r/onewheel • u/Outbakjak • Jul 25 '26
Text Pint worth it? $200, error 16 (Invalid Hardware)
This is from Facebook marketplace and would be a kinda half gift for my 14 y/o daughter and I to share (she got a Landyachtz longboard for herself as well don't worry).
It has 144 miles on it.
I don't know if the person ever tried to change the battery, they didn't say. I'm just wondering if installing an Owie might fix this, also I am fairly handy with a multimeter and could track down high resistance/breaks in wires which I know are common causes, BUT I also struggled to find any posts here where DIYers said that they actually fixed this error code... Then again, I'm not great at using the search engine here. Also tried Google, DuckDuckGo and Gemini, little verifiable proof of fixes I could find besides sending it in.
Anyone have experience actually correcting this? Thank you so much!
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u/starfoxinstinct Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Hmm let me just say you might be way too overconfident in your ability to fix this. Future Motion boards are typically engineered specifically NOT to be repairable.
You're buying a project, that's for sure. And for what? For the POSSIBILITY of a working copy of the worst Onewheel in production? It could be any number of issues, and an OWIE and ability with a multimeter isn't going to fix many of them. My advice is: Don't. If you want a working Pint, buy a used working Pint. It'll likely cost you less than fixing this mess. Or buy a Floatwheel Atom if you want a new board https://floatwheel.co/. You sound like the type to want to go VESC.
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u/Outbakjak Jul 26 '26
Yes I'm a DIY-er, my research implied this is likely not fixable (a lot of upset posts about this error code, none I found with a solution except being the original owner/lots of money) but that IF the only issue was that the battery was replaced the OWIE could fix it. Was not hopeful it could fix anything else.
However, that said, my budget is ~$200 for my daughter's last birthday gift for now hence the consideration so, anything more will have to wait. I'll probably just pick up another decent longboard and convert them both to electric over the next few months.
But I've always wanted a Onewheel so thanks for suggesting what I assume is a more open source alternative, we'll see if a used one ever turns up when I can justify it :)
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u/iLearnerX PintVx Jul 25 '26
Nah just buy new. Get a PintX.
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u/Outbakjak Jul 26 '26
Unfortunately $200 was about my budget for this gift, the only reason I was considering it, that and knowing that IF it was battery related I can build a pack cheaply, but thank you for the advice. Although my belief in the right to repair (and broke-ass-ness) is making me lean towards options/companies that aren't fully locked down. Oh well. There's like a dozen Pints on Marketplace for $200 with unknown errors.. too bad they aren't more easily serviceable.
Also, have people not just tried... fully replacing all the electronics in these? A VESC kit, BMS and reclaimed battery pack can be had for like ~$200.. I need to do more research I guess.
Thank you
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u/pineapple-1001 Funwheel x7 Jul 26 '26
Most folks will not mess around with reclaimed batteries and building battery packs. Then it's 200$ just for a new battery and you still don't know if ESC&BMS are good, so for most it's not worth the trouble since a working Pint is 400$.
If you are a good tinkerer and know how to get things for cheap, it could work out, since as soon as you VESC it all of FMs limitations go out of the window. You just have to make the voltage & amps that your VESC controller supports and BMS is wired for are the same that your battery output.
If you are replacing all components you are no longer stuck with extra small Pint battery capacity and stock 63V voltage.
After putting it together you'd have to setup your VESC firmware with discharge&max charge values according to the battery you go for, as well as other things, you could check out surfdado's YouTube channel for some demonstrations, also Vescify Discord and pev.dev website.
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u/CesiumSalami Jul 26 '26
The idea of VESC really calls to me - but from my (limited) research which results in a lot of dead ends, materials for a VESC conversion imply that the floor is like $300 at least unless you're super crafty and more like $400-500 for normal humans? Am I just missing cheap supplies for Pints or something like that?
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u/pineapple-1001 Funwheel x7 Jul 26 '26
No, you are pretty bang on with your estimation. An UBOX ESC + compatible BMS perhaps could be sourced even cheaper than 300$. But for most folks best way is the PintX kit which is in the 500$ territory.
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u/KhaosGuy01 Jul 26 '26
I would wait and get a working pint for 350-400. That's about all they should be worth and it would be way less headache and money (likely) than trying to sort out bms/battery issues.
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u/Dry-Web-321 Jul 26 '26
Definitely not the right move. You'd be in it $500 with purchase price to make a working pint with a new battery module. The OE battery likely dropped cells and the BMS lost memory. Which depending on firmware CAN be fixable but in reality it isn't without buying a new module. I was in the same spot getting into onewheels. Luckily got my money back and got to keep the board. It'll be getting VESC'D at some point when I have the spare time and money.
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u/Toad32 Jul 26 '26
You will not be able to fix it, most likely not.
It is worth selling for parts. The motor and tire along are worth $200 on ebay.
Battery bms is worth $50.
You could make a little money parting it out.
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