There are many ways to build a VESC balance board. All builds will require you to select from multiple options based on your own priorities and needs. Although this document describes some of the most common build options, it should not be trusted as accurate, definitive or comprehensive. Thanks to the amazing Onewheel VESC community for others’ knowledge, experience and hard work that I drew from in writing this guide. The choices I made are described here, and I assume my own risk for the potential consequences if something should go wrong. In reading further, you assume your own risk for any and all consequences of building a dangerous personal electric vehicle.

This guide works on mobile devices, but graphics may be best viewed on a larger screen.

Planning and Overview

In this section, I’ll explain why I chose the parts I did. If you have different needs or budget, choose something else, but I believe this is the ideal build based on what’s out there right now (May, 2023). The most common starting point for a VESC build is a Onewheel Plus or +XR. These Onewheels share the exact same motor, and the differences between the two are minor.

Key Components

A one-wheeled electric balance board consists of 5 main components:

Footpads - Where your feet stand.

Front Footpad

Grip Tape
Sensor
Sensor cable

Rear Footpad

Grip Tape

Controller Box - Under front footpad.

Ports
Controller
Headlight
Front Bumper
Other options: remote interface, buzzer, light controller

Rails - Run the length of the board and tie everything together.

Cable Clips
Fender

Wheel Motor

Bearings
Stator + Axle
Axle Blocks (connects axle to rails with lift/lower option)
Hall Sensor
Motor Cable (to controller box)
Rim

Magnets
End Cap

Battery Box - Under rear footpad.

Battery Pack
BMS (Battery Management System)
Wiring Harness (to controller box)
Taillight
Rear Bumper

Goals and Trade-offs

[10/31/22] I’ve owned a V1, Plus, +XR and GT. The goal of this build was to exceed the GT capabilities in every aspect, without trade-offs: Better torque, better range, better speed, better handling, better compatibility, repair and upgradeability, better everything. This build meets that goal.

The one thing that I gave up (for now) was internal lighting. Internal lighting options are being developed for VESC, but I’m using the Hangover bike helmet light (which is insanely bright) that I already had, mounted to the top of my Overlander Lifter. The easiest lighting replacement at the moment is Shredlights.

As of 11/2023, Avaspark now sells RGB light kits that work with all VESCs. However, unlike other controllers, the Little FOCer 3.1 doesn’t output enough current on its 5V output to power the lights, so it requires a separate 5V power supply.

Parts to Sell

You should be able to recoup $200 or more by selling the parts you don’t need. A new wiring harness costs $225, which is more than you may be able to get for a whole used stock XR battery box assembly. So, unless you plan on buying or making a new wiring harness, it’s worth keeping your old one.

As mentioned above, I gave up on finding a solution for internal LED lights. If you can manage to save your stock LED strips, then they may be useful down the road, but it’s likely that the eventual solution to internal LEDs will not use expensive FM parts. As such, I recommend that you sell the following:

You don’t need to open up your stock controller box at all. Sell the entire controller box, with controller board and other electronics inside (charge port, power button, LED strip, LED cable). If working, take a screenshot of the diagnostics page in the Onewheel App before you dismantle your Onewheel, depicting the controller & firmware versions. You can also just connect it to the battery with the board dismantled, turn it on and connect via Bluetooth if you’ve already disassembled everything. You can probably get $200 for your controller box alone.
Open up the battery box, unscrew the gland nut, and unplug the cables from the wiring harness. After removing the wiring harness, sell your battery box and everything else inside (BMS, LED strip). The price you can get for your battery depends on type (Plus, +XR, CBXR, JWXR) and miles.
You won’t be able to use stock rear bumpers anymore, so sell those if you can.

Parts Needed from a Plus or +XR

Wheel Assembly: Motor & motor wiring harness, tire, bearings, etc.
Rails, wiring harness clips and other hardware
Footpads, including front sensor and sensor cable
Wiring harness to battery box (see above)
Controller box connector cover (gray plastic)
Front bumper

Parts to Buy

These are the most common options. You can buy the parts from the kit like connectors separately, print your own controller box, or even spot weld your own battery pack. I bought these parts and couldn’t be happier with the VESC community members who make them:

Controller Kit: MakersPEV - Flowglider DIY Bundle - Includes the VESC controller (AKA Little FOCer) and connectors. There are links on this page to 3-D printer files if you want to print your own controller box. Uy Lee from MakersPEV is easy to find on facebook and very helpful.
Controller Box: Lit Timber - Flowglider WTFoc MK2 lid mount box - I chose PA-CF (nylon infused with carbon fiber) because it’s stronger and more heat resistant. Phillip Chiappisi from Lit Timber is easy to find on facebook and very helpful.
Controller Box Lid & mounting hardware: Flowglider - Lid mount version of WTFoc MK2 hardware pack for little focer V3. Peter Teurlings from Flowglider is easy to find on facebook and very helpful.
Battery Box: TORque Box & TORque bumper. This is a bigger box to fit a bigger 18s2p 21700 battery pack, plus the bumper to fit the bigger battery box. It will also fit the ZBMS and a stock LED strip. These are made by Badger, now part of The Float Life. We all know and love TFL for their great customer service.
75.6V Battery Pack & BMS: 18s2p 21700 Samsung 50S cells and ZBMS from Mario Contino. Capacity is 648Wh, which is the most you can pack into a TORque Box, and 20% more than the P42A battery pack. Mario was awesome and helped me choose the right battery and BMS. He offers a lot of knowledge through his website, https://theboardgarage.com/.
Charger: Any 75.6V lithium battery charger with output of 6A or less should work, including the Onewheel GT chargers and those sold on eBay and elsewhere. You may have to solder on a female XLR plug. Z Battery Solutions sells a Torque Pack Charger (75.6V, 6A). For reference, the Future Motion GT charger outputs 75.6V, 2.5A, and the GT fast charger outputs 75.6V, 5.2A.

Details and Options

This section may repeat some of the information listed above, adding details, alternatives and optional parts like rim protectors, ferrofluid and heat sink controller lid.

Part Details

Wheel Motor: A Superflux motor from Fungineers or a motor from any Onewheel except the V1 can be used. I used a Onewheel Plus motor (identical to +XR), upgraded with the following optional items:

Life Savers rim protectors - prevent cracked rims.
Burris 11 X 6.0-6 Treaded Tire I like the durable, long-lasting TX-33 compound, but some prefer softer tires.
Schaeffler FAG Bearings. If replacing bearings, you will also need new axle O-rings.
Statorade ferrofluid coolant, helps keep the motor from overheating. If you’re replacing bearings, then it’s a good time to add Statorade.

Battery, BMS & Charger: You can use a stock XR battery and modify the Future Motion BMS to be charge only, then optionally add an OWIE to access charge levels (since the FM controller, which handles Bluetooth, will be gone). Or, you can use a new, upgraded battery (the Little FOCer 3.1 supports 8s to 20s Lithium Ion batteries).

The most complicated choice of the build was the battery, and it’s difficult to find battery packs in stock due to high demand. I jumped on the opportunity to have Mario Contino build my battery when I saw he was making a new batch of 18s2p and 20s2p batteries. The 18s2p battery packs use 21700 size cells, while the 20s2p battery packs use smaller 18650 size cells. Mario helped educate me on the pros and cons of each battery and Battery Management System (BMS) option. The BMS is the component responsible for charging the individual cells in the battery pack, and ensuring that they’ll all be charged equally (balanced), because the pack is limited by the weakest cell.

Wanting to be faster than a GT, I initially ordered the 84V 20s2p battery, then changed my mind when I realized that it would have less range than a GT (403Wh vs. GT 525Wh). The 84V battery will go faster than a 75.6V battery, but I’ve already taken my 75.6V VESC over 25MPH, and that’s faster than I need. I went with the Samsung 50S cells because they have the highest capacity (648Wh) and the ZBMS because it’s dead simple and reliable.

The ZBMS is a “dumb” BMS and doesn’t report individual cell voltages via an app, but it does have LEDS that shine through the clear TORque Box to indicate when the cells are balancing (all the LEDs go out when the cells are balanced). I had my battery pack made by Mario Contino (theboardgarage.com) because he’s a knowledgeable, experienced craftsman.

18s2p Custom Battery by Mario Contino: This battery is 75.6 V and uses Samsung 50S 21700 cells (same voltage and cell size as GT, but provides greater capacity - 648Wh vs. GT 525Wh).

Another Good Option: 18s2p 21700 Molicel P42A cells and ZBMS from Z Battery Solutions. Capacity is 544Wh and may provide a negligible amount more torque due to slightly higher current output. Molicel also has a better reputation than Samsung for battery durability.

ZBMS basic, heavy-duty charge-only BMS that balances cells but doesn’t display individual cell voltage (mine was a pre-order supplied by Mario). The ZBMS with balance lights is shown below, installed in the TORque Box.

18 balance LEDs lit on the ZBMS inside the Badger TORque Box.

Badger TORque Box: The larger 18s2p 21700 battery pack requires a larger enclosure, and the larger enclosure requires a Badger TORque Bumper.
Charger: You can purchase a 75.6 V charger, or adapt a Onewheel GT charger by splicing in a set of male + female XLR plugs (I bought 10 pairs of XLR plugs on amazon for $20). I already owned both a Future Motion GT charger (75.6V, 2.5A) and GT fast charger (75.6V, 5.2A). I just cut the plug off of each GT charger and spliced male and female XLR jacks inline, to work both for VESC and GT. See build section for pictures of GT charger cables modified in this manner.

Controller: To build a controller, you’ll need a box, lid, VESC controller and electrical connectors:

3D Printed Controller box, PA-CF (or print your own)
Makers PEV Flowglider DIY bundle: The kit shown in this build guide was ordered 10/2022. It included a Little FOCer 3.1 and connectors. Some connectors included with this kit were modified for this build. See DIY parts if you prefer to purchase the controller separately and make your own connectors

Wiring harness: I used a Onewheel Plus harness, which required the following modifications (see Build section for details):

Replace discharge connector with an XT60 (I purchased in bulk on Amazon). I don’t believe this is required for an XR wiring harness.
Use BMS wires in pairs to provide charge lines with an XT30 connector (also purchased in bulk on Amazon).
Modify the Molex 16 pin male panel connector to connect the pairs of BMS wires to the charger plug.

There are lots of other wiring harness options. You don’t need to use the Molex 16 and can go straight XT30 (charge) and XT60 (discharge), but I kept the Molex 16 for its additional wires for the LED taillight.

Flowglider Controller box lid and gaskets: New version includes 6 studs. My lid had only 3 studs and I didn’t like the fact that it was ⅛” below the bottom of the front footpad, so I cut a ⅛” plate with a jigsaw, added 3 more studs and epoxied everything on top of the Flowglider lid with JB Weld. In addition to a better fit and more strength, it functions as a heat sink.

Heat sink lid (optional)

Optional Parts

Here are some additional parts that you may want or need:

A Badger Waterproofing kit is highly recommended.
I needed a new Molex 16 panel mount, but you can likely modify the one included in the DIY kit.
Extra thermal pad. These tend to get damaged, especially if you mount your controller in the box instead of bolting it to the lid.
New XR wiring harness. The stock wiring harness will need to be modified. You can have someone build you a custom wiring harness or build your own.
Aluminum Sheet Metal 6 x 12 x 1/8 (0.125) Inch for additional heat sink on top of controller lid, and JB Weld epoxy for attaching it. I made my own, but heat sink lids have become common since originally writing this build guide, and can be ordered here.

Tools

You will need the following tools:

Soldering iron: In addition to soldering some wires, it’s used to heat and press in 4 brass inserts included with the lid kit to your 3d print enclosure. See 1:42 min mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqSmCHr4fdA
Wire stripper/crimper.
5.5 mm socket driver for controller box assembly.
Phillips screwdriver.
Optional, for lid heat sink: Jigsaw with fine tooth metal cutting blade, metal file.

DIY Parts

Update 12/21/2023: Refer to the list below if you want to order all of the connectors and solder them up yourself. See Wiring Diagrams for how to build your own high quality connectors.

Description	Date	Price
XR controller box hall & footpad sensor cable plug - Switchcraft EN3P6MX (Digikey)	5/17/2023	$9.93
XR controller box battery plug - Male Molex 0194280016 16 pin panel mount (Digikey)	5/11/2023	$10.01
XR controller box motor plug - Male Molex 0194280004 6 pin panel mount (Digikey)	5/11/2023	$5.27
Gold-Plated 5mm Bullet Male Female Connector (Amazon)	12/13/2023	$0.75
19mm 20A Latching Metal Push Button Waterproof Switch (blue, green, red, white or yellow) (Amazon)	11/28/2023	$9.99
Butt Connector 50 Pack (14-12 Gauge) (Amazon)	12/10/2023	$6.89
12 AWG Stranded Silicone Wire - 10 ft red and 10 ft Black Tinned Copper Wire (Amazon)	5/22/2023	$12.98
22 AWG Stranded Silicone Wire - 23 ft per Spool, 6 Colors (Black, Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, White) Tinned Copper (Amazon)	8/21/2023	$16.95
Kapton Tape - 1/4", 1/2", 3/4", 1" - 108 ft, 4 Rolls (Amazon)	8/21/2023	$11.98
Fish Paper, Adhesive Backed Roll 3" x 25' x 0.010" (Amazon)	8/21/2023	$24.99
JST connector kit (Amazon)	12/21/2023	$15.99

Notes: You do not need to purchase everything listed above. Some items like fish paper and Kapton tape are good to have for assembling electronics, but are not referenced in this build guide. Dates are provided for when I ordered these items, and prices may change.

Build

The build section consists primarily of illustrations of how the wiring was performed.

Controller

Your controller puts out a lot of heat through the MOSFETS, even more if you use a Superflux instead of a Hypercore motor. As of late 2023, you can now purchase thick heatsink lids for the Flowglider box. The Flowglider lid I bought in late 2022 was just a 1/16” (1.5mm) thick piece of aluminum that couldn't transfer a ton of heat from the FOCer and didn’t support the front footpad, so I cut a 1/8” (3mm) thick piece of aluminum plate to fit between the rails, added three more studs (six total) and bonded it to the 1/16” lid with JB Weld epoxy (I initially tried thermal epoxy, but it had a terribly weak bond and didn’t hold).

Be sure to always use a thermal pad between the FOCer MOSFETS and the lid, or you will damage your controller (the thermal pad conducts heat, but not electricity). Also use insulating plastic washers under the nuts that hold the FOCer to the lid.

Here’s what my build looked like before Badgering:

Adding a 7.5-10A fuse in the charge port leads prevents the battery from being killed if someone were to short the positive and negative leads by sticking a metal object into the XLR charge port.

Battery & Wiring Harness

The thick discharge leads on the Onewheel Plus wiring harness need the plug swapped for a soldered XT60 connector (XR harness uses an XT60, but always check to ensure correct polarity!!!).

The 4 “Charge” wires shown above (white, aqua, blue, purple) should be doubled up to better handle charge current (e.g. white & aqua positive, blue & purple negative), and soldered to an XT30 connector (not shown).

I was able to fit the stock LED bar (not shown) under the ZBMS and will figure out taillights later (most likely with RED always on).

Charger

I used the stock GT chargers with XLR plugs spliced inline, as shown below.

GT Chargers: If your VESC uses a 75.6V battery, both standard and fast charger
can be modified with inline XLR plugs as shown.

XLR Plugs: The plugs have 3 conductors, but only 2 wires are present in the cords.

Configuration

Make sure you are using the latest VESC tool app. For the software /firmware you will need:

VESC Tool both PC and Android or iOS version, support Vedder by dropping a few dollars (all versions are the same - you just choose level of donation).
Floaty App (Android) simple, clean interface for monitoring, not configuring.
Float Control app (iOS only) can also monitor your board with apple watch support.

Setup should be done using the VESC Tool PC app, but I was able to do it with the Android app (note: bluetooth connectivity in Android app is reportedly more reliable than iOS app).

Connection & Setup

PC VESC Tool for iOS (not tested)

Turn on the VESC. Connect through the Mobile VESC tool app (Android or iOS). Scroll to the bottom, check activate bridge, and make note of the IP address. On the PC VESC tool app, go to connections: TCP, type in the address, then connect. You will only need to do this once (it remembers the last connection). You can now do the configuration using the PC VESC tool app. The iOS mobile app is not recommended for setting up your VESC.

Android VESC Tool (mobile app v6.02, AKA “six point two”)

I followed the instructions in DIY Onewheel Setup with 6.0 VESC Firmware by Surfdado, but used the Android app instead of the more complicated PC+bridge+mobile app. I later had to reconfigure the board and found Mario Contino’s video to be even better: VESC One Wheel Full Setup | Firmware 6.02 & Float Package.

After following the guide, see Tunes & Tweaks to confirm that your settings are correct.

Tunes & Tweaks

Motor Config

Reference FAQ - Battery on pev.dev and VESC One Wheel Full Setup | Firmware 6.02 & Float Package for your specific battery pack and motor. Settings for an 18s2p battery and Hypercore:

Motor Cfg → General, General

Invert Motor Direction = Only if motor runs in reverse
Write before going to the next tab, if changed

Motor Cfg → General, Current (per Mario’s video, these may vary)

Motor Current Max = 150A
Motor Current Max Brake = -150A
Absolute Max Current = 225A+
Battery Current Max = 45A
Battery Current Max Regen = -25A
Write

Motor Cfg → General, Voltage

Battery Voltage Cutoff Start = 2.3V x 18 = 41.4V
Battery Voltage Cutoff End = 2V x 18 = 36V
Write

Motor Cfg → General, Temperature (Activates Pushback for Overtemps):

MOSFET Temp Cutoff Start = 75C
MOSFET Temp Cutoff End = 90C
Motor Temp Cutoff Start = 80C
Motor Temp Cutoff End = 95C
Write

Motor Config → Additional Info, Setup

Battery Cells Series: 18
Battery Capacity: 10Ah
Write

FOC → General

Motor Resistance: 100.0
Motor Inductance: 200.0
Observer Gain: 0.75 (0.75 or half of motor config value)

FOC → Hall Sensors

Sensorless ERPM: 2000
Hall Interpolation ERPM: 200

FOC → Advanced

Zero Vector Frequency: 30.0
Observer Type: FOC_OBSERVER_ORTEGA_ORIGINAL (for Hypercore)

FOC → Field Weakening

Field Weakening Current Max: 30.00 A
Field Weakening Duty Start: 60.0%

Tiltback (AKA Pushback)

High Voltage Tiltback was set by default to 200V, Low Voltage Tiltback at 0V. This means no tiltback whatsoever, so you have to configure this setting for your battery. Tiltback settings are found in the Android VESC mobile app under: App Cfg > Balance > Tiltback

Based on the information provided on pev.dev, for an 18s2p 21700 battery pack (75.6V):

App Cfg → Balance → Tiltback

High Voltage Tiltback = 18 x 4.3 = 77.4V (going downhill, prevents overcharge)
Low Voltage Tiltback = 18 x 3 = 54V (low battery)

I left the angle and speed at their default settings. Don’t forget to tap the Write button after changing the settings. Note that hitting the high voltage tiltback threshold may result in scary tail drags when going downhill, but it prevents you from frying your battery.

According to Mario Contino, “0% state of charge, probably, is somewhere between 50.4v and 54v. Most people discharge a battery down to 3v per cell. The cell sheets always say 2.5v is empty, but some fear that discharging that low can be risky in terms of the cell life. I personally discharge down to 2.8v per cell, which on 18s, would be 50.4v”

Combining this information with the above setting means that you’ll get pushback at 54V, but can still run the battery down to 50.4V without risking damage.

Braking

I later discovered that high-speed braking was really weak, resulting in some scary tail drags. I changed the Motor current max brake setting to -100 A to improve braking (Note: I went back and increased it to -150 A based on pev.dev guide).

Motor Crunch (AKA Cogging)

In rare circumstances going up a steep climb, the motor may start to crunch: https://pev.dev/t/motor-crunch-troubleshooting/228

Recalibrating (for new rails and other hardware changes)

You must disable the Float Package if you need to re-run the motor setup, and also set the IMU to defaults if you need to re-run IMU setup... I found this out the hard way.

After replacing the motor phase wires and reconnecting them in a different order than they were before, the motor vibrated violently instead of spinning, so I re-ran Setup Motors with Float Package disabled. The board ran great after this, but the nose was riding high, so I also re-ran Setup IMU with Float Package disabled, after which my board went crazy because I didn’t set the IMU to defaults.

As pointed out in Mario Contino’s VESC One Wheel Full Setup | Firmware 6.02 & Float Package, if you need to recalibrate your Motor and/or IMU, be sure to go to do the following:

If re-running motor setup or IMU setup, first disable the Float Package:
Float Cfg → Specs: Disable Float Package (disabled = blue/right), Write
If re-running IMU setup, also set the IMU to defaults after disabling the Float Package:
App Cfg → IMU, tap … in bottom right, Read Default Settings, Write
Next, you can just recalibrate the Orientation setup as described at: https://pev.dev/t/wiki-imu-calibration-wizard-guide-vesc-tool-6-02/699

After recalibration, be sure to enable the Float Package as follows or your board won’t work:

Float Cfg → Specs: Disable Float Package (enabled = gray/left), Write
If you ran IMU setup, you may also need to fix your sample rate:
App Cfg → IMU: Sample Rate = 832 Hz, Write

Additional Reference Materials

Mario Contino’s Ultimate DIY Build

VESC XR idiot guide - use stock XRbattery and BMS

OWIE chip. Only works with a Future Motion BMS.

5v Power Rail Capacitor for Little FOCer v3.0 and v3.1

This product was made available to all MakersPEV customers at no cost who had purchased a Little FOCer v3.0 or v3.1 prior to April 10, 2023. It was to address abnormal system behavior during motor detection or bootup processes. This may have been most noticeable when upgrading from VESC v5.3 to VESC v6.x open source firmware.

Because I ordered my Little FOCer on 10/31/22, I requested the capacitor on 4/22/23 for free just in case, but did not experience the abnormal behavior, so I didn’t open up the controller box to install it.

Power Rail Capacitor - Recommended installation

Wiring Diagrams

Overview

VESC controllers are standardized and should all have similar connections to those shown below on a Little FOCer 3.1.

Power Switch

The Little FOCer uses a latching power switch that functions as OFF when depressed.

* Link to 19mm 20A Latching Metal Push Button Waterproof Switch (blue, green, red, white or yellow)

Motor Connector

The motor connector included with my Makers PEV kit was problematic (ordered 10/2022, below left). At time of writing (12/2023), Makers PEV is testing modifications to the kit. If your motor connector looks like the one on the left, it’s recommended that you change it as shown below before it burns out like mine did (this was after ~1000 miles). The 4mm banana plugs crimped onto the Molex pins without solder were replaced with 5mm bullet connectors on 12 AWG pigtails, attached via butt connectors, crimped and soldered.