Interesting new assist system from China that probably works out to around AUD$4000. No idea what it's like, but very hard to beat our local products, from Adelaide and Melbourne which are both excellent.
7larky.com/products/battery-replacement-series?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=adf80ccc6&pr_rec_pid=9413253857520&pr_ref_pid=9416540520688&pr_seq=uniform

Hey Coast Flyer, thanks for posting my video in here. I dwell on youtube so appreciated.

No ability to swap batteries and only a 375Wh capacity, bit pointless really. The Foildrive max power has a 498Wh removable battery and I use at least 2 per session so I'd need 3 of these units for a regular session.

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FoilingFrenzy said..
Hey Coast Flyer, thanks for posting my video in here. I dwell on youtube so appreciated.

No problems, looks like a great product! So many different things happening on the water ATM, such as Parawings, hard to keep up!

It's good to see some equipment coming out with some better price points, the future is exciting in the foil assist space for us penny less plebs.

I'm sure they will come with the same amount of common sense built in as the rest of the motorised assist products on the market..

First up disclosing I am Foil Drive team rider and that's why my mate called me over to his house as he had one of the first 7 Larky units in Aus. He was having troubling getting up on it and asked me to try. He had only used it once then recharged it for me and it died in the first 30 secs I was on it. He later opened it up and it's pretty shocking how these things are put together and it needs to be shared. You can see there are some obvious burn marks but the really bad part is the circuit board BMS & battery are all TAPPED together in the same compartment with no water proofing at all. Talk about a fire hazard and there is no way in the world this would comply to any Australian standards. Have one of these in your house and there is a fire you won't get insurance. Compare this to a Foil drive where the battery is separate and actually waterproof and the electronics is sealed in resin making it incredibly waterproof so much so I have included a link of a Foil Drive that came out of the boxes of a board and was on the ocean floor for one month in deep salt water before it was recovered . We changed the motor and put in a battery and the unit fired right up. This is the instagram link showing that link showing that:-
www.instagram.com/reel/DKJJz9BSQ-k/?igsh=MWFiN3FqY250ZHg0aw==

Salt water and electronics don't mix , one drop of salt water on exposed electronics will start to corrode it and it becomes a ticking time bomb.

Great post Rob, definitely buyer beware. I'm guessing there are a lot of scooter fires out there due to the poor manufacturing standards.
Bummer to who ever purchased this setup, money down the drain.

Yes and that's the problem not all e-scooters are bad but once you here about a fire they all get tarred with the same brush , that's what I'm worried about here.

Hmmm
Red Dragon or Golden Lion Brand ???

:-)

I spent a bit of time looking at their website, emailing them etc. I don't think there is one video of anyone actually riding their product. That's a danger sign. I bought a used Gen 1 foil drive and very glad I did. Excellent support, focused on quality, expensive for their new gear, but you have peace of mind, and a product that actually works!

Hi all ,new here so I can't post any pics yet ,but I have a pic of the inside of the newer seven Larky battery and it is now all fully sealed with that grey stuff they seal all the remotes with .I bought one of there set ups a few months ago ,had a few teething issues but nothing major and their customer service is excellent ,normally a same day reply and happy to replace parts ,I'm getting there model with the removable battery that should be out soon ,do I regret going with them over the Australian model ...no I can buy three lots of battery packs for the price of one ! Foil drive is great but they need to sort their prices

Potting electronics isn't going to solve all the other problems I see with the images above. Running proper gauge wires, not having individual fuses on the balancing wires. Single oring for the sealing, the list is a mile long. If this battery pack was properly certified I would imagine it would fail most of the tests.

Foildrive don't need to sort their prices. It cost to innovate and support like FD does. Also FD uses Molicel for their cells that are probably one of the most expensive cells you can use and for good reason. Using cheaper cells in high powered devices is a very risky idea. Buy once cry once has served me well through my life.

Let's see if 7 Larky stand behind their product and send Rob's mate a replacement unit. If the support is so good as fly4444 suggests this shouldn't be an issue.

@Rob why not just let your mate post his experience from his perspective of what happened, so people can have an open discussion without someone from FD running interference.

@Rob why not just let your mate post his experience from his perspective of what happened, so people can have an open discussion without someone from FD running interference.

Rob started by stating he is a foildrive team rider. That gives any reader the option to either take or leave what he said. I don't see any harm in people commenting from other companies as long as they are honest about it. I agree with Rob that safety is a concern and bad for anyone in the industry. We can all cut corners to save a dollar but then the safety goes out the window. Batteries are not something you want to cut corners on!!

Just gonna throw in my 2c worth here.

My store and I have been selling High end Electric skateboards (Evolve, Boosted, Fiik, Mellow, Tranzite and DOT), high powered electric bikes (Stealth Electric Bikes, Solarbike and Evolve) and Foil Drive since as far back as 2010.

Back in the day, we used Lead Acid in the early Fiik boards, then came Lithium ... Absolute game changer for energy and weight. Many brands came and went, and we dealt only with high end brands. We did try a couple of cheap Chinese knock off skateboards to evaluate as they were so much cheaper than the big names coming from Australia, USA, Germany etc. The lessons learned over the last 15 years of being in the Lithium powered toys is YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

Hi quality electronics and Lithium batteries cost money, especially when it's designed to be used in and under the water. Knowing what I know, I would NEVER buy cheap Chinese Lithium powered products and keep them inside my house. I had a customer who lost his house in a Lithium fire started by a cheap Chinese scooter. His insurance did NOT cover his loss and he lost EVERYTHING! Starting from scratch in late fifties

Respect and appreciate the costs of designing and building something the right way, there are standards for a reason. Paying more for the best gear is buying peace of mind, known performance, reliability and insurance against the possibility of total loss. I appreciate some people simply can't afford it, but they run the risk buying cheap. I'm risk averse as I could not afford to replace everything in the event of a fire from a cheap toy.

Please be aware of the danger and take this into account when thinking of purchasing Lithium powered water toys especially.

DM

Hey guys could you actually state what Australian standards FD is built to and as a FD seller can you guarantee if my house burns down from a battery fire started from charging my FD that insurance will cover it ?

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PJ87 said..
Hey guys could you actually state what Australian standards FD is built to and as a FD seller can you guarantee if my house burns down from a battery fire started from charging my FD that insurance will cover it ?

Seems there is no guarantee that insurance will pay out after a lithium battery fire. The common warning in most lithium powered devices user manuals regarding charging of a lithium batteries, is not to leave unattended or use third party chargers. So if you do leave a battery unattended while charging or use the wrong charger your insurance company may refuse to pay out.

Here is an interesting read regarding home insurance and lithium batteries

cybershack.com.au/consumer-advice/does-insurance-cover-a-lithium-ion-battery-fire-maybe-and-probably-not/

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airsail said..

PJ87 said..
Hey guys could you actually state what Australian standards FD is built to and as a FD seller can you guarantee if my house burns down from a battery fire started from charging my FD that insurance will cover it ?

Seems there is no guarantee that insurance will pay out after a lithium battery fire. The common warning in most lithium powered devices user manuals regarding charging of a lithium batteries, is not to leave unattended or use third party chargers. So if you do leave a battery unattended while charging or use the wrong charger your insurance company may refuse to pay out.

Here is an interesting read regarding home insurance and lithium batteries

cybershack.com.au/consumer-advice/does-insurance-cover-a-lithium-ion-battery-fire-maybe-and-probably-not/

Exactly which is kind of my point their is no guarantee for insurance regarding these products FF or any other and there is no Australian standard that any of these companies are working to, other than their own internal QC procedures, so it's all kind of mis-leading somewhat.
With all the new brands looking to enter the foil assist market, I'm sure we can expect a lot more FD crew, with stories to post on behalf of their "mates" ....

There is many standard around the world to certification of batteries. The problem is most of them are self regulated. You can choose as a company to get them eternally regulated as we have done with FLITELab but they are way harder to pass, take a long time and cost lots of money.

You guys were right.
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I've ordered the newer version Seven Larky thingo with the extra batteries. (SLBT02) I will do an unboxing vid when it arrives (a few weeks from date of this post) and will get some drone shots when I get it out on the water. I am a fairly competent wingfoiler (still not too good on the jibes), hopeless at prone foil and sup foil, but have never tried an efoil setup. So I'm very excited to try this out for low wind days. Here's my YT if you want to keep an eye out for my 7Larky vids. www.youtube.com/@Wingfoiling-Noosa Hahha, I'm either going to be stoked or embarrassed!