They describe various methods to achieve an external battery modification, providing riders with augmented range on their Onewheel.
There are a handful of acronyms the Onewheel community use to describe modifications to extend the battery capability of a Onewheel by adding an external battery to supplement the internal one, achieving extended range. These terms can include VnR, CnR, RnR and PnR (or Vamp n’ Ride, Charge n’ Ride, etc.), and all represent a slightly modified approach to achieve the same thing; an external battery configuration on a Onewheel. SonnyWheels, who sells kits to achieve these upgrades, provides a more detailed breakdown on the differences.
The main takeaway here is that you can modify your board to greatly increase your range, however, it’s important to note that any approach that requires you to open the board and make modifications will immediately void your warranty. Additionally, the method and products you would use for your board varies depending on a few different important circumstances, such as the firmware version of your board. Our friend Jimmy Chang wrote an excellent breakdown article covering the various systems available and weighs the pros/cons of each.
My warranty is expired – so who cares! You may think that there’s no need to worry about your warranty after the one year warranty expires. Consider this: Not only will the common “battery extension” modifications void your warranty, its possible for Future Motion to outright reject working on your board with these types of modifications. You literally can’t even pay them to work on your modified board. Seem unreasonable? Future Motion is a business and has obligations to protect the health and safety of its employees – it’s not surprising for them to not want to accept a large and potentially dangerous battery that’s been tinkered with by a stranger and ask their employees to service it. Once you void your warranty and make these modifications, you’re on your own. Before making these types of modifications, research the topic fully and understand the risks before committing. The saving grace here is that there are many Onewheel repair shops that will perform repairs, upgrades and service-related labor regardless of your warranty.
As of April 2020, there are rumblings of patches sent out by Future Motion that are “bricking” modified boards, meaning that they outright stop working through software changing. The risks are real, my dudes. Do your research before setting down this path.
In regards to safety, there are a number of concerns and warnings regarding this topic. Land-Surf, an aftermarket accessory manufacturer, produces a product in the same vein as these approaches called the Ranger Locking Battery Mount. In their product description, they detail the concerns (in the FAQ section) of using the other methods described above, which their product is designed to address.
