Floating Waterproof Remote Control for e-Surfboards

[VeFoil]

We have been hard at work on one of the key components of any remote control system, which is the wireless remote control itself.

Also, we are excited to announce a new member of the VeFoil team who is helping make the waterproof remote control which can be used with any electric jet or surfboard a reality.

About Miles: Miles Hammond is a creative and experienced Industrial Designer. He is the owner and founder of https://www.studio63.ca/foil-design, a small and agile design studio and workshop based in Ottawa, Canada. The spirit of fun and focus extends to Miles’ love of water and winter sports. Over the past two decades, Miles has been working with Liquid Force designing groundbreaking kite-boarding equipment such as quick release systems and the industry’s first low-cost fiberglass foils.

Miles designs and sells his own range of stand-up paddleboards www.HammondBoards.ca which are frequently seen on Ottawa’s lakes and rivers. Through Studio 63 Miles has been designing cutting edge kayaks, kiteboarding gear, and other sporting equipment. ‍Miles was instrumental in the building up of an entirely new speaker company GoldenEar Technologies, designing the entire range of award-winning speakers that continue to rock the audio industry. Over the years he has won over 40 different design awards and has eight patents. Miles prides himself in building some great automotive concept vehicles that are seen around the world. Welcome Aboard Miles!

Current Remote Control Status: Miles reached out a couple of months ago after seeing us on Kickstarter and instantly wanted to be a part of the design and build. After several conversations, we found the perfect project for Miles to sink his teeth into, and the waterproof remote control project was born.

We now have the remote electronics completed and are just finalizing the overall shape and design of the waterproof housing. This remote works with all ESC’s, auto motor shutdown safety feature, and has a second channel for those who want to expand features like a water pump, video recording etc…

This week I will be spending eleven 6 hours in the truck and staying a couple of nights in Ottawa to meet with our newest VeFoil teammate Miles Hammond and hold some of our remote designs in my hard for some final design tweaks before we move further with the project.

Many of the top forum thread topics are about waterproof remote controls for efoils and e-surfboards. Reality is, no one likes the idea of riding with a remote for an RC car in a lunch bag. And because of this, we have been developing the waterproof remote control that is designed for smooth throttle control and is ergonomically shaped. This will allow you to enjoy your time on the water instead of struggling with an awkwardly small and sensitive remote in a slippery bag, or a clunky, oversized remote housing with a sensitive trigger.

Not only will our waterproof remote control be used for our VeFoil propulsion system, but it will be available individually for the DIY community and is available as white-label also. We are currently working with three other electric surfboard companies planning to use this remote with for their propulsion systems saving everyone time and money.

The key for all of us to get this awesome remote will be a bulk order initially. Injection molds have a high upfront cost, and we need a bulk order to make this feasible. We are excited to bring this to market for all DIY’ers like us and those who are bringing new products to the market that need a simple, high quality, and effective waterproof remote control for their new invention.

If you could help spread the word by sharing comments and photos on Facebook, forums, and related groups we can make this a reality sooner than later everyone to enjoy the new remote for riding electric surfboards and efoils this spring.

Here is a link directly to the remote control area of our website here: http://www.diy-electric-hydrofoil.com/#!/remote

Talk soon,
Chris Vermeulen

[JetBoardLimited]

Hi Chris.

A universal, waterproof and floating remote control sounds like a great idea. I don’t actually know of an electric board company that doesn’t need these. I have had endless problems with virtually every single brand when it comes to remote controls. I suppose the question would be what price they will sell for and then the only problem or hurdle I see is that none of the electric board companies actually mass produce boards but its more a case of making to order.

At the moment we have the eSurf or easy surf which could definitely use a decent remote control as its more of a keyring with a slider button but the whole board with everything included only sells for 2,500 EUR so it would need to be priced pretty low.

We have the Onean Carver which has the pressure switch and take some getting used to and most people are not fans.

We have the Waterwolf that only has a dial on the board and even though they have just come out with a control its nothing like yours.

We have the old lampuga’s that have been discontinued and we cannot get new controls for these anymore so I wonder how possible it would be or if its possible to get your control working on these boards. I would imagine this needs to be done during production though. Im interested to hear your thoughts on this.

I have opened up the Lampuga controller hoping to learn something but its all incased in a thick black waterproofing epoxy so no luck. The Radinn is the same so unfortunately Im not able to see or learn anything and I am none the wiser.

We also have the Radinn which has a beautiful looking and super space age control but we are sitting with three of them and none of them actually work.

Basically I do not know of an electric board that does not need a great deal of help and improvements on the remote control side. Have you spoken to all the manufacturers? If you let me know prices, details, quantities etc I will have a chat with all the manufacturers and try help you get a foot in the door.

I love the idea of products and technology that actually benefits the industry as a whole and not just one brand. Whats next on your list? Well done and keep up the great work.

Wayne

[Jetsurfingnation]

Looks very stylish but i dont see the light indicator on it of the remaining battery charge or the remote control charge ?

[elevate.rocks]

Looks nice:ok_hand:
All the e-foil DIY Builders out there need this little toy…so get it ready

[VeFoil]

Thank you Everyone for your comments, insight, and help!!

We are excited to hear all of this and it confirms much of our research on remote controls.

Our remote will work with any esc, it just needs a BEC/UBEC/ or small power supply to pick ovude 5-9v. it ahould not require any extra programming but that repends on the esc it is trying to connect with as some of those companies have custom esc (motor controllers).

We plan to make the remote of very dark grey semi-transparent material with possibly of a bright colored cap for easy visibility when floating. This semi-transparent shell will show the power and battery lights inside.

Your feeback/insight is always welcome. We just want to bring a simple and very affirdable remote to and industry that need one.

Making it a part of a $2,500 setup should not be an issue cost wise. We will shed more light on pricing soon, and white label pricing soon.

[VeFoil]

The remote will be a dark transparent grey just enough for us to see the remote on/off light, and the remote battery light. As for showing the battery pack power level on your board, well that requires a custom remote and programming for each type of board that has a different ESC and battery pack, which is not something we can create.

Many ESC’s including our VeFoil ESC is pre-programmed to cut to half throttle when the board is nearing a low battery volt. This gives you enough time/power to surf back to the beach before the battery reaches a critically low level. Again, many e-surfboards have this feature built in already also. We don’t want a complex and expessive remote, we want something simple, reliable, and affordable that works with any ESC.

Our focus and goal are to provide affordable jet surf and efoil parts like motors, ESC, props/impellers, waterproof remote control, DIY kits, and complete units ready to be bolted on, and plugged in.

Because VeFoil is a crowdfunded designed jet system. With the idea that if everyone donates some money to help the cause we will continue to do the research, design and machine components, buy parts, build, and test. This product development model allows us to keep the costs low with the goal to make the sport of jet surfing, and efoiling affordable for everyone with this VeFoil system.

Our jet drive should available this spring and with our quick surfboard attachment you can quickly attach the jet drive to any surfboard/SUP to make it a jet surfboard, or bolt it onto a hydrofoil to go eFoiling.

[VeFoil]

I met with our newest member of our team Miles Hammond and picked up our first working prototype. Here is a photo of it. Keep in mind we are making a few improvements from this version and they will eventually be injection molded.