WAYDOO eFoil Flyer One and One+ Modifications, Maintenance and Repairs
Updated: 5 days ago
A friend and I purchased a used WAYDOO Flyer One+, at least that's what we were told. On our first ride out near the sellers house, it did not generate enough power to lift us out of the water. Increasing the power past 13 all the way to 23 felt no different. We were learning, so we just thought we were doing something wrong. Once the battery was depleted and we came back on shore, we noticed that the prop hub looked melted and was rubbing on the prop guard. This seemed weird. Upon removing the prop, a piece of the pin fell out. The pin was sheared. The prop hub and prop guard where it was rubbing looked horrible.
This is what a new prop guard surface should look like. Perfectly smooth.
I stopped back by the sellers house, who was extremely nice and took a look at it. They were very nice, but not super knowledgeable, because later I realized that when their stock prop broke, they replaced it with a Flyer One+ FP8 prop, since that's what they thought they had. They were so convinced they had a Flyer One+, they bought the One+ props instead of the One compatible prop. They must not have used it much with the new incorrect prop before purchasing their new EVO eFoil. I also think that their lighter body weight did allow them to fly, because I was right on the edge of it. They mentioned having to pump to fly the board, and from other videos I've seen, you should be able to just lift off. It was immediately evident to me that something was off with the prop, because of how small it looked inside the prop guard, and how close the blades were to the guard supports. This being my first intro to WAYDOO efoils, I didn't have the knowledge I do now to know what was wrong.
Waydoo eFlyer One was launched on presold on Kickstarter.
The earliest models of the Waydoo Flyer One had a structural design flaw with the mount for the front wing. The early models had 2 bolts holding the fuselage to the mast next to the front wing. This created a weakness in the fuselage that could cause it to crack and break there. A reinforcement bracket was sent out to customers that helped support and reinforce that area. Later models of the Waydoo Flyer One corrected and fixed the problem by redesigning the connection with a single screw.
How to identify the difference between a Waydoo Flyer One and a Waydoo Flyer One+?
Flyer One
No action camera mount on the nose
Larger diameter prop guard
Large diameter boat style prop
Does not work with Flyer One+ props
Upgrade path available to Flyer One+ props and prop guard
Buttons on battery are physical push buttons
Option to install folding prop, which comes with a special rear wing support.
Flyer One+
Action camera mount on the top of the nose of the board
Smaller diameter prop guard
Smaller diameter props, FP7 and FP8 props. FP7 prop is the standard all purpose prop that has higher torque making it easier to get up and ride for beginners and heavier riders. FP8 props are smaller and higher pitched to give Max efficiency at higher speed for lighter weight riders.
Does not work with Flyer One props
Magnetic buttons on battery require the use of a magnet dongle to actuate.
Option to install folding prop, which comes with a special rear wing support.
From left to right:
WAYDOO Flyer One[+] folding prop
WAYDOO Flyer One with stock prop
WAYDOO Flyer One+ with stock prop
WAYDOO Flyer One+ jet drive
WAYDOO Flyer One+ has action cam mount on the nose.
This is the WAYDOO Flyer One+ prop and prop guard.
WAYDOO Flyer One+ uses magnetic buttons and requires a magnetic keychain.
AFTERMARKET PROPS
Streamline prop
Tested as the most efficient prop, only slightly more efficient than the folding prop.
eFoil Solutions says that the Streamline prop can't be used with the stock WAYDOO Flyer One prop guard. This is true, unless it is modified. It fits inside the prop guard, and it doesn't hit any of the supports. However, there's no clearance between the prop hub and guard plastic. It rubs hard and can't even be fully tightened down. A few mm of plastic needs to be removed from the prop guard where it contacts the prop to create clearance.
Removed the prop guard and used a feeler gauge to measure the gap between the prop and motor housing.
The gap is 2.84mm. Our housing is chewed up in that area, so it's hard to measure the exact original thickness, but it is 4-5mm thick.
WAYDOO FLYER ONE AND ONE+ BATTERY
The Flyer One and Flyer One+ batteries are (in theory) cross compatible. The main difference is the push button switches (One) vs the magnetic switches (One+).
BATTERY SAFETY MAGNET
However, when we got a Flyer One+ and tried it on the Flyer One (and vice versa) we could not get the battery to turn on. At first we thought this could be because the firmware was not up to date and the firmware needed to be the same on both boards. So we upgraded the firmware using the Waydoo app on both masts. The app upgraded the mast firmware, but said the battery firmware did not need to be updated. The upgrades did not make the batteries work on opposite boards.
I reached out to Waydoo, but haven't heard back.
Later I read that there is a magnet in the board that triggers a magnetic switch in the battery, allowing it to turn on. Without the magnet, the battery won't turn on. This is odd, because when I connected the One+ battery directly to the One+ mast (without the board), the battery turned on and everything worked.
When I put the One+ battery in the One+ board without the mast, the battery turned on and stayed on. If I removed the battery from the board while it was still on, the battery would turn off after a few seconds.
Here are some details about the magnet in the board: https://shred-services.com/blogs/flyer-one-troubleshooting/magnet-fix
The magnet is imbedded in the board on the front left side of the mast hole.
BATTERY TERMINAL CONNECTOR PLUG
This is what the battery connector looks like on the Flyer One battery. It has replaceable contacts inside the connector. The Flyer One+ battery connector contacts look different.
REBUILDING FLYER ONE BATTERY
There's not much information about rebuilding a Flyer One and Flyer One+. Most people commenting seem to think it's not easy/possible but they are thinking ov the EVO battery which is a "wet" battery so the cells are potted and difficult to replace.
Here's a teardown video that shows that the actual battery pack is just a brick with connectors (XT90?) and balance cable. Any custom battery builder should be able to make one to order.
Here are snapshots from that video of the battery.
The person who posted the video tore down the battery because it wasn't functioning or charging. Pulling and resting most connectors fixed their problem. They also noticed some light corrosion on the BMS PCB. This means that it's likely there was corrosion on one of those connectors that was messing up communication. Adding an anti corrosion contact coating would be good. Stabilant 22 is a product I've used for this purpose with great success.
Here's another image of an opened up battery pack from this FB post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/154DZK4vFhe/
Here are more pictures from someone that opened a battery to fix a resistor that was causing communication issues with the battery.
More internal images from https://foil.zone/t/waydoo-battery-safety-concerns/11498
Inside of a compromised case (due to improper switch replacement). https://foil.zone/t/waydoo-battery-safety-concerns/11498?page=7
FIREPROOF CHARGING BOX FOR WAYDOO eFOIL BATTERY
Someone on FB (can't find post anymore) says that Waydoo Flyer One and One+ batteries fit inside PA-256 81mm mortar ammo cans.
The dimensions of the Waydoo flyer one and one plus batteries make it seem like it's going to be too wide to fit inside the ammo can but if you can see from the picture above it fits when placed the diagonal because of the way the battery is shaped.
WAYDOO EFOIL FLYER ONE AND ONE+ STORAGE TRAVEL CASE
Our Flyer One+ came with a case for storage and transport of most of the parts. The case stores the mast, battery (or charger), small and large wings, and bits and bobs. The storage case can only hold either the battery or the charger, not both. So what we do is store the battery in the board, and keep the charger in the case.
Here both wings are stored in the case. Added a piece of silicone rubber between the large wings to protect them.
Comparing the size of the Patroller wing (on top) to the Explorer wing (bottom).
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