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[protomech]

Rode the bike in to work yesterday in the rain. Rain stopped mid-day. Left from work to meet friends for dinner last night .. when I left the restaurant, the bike displayed a BMS fault (two flashes then four flashes on the warning indicator on the gauge cluster) and the throttle was disabled.

Short version: my bike collects moisture in the BMS compartment when ridden or left in the rain, and the moisture CAN (once in 4 damp rides so far) cause the BMS to throw a fault and disable the throttle. The fault persisted through multiple BMS resets, but cleared the next morning after the bike dried. You can check for moisture collecting on the interior of the BMS compartment through the circular viewing window on the front plate of the battery assembly box.

I called Harlan (who you gonna call? Hollywood Electric!) Harlan told me that you can reset the BMS. There is an access port beside the BMS window on the front of the battery box, you need to remove the rubber seal to access it. There are two momentary contact switches, press them both for about 10 seconds and the BMS board will hold a green light and beep.

Pressing both momentary contacts at once is difficult without the right tools, as the access port is quite small and the piezo beeper serial port plug restricts access to objects of diameter approximately 1/4". I had good success using two small allen wrenches.



Unfortunately, resetting the BMS did not clear my fault. I ended up towing it home. :-(



I stored it in the garage and allowed it to dry. This morning the BMS did not throw a fault and was behaving normally.

I have a Google+ album with a bunch of crappy photographs detailing the removal of the front of the battery box .. or rather, the battery assembly.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/103632203146469467629/albums/5738697808322386801

[ColoPaul]

Sorry to hear about that.  I enjoyed the pictures that you posted a link to.  Thanks for the heads up and info.

[manlytom]

sad to hear that.
 for some reason water/moisture is getting into the BMS. Any ideas ? from the top maybe as the front is covered reasonably well by the fairings.

[protomech]

The front of the enclosure definitely is not environmentally sealed. The front panel has built up a pretty good caking of dirt on the inside (at 1700 miles of street riding). I guess this will be something I have to clean periodically.

Zero contacted me today, they're sending out a new revision of the BMS board that should be more weatherproofed. I was hoping the board would be here today .. but it's looking like it may be later this week. I'll probably reassemble the Zero S and ride some until then.. I can't go a week without riding!

[CliC]

Zero contacted me today, they're sending out a new revision of the BMS board that should be more weatherproofed. I was hoping the board would be here today .. but it's looking like it may be later this week. I'll probably reassemble the Zero S and ride some until then.. I can't go a week without riding!

I know the feeling, except I'm scared to ride mine lest all the oil leak out of the fork and do more damage I hope this resolves your problem.

[oobflyer]

Wow - this is bad news. I usually ride year-round. I've only ridden in the rain a couple of times since I got my ZF9, but haven't had any problems.

I didn't see any warnings in the owner's manual about riding in the rain. What was Zero's response (besides fixing your BMS board)? It is supposed to be rideable in the rain, isn't it?

[Richard230]

Well, I'll tell you one thing, I am being real careful when washing my bike now. I am using a light spray and riding it around afterward to dry things out before parking it for the night (just in case).

[protomech]

Yes, you should absolutely be able to ride in the rain and wash the bike (though the manual does state to not use pressure washers). The charger, motor controller, motor, and BMS are all designed to handle moisture and water spray .. but the BMS may have a design flaw.

It's worth noting too that while the bike shows symptoms of being affected by moisture (disabled throttle when damp, resets had no effect, worked fine the next morning), I don't know for sure that's the problem. The board certainly looked fine when I pulled off the front plate, no obvious corrosion or dirt buildup on the actual board.

When Zero contacted me, they assured me that it was definitely covered under warranty. I could either bring it to a Honda or Yamaha dealer and Zero would have them handle the disassembly and board replacement or I could do the swap myself. I opted for the latter, so Zero is sending me a new revision of the BMS, a loaner laptop with tools to flash the new board, and taking the old BMS back for analysis. I'll report back when/if I hear what the cause was.

I've ridden a handful of times in the rain without problems before, and Harlan stated this is the second BMS fault that he's heard of .. the first being one he encountered, but a reset was able to get him going again. So this isn't a common problem. I don't mean make people unnecessarily worried.. just aware.

_If_ it is a design flaw in the BMS and not something peculiar to my bike, I would suppose Zero would have to replace all the boards in the shipping bikes. They've certainly demonstrated good customer support to this point, let's see how this plays out.

[protomech]

Couple more pictures.

Front cover removed. There are 3 ZF3 modules stacked on top of each other that form the ZF9 pack.


Inside of the front cover. Quite a bit of dirt build-up. I do zero dirt riding.

[CliC]

Wow. Did they recommend you silicone it up or anything? As humid as it gets where I live, dirt buildup like that can become damp and cause problems, even if there's no actual liquid water contact.

[protomech]

That's a good idea, I'll shoot the enclosure pictures to them and see if they have any comments about dirt entry.

[manlytom]

That's a good idea, I'll shoot the enclosure pictures to them and see if they have any comments about dirt entry.

yeah - maybe on your model the problem that it was not sealing properly...

[protomech]

It's not an hermetic seal by design. There are small gaps in the enclosure where dirt and dust eventually get inside.. and water too.

Reassembled the bike this morning (new board is not here, may not be here until.. the weekend? still waiting on tracking #), rode in to work. Bike rode fine. Probably will avoid riding in the damp until I have the new board in.

The front plate for the battery enclosure is held on by 24 4mm hex screws. When you reattach the front plate, screw the top 5 screws in loosely, then the side screw on each side. The plates will flex a little and the shank is rather short, so you may need to fiddle with it to get the screws threaded properly.

I'm pretty mechanically inept, and it takes me about an hour to disassemble or reassemble the front plate .. largely due to the aforementioned fiddling.

[Brammofan]

Good to hear that, after some drying, you were able to get it running again.  I heard the pain in your voice on Tuesday night from not being on the road. 

[Lipo423]

Thanks for the heads up protomech,
For the record. I did rode the bike under the rain once, and when I got home I could see a few drops/some fog behind the little plastic window...it is definitely not sealed. luckily, I had no problems.