is now?

[@kacek819]

wouldn't be a buck converter better solution than a resistor network? I mean less heat in the electronics compartment, longer battery life and stable voltage regardless of battery charge. Also you could still overclock your speed if you connect pack with higer as an external source and if you used buck converter you wouldn't fry your lights. Also you already had 3 positional switch that you could use as a main switch to further reduce passive battery drain.

[@-na-nomad6247]

First time I see your face, comments don't seem to care so I guess I missed the first time you took off the invisibility cape.

[@chizukichan]

GreatScott The scooter rental companies use liberal quantities of Loctite for things that tend to come loose. Looking at the threading on those lights, it could help.

[@greatscottlab]

You should watch the video to the end.

[@chizukichan]

@@greatscottlab Just saw it. Sorry about that.

[@LucaRyroMiles]

Doesnt this make it illegal again?

[@greatscottlab]

Not sure

[@LucaRyroMiles]

@@greatscottlab Maybe an idea to look into? Or get it tested to check if its speed is still within the safe limit?

[@Asu01]

It's not illegal if you're not caught yet.

[@aliozanerbektas]

Wow, and I thought my country was so strict... o.O What happens if you don't do those things? Police will pull you over? Confiscate your scooter? What? Damn rules are so stupid in some parts of the world...

[@jort93z]

Pretty much. You'll also pay a fine and get a penalty point on your drivers license(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_system_(driving)). If you don't have a drivers license you'll also be charged for driving without a license. Same fines you'd get for driving an Illegally tuned car (maybe also without having a license) pretty much. So you might as well drive a drag-strip honda with nitrous injection on the street, thats more fun and gets you the same penalty as driving an illegal street scooter doing 20kmh.

[@mariofares9701]

Hello dear, Hope you're doing well! I just wanted to tell you that what you're doing is amazing. Electronics is a world that i'm so interested in. I have some questions i want to ask you: Did you major in Electronics at college? If yes, where? Thank you for your time and keep going! @GreatScott!

[@oilybrakes]

In case you will not get an answer, look up his ask me anything videos. He is talking about himself a bit there. I remember him to have a degree in electrical engineering - if I remember it right.

[@mariofares9701]

can you send me the link please i can't find it

[@Thunderstruck8989]

Great Scott, do you give lectures or stand ups or do you attend to community in Germnay? I live in Berlin and I would like to meet you personally ☺️

[@vakarisdobrovolskas8508]

Hey i live in uk and i have a cheap scooter for 180€ and goes 25km/h max speed

[@leitaoveio8431]

Good video man, keep that way

[@GlamTelevision]

Most entry-level road-legal ebikes and escooters have been prohibitively expensive (that's not including maintainance, spares, and even cycle shops that want to handle repairs or replacements - most have been very squeemish :/). Am certain the price can come down and should - but at present, since it only seems aimed at the 'average businessman' it is very difficult to encourage such. This needs to change

[@darkstar2111]

10:05 this "resistors spider" - for prototyping - of course, but for final design? Please...

[@mrburns366]

this scooter looks a lot like the Megawheels s1. i bought a megawheels s10 that was refurbished. it struggles with my 200lb frame. i think it's because the battery is weak from being used.

[@scaleop4]

i have a 350W scooter here in the and (at the moment they are meant to be illegal ) I have seen loads of police and they just tell me to be careful and responsible when riding it lol) but yea I love that thing.. helps with the bad back to when going uphill) hopefully the the law on them changes soon.

[@BritishBeachcomber]

Another great video. But I've noticed that your voice sounds different when you are on screen. Is it due to a different microphone?

[@que_dijo]

Awesome video as always. One question though, how can I calculate the resistance network for front and rear lamps? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks, Scott and community!

[@madamejoy5392]

Seriously, dont use resistors, use a buck regulator

[@Ziryu2]

Is there a reason that you are using resistors for the lamp, instead of DC-DC Buck/step down converter?

[@Ziryu2]

I just noticed, that the front and backlight have two different voltage ratings, so I suppose its down to price and bulk. (the resistor network still looks hilarious, due to it being made out of so many resistors)

[@garbleduser]

Can you add regenerative braking?

[@mikebravo6636]

With the second battery, why is it suggested to connect when both full and same voltage. What would happen if main battery empty and spare is full. How do you get past the problems of imbalance

[@ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt]

Strictly for maximum range as the batteries are separate (SPDT switch).

[@PeterfoxUwU]

I got a similar E-Scooter from ALDI but although it said it would drive 20km/h it only drives about 15km/h and achives a range of 8km at most.

[@TotoGuy-Original]

you need a tshirt that says i void warranties! lol

[@que_dijo]

for the back light, he is using two 5.1K resistons ins parallel which equates to 2.55K, why doesn´t he uses just one 2.4K resistor ?

[@madamejoy5392]

Because hes got to dissipate a lot of heat. :)

[@legominimovieproductions]

Wäre es nicht besser gewesen einen Schalter zu nehmen der für DC ausgelegt ist und nicht für AC? Gibt ja diese "rennauto" Schalter zb, die sind ja für einige Ampere DC

[@Felixkeeg]

5:40 That's the "Mission across Wales" tune I'm hearing, right?

[@geordie7269]

Man Germany has some pretty tight restrictions

[@gmister24]

Can you do a video on how to make a gotrax ultra faster thanks!

[@dannygrob]

So this is like diy AND buy :)

[@dirtbikeboys75]

What app did he use to track distance and speed?

[@Chemist1076]

Add a bugger drive wheel for higher speed

[@nikolaiorr8383]

Love your projects

[@MrAnasamla]

I need a little help My E scooter has a 36v 6ah battery i wanna change it to a 36v 20ah battery Do i have to change any else like the controller? Or can i just plug in a bigger battery and off i go?

[@johnmajerov4122]

What was the motor drive software he used called?

[@baztidbury5823]

Why not add suspension

[@xentrix89]

cant you just swap out the battery's in the battery compartment with higher capacity cells thus increasing your range without needing to haul an extra battery hooked to a wire in your backpack?

[@ゲリン]

what will heppen if you hookup both battery pack to motor

[@voitek.]

Wait what, there is insurance with plate for scooters in Germany??? Just why? I would never get that

[@nekotag]

Great vid! Btw what pens do you use in your videos?

[@nekotag]

@@tookitogo thanks mate

[@Daxdax006]

Dang. How do I learn to do this?

[@LuluTheCorgi]

Our government makes you buy insurance for escooter while Ebikes that can drive alot faster don't need insurance, I wonder why Using locktide on the screws is probably gonna help with the cobble problem

[@yfs9035]

Unless it's made of Chinesium and just breaks in half

[@benji376]

I have been waiting for this. Too bad you didnt increase the speed

[@jjosa52]

Would love a course from you 🙃

[@NathanCroucher]

Your kidding, in Australia we just buy one and go nuts all over the roads. Actually that could be illegal here too, i dunno.

[@fighter67]

super cool

[@harikamalakarreddydarapu7410]

You are awesome

[@mudnib4555]

I have a Suggestion for a Video Lidl verkauft billige Lötstationen für 10€ und ich habe mir für Zuhause so eine besorgt und war nicht sonderlich erfreut, weil sie nicht funktioniert. Da kommt jetzt meine Idee, dass du sie mal mit Teuren Lötstationen vergleichst.

[@theebikeguy3852]

Wow 4.4 ah lol I've never Sean one that small on a scooter

[@jaredbutcher3791]

Regenerative braking would be an interesting challenge

[@Felixkeeg]

It's so silly that these things only go less than 20 km/h. I mean this is a relaxed cycling speed.

[@pauljs75]

For those used to "freedom units" that's about the fastest speed that toddler goes in his power-wheels while mom & dad are walking behind him. It's pathetically slow.

[@sameerUNO10100]

Hey @Greatscott can we make it Super power scooter with a turbo

[@marostrifezza899]

You didnt show how much the range increased...

[@theebikeguy3852]

I just picked up a Iscooter 1S for €191.64 Euro...

[@jerkovicbrate]

Next video. Proper way to mod scooter, with speed mod.

[@usmanumer9871]

plz design 1000w Buck boost converter

[@manjus9903]

Can you make gpr

[@Giblet535]

I never understood the market for these. There's no place to put your stuff, the dog can't go with you, it's not as fast as running or bicycling, there's no shelter from rain or snow, the range is not at all useful, and the cool factor is approaching negative infinity.

[@mcrsit]

If you put bigger tyres it will go faster!

[@martinwalton2850]

Not one piece of litter on those streets. Decent.

[@jasonschlegel2520]

E twow gt sport is very fast and reliable

[@TednTin]

I know that you know that we know that you did not leave speed as it is

[@Mehefehe2000]

Make it faster !

[@Asu01]

Greatscott!: uses XT60 for hand crank generator project. Also Greatscott!: uses 5.5mm DC barrel connector to power electric scooter.

[@greatscottlab]

That's me :-)

[@Asu01]

Joke aside, brushless motor ESC can generate quite some transient voltage spike due to the nature of switched inductor. This is an even bigger problem with active or regen braking which often featured on most ESC because you're sending power back to the line. ESC requires stable input supply which can be attained by having an array of capacitor on the input and having low resistance power path to battery to dampen the surge, which I'm pretty sure the 5.5mm barrel connector is lacking of. Just my thoughts :-)

[@josefaschwanden1502]

@@Fafnier361 wtf

[@NiHaoMike64]

@@Asu01 I would just connect the batteries in parallel, since that would lower the internal resistance losses. A PTC can be used to limit current if the charge states are wildly different. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZ_Ee6t4lNWmnZo

[@ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt]

@@NiHaoMike64 He's not paralleling the batteries. He's switching from one to the other (SPDT power switch).

[@Fri3dNstuff]

wait, did he just put a ton of resistors to lower the voltage? isn't that a waste of energy?

[@crazygeorgelincoln]

Keeps your nuts warm

[@Shaun.Stephens]

I would have thought a couple of buck regulators would have been better (or one and then resistors for the lowest required voltage). $1 items from Aliexpress...

[@AL_O0]

I think the leds are low current enough that the power loss is negligible

[@Shaun.Stephens]

@@AL_O0 He said in another thread that the resistors use 4 W/hrs of the 154 W/hr battery. The lamps themselves probably only use a half of that at most. The current might be low but the voltage drop isn't.

[@ProtoMan137]

@@AL_O0 Then why did he use so many resistors?

[@Michael-wc2ll]

Me as a German when I saw the title: He can't do that, this is a RECHTSWIDRIGKEIT!

[@flopponator]

*RECHTSWIDRIGKEIT

[@Moonwalker917]

Even as someone who only knows Guten Tag, Ich mage meine Stadt and Hande höch, I understand exactly what this means lol

[@Michael-wc2ll]

@@flopponator pardon :)

[@yatagarasu1495]

@@Moonwalker917 Hände hoch! Überfall!

[@engineer0239]

Hans! Get ze Flammenwerfer!

[@realdragon]

GreatScott: What a nice brand new electric scooter. Let's tear it apart and upgrade it

[@leiflang8097]

He lives by the EEVBlog ideology. "Don't turn it on, take it apart!"

[@smoke4131]

Lmao, i do the same with electronics

[@tin2001]

@@leiflang8097 Or Big Clive... Only this one isn't pink.

[@rafalmag]

Hello. Thanks for sharing! For the "lights upgrade" - instead of dropping the voltage using resistors I would use step down converter - you had plenty of room for those and the advantage would be that once set - the lights would not dim when battery pack would discharge.

[@greatscottlab]

Sure but they draw a noticeable standby current and I wanted the battery to not drain through such loads when switch position 1 or 2 is active while the motor system is off.

[@pewgamingbros9263]

It was posted right now! How did you post your comment a week ago

[@pewgamingbros9263]

?

[@Tesdraline]

@@pewgamingbros9263 This video was probably unlisted.

[@hariprasanth9849]

@@pewgamingbros9263 Patreon users :)

[@o0julek0o]

Wait, is that a registration plate? ON A F*CKING ELECTRIC SCOOTER? WHAT KIND OF POLICE STATE IS THIS?!

[@greatscottlab]

Germany in a nutshell.

[@DanielJutz]

we germans like bureaucracy, I wouldn't call it a police state though

[@LucaRyroMiles]

Netherlands requires you to have a driving license too

[@roel_]

We neighbors (the netherlands) are not even allowed to ride on these scooters. I would love to own one to transport myself but it's simpely not allowed due to the fact that it's not an official 'vehicle' so it couldnt apply for an insurance.

[@LucaRyroMiles]

@@roel_ some are allowed though, like a segway