Onewheel battery replacement

Here is what I found to be the most secure way of air travel with the OW. Remarks at the end.

This guide applies to both the original Onewheel and Onewheel+.

Credit: Renato R.

Begin by removing the rear foot plate above the battery.

Then the bumper.

Remove both cable retainers.

Remove the connectors cover.

Unlock the battery cable connector.

Its the white tab, then press down the small black one and pull the whole connector. Do not touch the other connectors. If you do not press down the small black lid while pulling the connector, you will brake it. If you do, don't panic, just find the broken piece and throw it away, its pretty useless for us.

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Remove the two wheel screws from both rails.

And free the cable out of it.

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Slide the battery out.

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Cover the connector with duct tape or electrical tape. I recommend you buy a Lithium battery pouch. The battery MUST be on Carry On luggage.

Replace the wheel and tighten the screws.

There are two sizes on the original OW, long on top, short on bottom. On the OW+, small screws are for underside of rails, medium screws are for top of footpad, and long screws are for the skid plates.

Don't forget to pack the tools needed to reassemble the battery!

REMARKS:

1. Don't mention anything about the purpose of the battery.
2. Print and take the second page of this PDF on you carry on luggage: FAA - Batteries Carried by Airline Passengers
3. Place a printed page together with the board stating that the battery has been removed and shipped separately.

Onewheels are unlike any other boards you have ridden – ever! And undoubtedly the best fun you’re gonna have on a single wheel.

But let’s be real, Onewheels are a significant investment.

Their hefty price tag can leave you wondering, how long will I be able to enjoy my new board?

What is the life expectancy of the battery likely to be?

And how will I get from the tire before it needs replacing?

Let’s explore the answers to these questions now together.

How Long Does A Onewheel Last?

With regular maintenance and routine replacement of consumable components, a Onewheel will provide many years of riding. The most commonly replaced parts are the tires which last around 750-1,500 miles, depending on a rider’s weight, riding style, and tire pressure. While most lithium-ion battery lasts approximately 500-1,000 charges.

Here’s a quick table reference for you on run times and life expectancy for Onewheel parts:

*Note: these are not precise measurements, they’re approximations based upon real-world experiences from myself and other Onewheel users. Individual riding styles, rider weight, and riding surfaces will all affect a board and its components life expectancy.

Let’s break down each of these components.

What Is The Life Expectancy Of A Onewheel’s Battery?

The Onewheel Pint and XR+ lithium NMC (LiNiMnCoO2) batteries have super long lifespans and are able to withstand a huge number of riding cycles. So you can look forward to years of use out of your battery as long as you follow key upkeep practices.

• Be sure to store your board in a cool place indoors at constant mild room temperatures. Never store your Onewheel outdoors, even if your board is exposed to cold weather for a short time it will decrease the performance of the battery. Prolonged storage in cold outdoor temperatures will begin to degrade the battery.

• Make sure your board is charged at least every few months or so. That way, even if you’re not riding your board regularly, your board’s battery isn’t left sitting on zero charge. A good tip for extending the life of your battery is not to fully charge it or completely drain it. Charge up to 80-90 percent and don’t allow the battery to drop below 20 percent. That way, you aren’t running the battery’s cells through a full cycle.
• The Onewheel app has detailed battery data that you can keep an eye on to help keep track of everything.

Battery Lifespan

As we all know, any plug-in device, whether it be your new smartphone or your exhilarating new Onewheel can leave us scratching our heads wondering how long we have before we need to reach for the charger.

Many of our electric mobility device using brothers and sisters on forums are enthusiastically discussing that the battery life of the Onewheel is excellent.

For instance, we’ve read reports that even after riding for a period of an hour a day over four days, the battery drained only to around 60 percent and shot satisfyingly back up to 100 percent after only an hour on the charger.

No one wants the hassle of being out and about enjoying the thrill of your motorized board when all of a sudden you come to a grinding halt! However, the example above translates into reassuringly worry-free 1 hour rides within 3-5 miles of your home.

Let’s take a look below at the newest models, the Onewheel XR+ and Onewheel Pint to see the leaps and bounds it’s made in terms of battery life.

Onewheel Component Improvements

Over the 8 years of the design period, the Onewheel founder Kyle Doerksen has been meticulously fine-tuning and optimizing the Onewheel.

Since 2014 when the first Prototype was released, the technology has been constantly evolving, creating the best Onewheel exerience possible.

Onewheels all fundamentally work similarly, however, with a series of updates and tweaks, the rider’s experience has constantly improved.

And this is somewhat thanks to the ever improving battery life.

The Onewheel XR+ can go 12-18 miles on a full battery and only takes around 110 minutes or 60 minutes with the XR Hypercharger to fully charge a drained battery.

As a comparison, the Onewheel Pint has a riding range of around 6-8 miles while taking 120 minutes to charge or 50 minutes with the Pint Ultracharger.

This improvement is fairly substantial when compared to the original Onewheel. The original possessed a riding range of a modest 6-8 miles.

Not only that but the new and improved battery also aids in the amount of power your Onewheel provides when going up hills and in colder weather, with no expense to your battery life.

Additionally, the feel of the latest XR+ model is a tad more intuitive and smooth. It can go as fast as 19 miles-per-hour. Not to mention, it stops on a dime – yeah, careful with that one!

“The Onewheel+XR can go 12-18 miles on a full battery and only takes around 110 minutes to fully charge a drained battery.”

Onewheel Battery App

Onewheel has created a brilliant app, which is a must for Onewheel owners. This useful app provides all the necessary information on the performance of your Onewheel. This includes:

• Speed
• Distance travelled
• Battery life
• Search maps curated from other riders

It also allows you to connect with other riders in the Onewheel community.

So, now we’ve looked at some of the Onewheel models, how long their batteries last, and the kind of riding experience you are likely to get, let’s now turn our attention to the star of the show, the tire.

How Long Does A Onwheel Tire Last?

Generally, the lifespan of the Onewheel’s stock tire, the Vega MBM,  is around 1,000 miles. For example, riding around 3 miles a day will equate to around 1 year of riding whereas 10 miles a day would mean about 3 months out of a tire.

Riders who want better traction for riding in winter or want more serious grip for off-road terrains can upgrade their tires. There are heaps of different tires now on the market to choose from, something like the Burris or Hoosier tire are good choices.

Those who are happy with their stock Vega tire can change replace it by sending it off to Onewheel. Here’s a link to get a new replacement Vega Tire and here’s the link to Onewheels replacement service.

Ideally, your Vega tire should be replaced by Onewheel as they need to recalibrate it. Sending it elsewhere might mean your warranty is voided.

To guarantee you’re going to get the maximum life out of your Onewheel, it’s worth following a few maintenance tips to make sure your board stands up to the test of time.

Let’s look at how checking your tires can ensure the longevity of your favorite ride.

Tire Pressure And Tire Change

As you arrive home after your final ride of the day, it’s always worth a quick scan over your tires. Check for any cuts in the sidewall or tread before you put your board away for the evening. And if it needs a clean, brush it down with a dry handheld brush.

Make sure you test the tire pressure on your Onewheel a few times a month, after a particularly testing cruise, a series of lengthy rides or if you notice your wheel feeling a little slow or deflated as you ride.

Head over to your local gas station and use their digital gauge to save a few bucks buying one. The optimal tire pressure is 20 psi, this doesn’t vary however depending on a rider’s weight.

Play around with it, see what pressure you prefer for your riding style.

And Finally…

So there you have it.

All the definitive answers you need to keep your board baby from dying on you.

With regular battery charges, upkeep of tire pressure, and timely component replacement you’ll ensure many years of fun from your Onewheel.

Enjoy!

Hi i’ve got a onewheel and a Onewheel Plus. The plus has a malfunctioning battery. I live in Canada and with the Covid travel restrictions, I can’t cross the boarder to fedex the unit to future motion. I’m also worried about mailing in a $2000 machine at a time when total lockdown orders in california seem imminent. On top of that Fedex from Canada is so expensive that the total cost woudl exceed the value of two year old OW+. I’m wondering if someone can help me with advice or if there is a battery fixer out there who would be willing to take on the task. It has been suggested to me that a parallell group is dead. Might also be one dead cell.

I left the OW+ in the car trunk with a low charge at - 20 below. Since then, unit only operates for a minute or two It only charges to 53.8 volts (vs 58.2 for my working onewheel). It reads 100% of the charger and shuts down at 98%.

So I’m looking for advice or for a skilled battery repair person who thinks the battery can be repaired.
I’m also open to purchasing a replacement from someone who builds them. I’ve thought about the Two-X. I’m just not sure how covid has affected them and if they have stock. I’ve reached out to them via email. No answer so far.

I’m guessing I could disassemble the battery and test each cell and either fix individual cells with a single cell charger or replace the damaged cells. But I’ve never done that before and I realize that a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Advice?

Thanks pk

**Disclaimer: Modding your board is inherently dangerous. This post is for education purposes only. Mod your board at your own risk. Shredd Labs cannot be held responsible for any injuries or death caused by modding your battery or potentially damaging your board. You have been warned.**

Many of you have probably heard of the XXR battery upgrade pioneered by Hector Arroyo. Well, Bara from Chi Battery Systems has stepped up to make an even better replacement battery mod that requires less modding but gains even more range. In the video below you’ll see how easy it is to replace your old Onewheel battery pack with the upgraded CBXR battery, as well as a range test video where Bradley drains the battery to empty. Just how far did he make it? You’ll have to watch the video to find out…

Some things we don’t go into detail about in the video are specifications and the benefits (besides range) that you’ll get by doing the upgrade. It’s also to be noted that not all Onewheel+ XRs will work with this battery mod. Check your hardware version, if it is 4206, 4208, 4209, or 4210, you’re okay! It will work. 4210 may require a power cycle when your board “thinks” you’re at 0% but after turning it off/on, you will enjoy the rest of that CBXR range. Many people have reported that 4210 works without any power cycling needed. If you have the 4211 or 4212 hardware version, you’re out of luck at the moment unfortunately. To find out which version you have, go to the Onewheel app on your phone, select the Menu icon, then board settings, and then look for your hardware version.

Chi Battery Systems uses 18650ga Sanyo battery cells which are high quality cells that are known to be safe and have better reliability than other 18650 cells. The battery configuration is 15s3p, which is the largest cell count ever fit inside of a Onewheel. This configuration provides the Onewheel with 567wh of actual usable capacity and provides 30 amps of continuous discharge. According to Chi Battery Systems, the cells used will provide 800-1000 full charge cycles (meaning you drained the battery from completely empty to full 800-1000 times). After 800-1000 complete cycles, you’ll still have 70% battery capacity. This means that after riding 24,000-30,000 miles, you’ll still hold 70% of the original capacity.

We lied, you don’t have to watch the YouTube video to find out the range we got in our range test video. Chi Battery Systems advertises that the range you’ll get on the CBXR is between 32-38+ miles per charge. We can confirm this because riding on varied terrain, with a rider weighing 170lbs and the PSI set to 17, we got 33.5 miles in our range test which blew away our expectations because of the riding speed and the many steep hills encountered in the video.

Some other benefits, besides practically doubling the stock XR range, is more torque which means less surging uphill and likely less of a chance of the dreaded “nosedive.” There was much less voltage sag as well. Meaning, at 50% battery on the standard XR, you’ll start to notice less power on the Onewheel with surging uphills and less zippiness. At 50% on the CBXR, the board felt like it was still at 100% battery with seemingly no voltage sag. It takes around 3 hrs and 15 minutes to charge the CBXR with the stock charger, or just under 2 hours with a fast charger.

One of the best things about the CBXR battery mod is it’s the easiest upgrade out there. It requires very little modding to your existing battery case and can be done in under an hour. We are absolutely stoked with the performance and ease of installation. Do you have a Pint and want more range? Chi Battery Systems also made a battery upgrade called the “Quart.” See the link below for more details.

Where to Buy:
CBXR Battery Upgrade for Onewheel+ XR
Quart Battery Upgrade for Onewheel Pint

Thanks @Lia and @biell - good to know I can stop dreaming of that swap option - figured it was a long shot anyway.

I left my XR on the charger for 10 days while I was away, without any change, but I can try leaving it plugged in all the time.

My XR is dying less than 1km from home, so I can add some air to the tire, turn back sooner (which I hate to do), walk up the giant hill it's surging on near the end of the ride, or just take it a little easier (which I also hate to do). App says my top speed is 32.5km/h (20.2mph) so I'm probably pushing it beyond what's "safe" anyway. (but isn't that half the fun?)

I might try that swap option Lia mentioned or just wait for a new model, which I'll undoubtedly feel compelled to buy (I have a OW, OW+, OW+XR). This XR has 1600km, which isn't huge but it's bearings are getting a bit loud too..

Anyway - thanks for the advice! Happy riding!