THE ELECTRIC SKATEBOARD

As you can tell, I didn't build this one from scratch. While browsing around Craigslist one day, I found someone selling an old electric skateboard for really cheap since it hadn't worked in a few years. 
Not knowing much about them, I thought this could be a good entry point into a hobby where the novelty might wear off pretty quick, and a fun project for cheap. 

As soon as I got it home, I put it on the workbench, made sure everything rotated like it should (or as best as I could figure it should), and started taking it apart to see if I could notice anything blatently wrong with it. Nope... 

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I ended up cleaning all the connections to the three 12vdc batteries, controller, and motor, and plugging it into the charger, which also didn't seem to work. I dug out an old trickle charger I had from my motorcycle days, and decided to charge up each battery individually over the course of a week. 

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Once the first battery was holding a charge, I hooked it up to the board just to see if anything would happen. SUCCESS! I got the remote to connect, lights to turn on, and the motor to try and spin the wheel. This might work out after all. 

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I was able to get 2 batteries to hold a charge, but #3 was shot. Figuring the other 2 batteries probably weren't much better off, I figured it was time to replace them all. Now, do I take this as an opportunity to upgrade to something more modern like a lithium ion battery pack, or just keep it cheap and replace with the same lead-acid batteries? 

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Again, knowing that the novelty of this might wear off pretty quick, I opted for the cheaper, lead-acid route and while those were on their way, I was able to scoot around the shop (albeit slowly) on just the 2 batteries.

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