So I talked to my EUC dealer yesterday about my problematic KingSong 18L. We decided the best course of action would be to ship the new wheel back to their service center in Arizona. While it’s there they will be able to swap and test parts in a more efficient way than I could and verify the wheel is working 100% before it is sent back to me. Of course the downside is I will be without the wheel for at least a couple weeks if not longer. The good news is I have tons of other PEV options to choose from.
Speaking of which, last night after dinner I took my Meepo electric skateboard over to the school to ride around solo. Once again it had rained last night but stopped a couple hours prior to me heading out. The rain had left various puddles scattered about which gave me some good steering practice while avoiding them. I did a lap around the middle school before I rode the sidewalk up to the high school which has a much bigger parking lot.
I had a great time cruising around the flat open spaces. I remained in Eco Mode which has a 15 mph top speed. I’m not sure if it is the smaller wheels but 15mph feels really fast on an electric skateboard to me. Maybe it’s just because I am still not all that confident on it yet. The board has a posted top end speed in Expert mode of 26mph which sounds insane.
I’m getting better at controlling the long board. The steering definitely is similar to the One Wheel but not nearly as responsive. I envision a time when Cindy and I are out cruising on the Meepo and One Wheel at the same time, taking turns on each device.
Speaking of the One Wheel, my replacement front sensor pad was scheduled to be delivered yesterday and it did not show up. Once again the delivery is via FedEx whom I am quickly becoming quite annoyed with. This is the third time in a couple weeks where a FedEx ground package for me from the west coast hauls ass across the entire country only to hit hit the FedEx Bell Isle distribution center in central Florida and stops, for days.
This latest package had a promised delivery date of Monday but it arrived in Bell Isle on Saturday where it has been collecting dust, being scanned there on Sunday and Monday as well. When I saw that they were going to miss their delivery date I called in, angry and frustrated with this FedEx policy. Even though they would be perfectly capable of delivering these packages earlier than the promise date they instead hold them at the distro center until they absolutely have to move it or in my case, even after they have to move it. I asked the phone rep why this was and said it makes no sense how a package can move 3000 miles in three days and takes 2-3 more days to move the last 200 miles.
I then specifically asked him how in the world they could miss on the delivery date when the package has been sitting in Bell Isle for three days. He said that technically the official “commit” date was Tuesday. I asked him to explain if that was the case, why would FedEx’s own tracking system say Monday? He had no explanation and I got the feeling these sort of questions are something he has to deal with quite often.
Anyway I think this a moronic business practice to rush packages cross country only to have them sitting idle for days mere hours from their destination. Over promise and under deliver is the most frustrating business practice a company can do.
So for the second consecutive week I wound up getting my run in on Friday evening. Not only was the run different because it was on a Friday evening, I also got there in a unique way, on my EUC. I have thought several times in the past about riding my EUC to the track, running and then riding back but I never made it happen. I finally did. I wanted to test out how my 18L was going to act with the battery problem it has been having so I needed to get some miles on the wheel anyway.
Unlike last week where I did the run after 8PM, after eating dinner, this time I did it before eating, around 6 which is a better option. Running on a full stomach just doesn’t feel good. Luckily it was overcast which kept the temperatures down but the run still felt as miserable as always. The video I shot talks a lot about my mostly hate relationship with running and why I continue to do it anyway. The ride also revealed that my batteries in the new wheel are still not acting normal, which sucks.
So the big task I wanted to accomplish was mowing the grass, all of the grass. So on Saturday morning since my run was out of the way and Cindy did the weeding for me on Friday, I was out on the tractor early, around 8:30 AM. The standing water that was on the property during the week had receded so as I have said a million times, during wet season you have to mow when the opportunity arises, not when you feel like it.
With the new drive belt installed the tractor was appreciable faster, letting me mow at a faster clip than I have been accustomed to. After finishing the normal mowing I grabbed some water. Cindy thought I was done but I told her I still needed to mow the back half of the yard as well. A few laps into the task I noticed the clouds were starting to pile up. A few more laps and I saw the clouds turning gray and after several more I could see columns of rain starting to fall from them.
I was not happy at the sight but had already predetermined that I was finishing mowing, regardless of the conditions. Well that edict was definitely put to the test. About halfway into the task the rain started coming down, lightly for a short while. However the wind was gusting and I had to mow with one hand on the canopy to keep it from blowing backward. Then the torrential rain started, the driving, miserable, wind swept relentless rain that makes wet season here so frustrating. The canopy did little to keep anything on me dry other than perhaps the top third of my head. I didn’t care, I plowed ahead, wiping the rain from my sunglasses as necessary. I did accomplish my goal but I literally finished as the property was flooding once again. I looked like I just jumped into the pool fully clothed.
Thankfully later in the day the rain broke and the sun came back out. I took that opportunity to take my Meepo over to the school for my first real riding session. It didn’t take very long for me to abandon beginner mode which just felt too restrictive after 5-10 minutes. I bumped it up to Eco Mode which has a 15 mph top speed. This felt much faster and really made the riding experience more enjoyable. I had a ton of fun on the board and look forward to Cindy getting more comfortable on it (and the One Wheel) soon.
Saturday night we went to go see the latest Mission Impossible movie, I have always been a fan of the series. The movies have always had Tom Cruise performing unbelievable acts that most super heroes would be hard pressed to emulate. However this sequel seemed to be Mission Most Impossible, some of the stuff that went on was just utterly ridiculous but even so, I found myself utterly entertained the entire time. It is a non-stop roller coaster that has so much action that you don’t have time to focus on how silly it all is. B+
Sunday morning I wanted to do a more extensive test on my KingSong 18L so I decided to duplicate the ride from last week to Dunkin Donuts to see how the battery performed. It did not go well. I actually got significantly worse range than the week before, it was so bad that I had to call Cindy to come and pick me up at DD as I only had 36% battery left after 10 miles. This wheel should be able to go 35 miles on a full charge. I now have to figure out the best course of action to get this fixed with my dealer. As the wheel is now I no longer trust to ride it any appreciable distance.
When Cindy got me she brought the Meepo with. Before it started to rain, again, she got on the board for the first time and did some slow cruising around the back of a shopping center. She said she liked it and needs more time to get used to controlling speed via a hand control. I can’t wait until she gets as comfortable on the Meepo and One Wheel as I am.
So the rest of Sunday was basically a wash out with mostly continuous rain that left our property the worst it has been this year. It’s crazy that I was able to mow everything the day before. I spent the majority of the rest of the day indoors tending to little tasks here and there. With the addition of a new EUC and two skateboards to the fleet I need to think about some alternative storage options for the hobby room to keep everything organized.
It’s an oddball week where I am off Wednesday and have a fantasy football draft order pick Thursday. It will set me up for a very hectic following week. Can’t wait.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays Cindy teaches an evening class and doesn’t get home until 7:15 to 7:30. I often target these nights to get stuff done like videos, small tasks, and other things. On the way home last night I had an idea pop into my head where I could ride the 18L over to the school WHILE carrying the Meepo, allowing me to try it out there.
Well when I got home and saw there were some black clouds off to the east I decided to scrap my plans. I didn’t scrap them because I was afraid of getting wet, I did it because of the dogs. Both Sadie and Elsa are terrified of thunder. The idea of them being home with the possibility of a storm rolling in threw a wave of guilt over me that made me readjust my plans. Instead I just reviewed what came in the Meepo box and talked about my brief ride the night before.
Pet guilt is something that definitely affects me on a regular basis. Surprisingly the chickens are a major factor when it comes to planning potential road trips or vacations. We can normally feel secure leaving Elsa with Ali and Shugs but I always worry about care for the chickens. Cindy and I are so used to the chicken routine it is easy for us. However it is a lot to ask of someone else as there is a high level of grossness that we are pretty immune to. I wish I had someone I absolutely could count on to care for the birds when we aren’t home. It would make travel less burdensome.
This weekend I really want to get out on my new electric vehicles as much as possible. I am hoping the weather and my chore list allows that to happen.
My new Meepo electric skateboard showed up yesterday. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great but I did get out on the driveway for 10 or 15 minutes trying it out. Much like my initial experience on the One Wheel, my body is not quite sure how to react although there are definitely some similarities to the One Wheel.
Having a handheld speed controller is an entirely new thing for me. One slip of the thumb dial in either direction could have undesired consequences if you aren’t careful. I set the board to beginner mode which greatly limits the boost and speed which is a good thing for someone like me.
My cross wired foot dominance really needs to be worked on. I still find that I prefer to ride goofy foot where my left foot is back and right is front. However I don’t feel stable enough on my right leg to do things like foot brake. This is something that can be corrected with practice, I just need to put in the time. The same muscles in my right leg that are weak for mounting an EUC from that side are the same ones causing me problems on the board. I am hoping to maybe take the board to the school tonight to get some more training time in.
I also got to fight with my A5 printer, clearing a clog in the hot end which was causing under extrusion. I’ve had a lot of failures trying to correct this issue in the past with other printers but I luckily was able to fix the problem.
So you may recall several times in the past I have dipped my toe into podcasting. If you actually listened to any of them you know they weren’t great. I think it is very tough to do that sort of content solo. However with the advent of the EUC live stream show I am doing with Marty, the idea once again popped into my head that it would make for some good podcast content.
So I extracted the MP4 files from YouTube, converted them to MP3 format and posted a podcast RSS feed pointing to them. I listened back to one of them in the car yesterday and it converts well to an audio only experience. It will be interesting to see how it is received. If you are interested in adding it to your Podcast player simply use this RSS feed – https://eucarmy.com/feed/podcast/
I also got around to recording my 4000 YouTube Subscriber thank you video, something I wanted to do for a week or so. It’s a short, simple video that expresses my gratitude for the support I have been given which has resulted in a 33% increase in subscribers in the last 6 months.
I also shot another quick video talking about my One Wheel being out of commission until a replacement front footpad sensor is sent to me.
Luckily I have a new vehicle rolling into the collection today. My Meepo electric skateboard is supposed to show up today which should be yet another learning experience. I am hoping Cindy and I get to test it out at the school after work.
So once again Florida is in the middle of a red tide nightmare. This happens all the time and is the end result of environmental abuse, lobbyist dollars, and the government officials beholden to those dollars. The Cliff Notes version is Lake Okeechobee in the middle of Florida is hopelessly polluted from fertilizer run off, much of which is from US Sugar operations. In the past water from the lake was able to be naturally filtered as it flowed south through the Everglades.
Well development and US Sugar operations changed all that. The majority of that run off is now artificially routed east and west through two rivers, bypassing that natural filtration system. The end result has been horrid and toxic algae blooms that turn the water, green, then red, and then black with the corpses of dead fish and marine life.
It’s outrageous that this has been allowed to go on for so long but as in most things, lobbyist dollars have the ability to outlast people’s outrage. You can read a full account of the situation here.
So my Monday evening was quite productive. As soon as I got home I headed outside to replace the main drive belt on the tractor. Months ago I had an oil leak that got all over the existing drive belt. As a result it has become glazed and slippery, causing the belt to slip on any terrain that is not flat. I could barely go up some of the hills at the house at this point. I had done this job once before several years ago when I replaced a bunch of pulleys in the drive system so I at least had a rough idea of what to do. To get access the mower deck had to be pulled all the way out. Once underneath it just takes patience and a tolerance for getting covered in oil soaked organic material as you remove and install the new belt. After completing the reassembly I did a quick hill test and was pleased I no longer faded while climbing a grade.
Before dinner I also was able to get my 18L back together. I ripped it apart Sunday to charge each of the two batteries independently, which they did successfully. Now that it is together I have to ride it some tonight and see if it will charge the batteries to full while connected together. I certainly hope they do but I am not real optimistic about it.
Finally before bed I removed the front footpad sensor from my One Wheel XR. It is being sent out to California to get repaired/replaced to address the random issue where the pad does not disengage the motor properly. This has caused it to run away from me quite a few times as well as dump me on my ass. The idea of being without my One Wheel for a period of time bothered me enough that I ordered a brand new pad set, just so I have spares in the future.
On Friday I talked about my problems with FedEx and how I laughed at their theory that the label fell off the box somehow. Well apparently that is what actually happened. In a call back to the trace department Friday morning they said they found the box based on my description. I had the option for them to relabel it and have it delivered Saturday or I could pick it up on Friday. Despite it being a roughly 60 mile round trip I chose the latter option. I used my lunch hour to drive to the FedEx distribution center and get my new wheel.
I was sort of surprised at the security at the facility. It was surround by a 10 foot fence with barbed wire lining the top. I wasn’t allowed to actually go into the building, instead you speak through an intercom and somebody brings the package out to you, outside the fence line, some 30 yards outside the building. This practice seems like it would have serious flaws considering the frequency of downpours in SW Florida as there was absolutely no protective canopy or cover of any kind.
I wasted no time and unboxed the wheel right there in the parking lot. I wanted to make sure all was well after it’s cross ocean and cross country journey. It powered up and I was able to ride a slow loop around the parking lot. I left it unboxed so I could take it into the office and let it charge up during the afternoon.
Friday night I did something odd around 8PM. I told Cindy I wanted to go and get my run out of the way. At first Cindy objected but when I told her how it would be nice to not have a 6AM alarm to deal with Saturday the idea sounded better to her. It was not ideal circumstances as we had already downed our Friday night pizza so I was worried that I could get side stitches but the idea was in my head and had to be executed.
So I quickly threw on my running clothes and headed over to the track. I also had my new 18L in the trunk to try out for some night riding after the run. So I have not run at night in a very long time. I have done a couple night time 5k’s but I don’t think I ever did a training run at that time of day. During the first half lap I felt pretty strong, I recall thinking “Maybe I will feel less miserable running at this time of day”. That thought was very fleeting. It did not take long until the heat and humidity felt oppressive, despite the sun being down. It was once again a run of survival, not speed. Lap 13 felt like it would never come.
I was a sweaty, panting mess afterward but I still wanted to try out the wheel some more. My legs were pretty spent so I felt a little unsure of myself as I got rolling. I made sure to do slow, big arcing turns, doing nothing that was tough on the legs. I was impressed by how good the headlight is on the wheel, making riding in the dark not a big deal at all. The King Song wheel felt smooth and powerful, as I expected.
It felt nice to not have to set the alarm as we laid down in bed that night. It was going to be a treat to have two days in a row where we can wake up whenever we want. Well that fantasy was shattered about 2AM in the morning. Cindy awoke first which woke me up. I was greeted by the overwhelming stench of dog fart. It was really bad. I tried my normal tactic of just covering my face with a pillow until it dissipated. When that didn’t work I told Alexa to turn on the ceiling fan. It was strange, nothing was making the smell lessen.
Cindy was almost retching from the stench. Elsa does fart sometimes but not often, it was odd that this was so bad and so persistent. Cindy got up to go into the bathroom, when she flipped the light on the true nature of the disaster was revealed. Cindy had a look on her face like she just witnessed a murder, Elsa had covered the bed in diarrhea, oh my…
So Cindy was freaking out and immediately launched herself into massive sterilization procedures, stripping the bed and anything related. I took Elsa outside immediately where she had more episodes of the shits. I felt bad for her. It took awhile until she was able to stop crouching in poop position. When we came in Cindy had stuff in the washing machine and bleach in hand where she was sanitizing left and right. The entire house stunk, we had fans on, windows open, candles burning, and the AC cranked down, all in an effort to remediate the stench. It took awhile but eventually it aired out. By the time we remade the bed and got back to sleep I bet a couple hours had transpired. It was so gross it was almost comical. Needless to say we did not awaken Saturday morning feeling rested.
Despite the rough night I once again had a sizeable plate of things I wanted to get done Saturday. Originally I hoped with the aid of Cindy I could get it all done in the morning. That got sidetracked because she needed to take Elsa to the vet to see what was up as she still had similar diarrhea once we woke up, thankfully outside this time. So I tackled coop duty, weeding, weed whacking, pool maintenance, tractor tie rod replacement and the mowing solo, consuming the day until close to 4PM.
Despite being wiped out I wanted to get a DD ride in on my new wheel. I had it on the charger overnight to give me a full charge, or so I thought. When I turned it on I noticed the app said I only had 76% charge which made little sense. I wrote it off as a glitch and headed out. The ride went well. The 18L feels fast and smooth, a very comfortable wheel to cover long distances on. The only negative was the battery level being lower than it should be, causing some unexpected and rather jarring tilt back on the way home.
Saturday night we watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a movie by JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame. This movie is set in the same world and general timeframe of Harry Potter. I was a big fan of the HP movies and I read three of the books. I did not feel this new effort matched up although there were a lot of the same cool things going on. I guess I just did not like the main characters in the story line nearly as much. I’d only give it a B.
So Saturday night I once again put the wheel on the charger, expecting it to fully charge overnight. When I woke up Sunday I had a green light on the charger but once again when I checked the battery level it showed only 76% full. Great, I officially have a problem. Despite the issue I took the 18L, the One Wheel and Cindy’s skateboard out in the morning. We did a short ride near Dunkin Donuts were Cindy showed her returning board skills. It was fun but hot.
So I reported my battery issues to my reseller. He asked if I’d be willing to rip apart my wheel to do some further testing. Of course I wasn’t keen on the idea of opening up my brand new wheel but it was better than trying to ship the wheel out and wait for a repair/exchange. He wanted me to remove both sides of the wheel and disconnect one of the two batteries and try to charge. In my two prior charging sessions the batteries never showed voltage over 78 volts which was another symptom. The batteries should be reading 84V after a full charge.
So I did as instructed. I felt pain as I pulled apart my pristine wheel. Doing so at least gave me an appreciation of the build quality of the unit compared the Gotway wheels I have owned for a couple years. King Song is at another level in QC. After disconnecting one of the batteries I attached the charger to see what would happen.
When I checked on it a couple hours later the light was green I fired up the wheel and saw the battery was reading 100% and 84.2 volts, just like it should. Wow, ok so I guess the other battery pack was bad, pulling down the overall voltage. I reported the result to my dealer, thinking we definitively found the problem. However a little later I thought to myself, just to be sure I should do the same test with the other pack. Imagine my surprise when the other pack, when charged by itself was also fine, reaching full 84.2 volts. The behavior was baffling but my plan now is to put it back together, ride it, recharge it and see if the batteries recharge as they should. Of course it isn’t fun being a guinea pig but it’s better than being without the wheel for an extended period of time.
Sunday night we went out to dinner with Cindy’s family for her mom’s birthday. In total there were something like 15-16 people that congregated at Longhorn’s Steakhouse for the celebration. Of course I opted for one of the handful of non-steak dinner options. I took the edge off the social anxiety by downing almost three full 20 ounce Miller Lite drafts during the dinner. It worked like a charm.
I wrapped up my weekend with yet another EUC live streaming event. I was sort of tired as we started the show an hour later than normal but it worked out ok, I think.
So I have been patiently waiting for my KingSong 18L EUC to arrive for several months. The wheel literally was on a slow boat from China until it landed in California late last week. From there it was handed off to FedEx ground for delivery to Southwest Florida. The wheel had a delivery date scheduled for yesterday, August 2nd. As I was tracking it’s progress across the country I was getting excited as I saw it actually had already crossed into Florida on Sunday. Wow, maybe I’ll actually get it a couple days early?? Well things have definitely not gone as I hoped.
After crossing the Florida border, for some reason it took a full day to get to central Florida where it arrived just after midnight, early Tuesday morning. Normally once something hits central Florida we will get it the next day. Well not in this case, the box instead sat in Central Florida until Wednesday evening where it finally got a departure scan at the Orlando distribution center.
When I woke up Thursday morning I expected to see an arrival and departure scan at the Fort Myers facility with a “on truck for delivery” status. Nope, the status had not changed since the previous night, great…. So I went throughout the day checking the status and seeing the same aggravating lack of new information. I held out hope that maybe they just missed a scan somehow and the box was actually on a truck and headed my way. Well of course you can guess that did not happen.
So last night I called FedEx and asked what was going on. Of course the phone rep is looking at the same information I was and had no explanation when I pointed out the incredibly slow movement of the box once it hit Florida. The best they could do was open up a “tracing case”. I had someone from that department call me up and ask for details about the contents of the box. Again when I asked why this would happen the only guess she came up with was maybe the label came off the package. Yea, thanks, I’m sure that’s it….
I am hoping that the box was not either damaged or stolen but that would be just my luck. I will be rattling some chains at FedEx big time today, you can bet on that.
I expected to be spending last night unboxing and trying out the new wheel. Instead I used a good portion of the evening plowing through my book. When I turned off the light before bed I only had a chapter or two to go. This weekend I hoped to get a ton of KingSong riding/testing in. I may still get a lot of riding in but it may be on my OneWheel instead. Of course there is stuff to do around the house, a variable constant.
Last night when I got home I decided to make a video regarding some odd/harsh comments I received on my One Wheel video from Sunday. Harsh comments are not unusual but this particular exchange just really didn’t make sense to me. Instead of recanting everything I already said in the video, just take a look and see for yourself. In a nutshell this person thought that somehow I was encouraging people to do dangerous things on their One Wheel.
I followed up with doing some testing of the front foot pad on my board. There have been multiple occasions where the board kept moving after I jumped off it, which is not supposed to happen.
