Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[craigq]

Tried to do the first ride of the season this afternoon, put the battery in the XU and connected the wiring. Had the battery connected to the charger for storage in accordance with Zero's instructions. Key in the "on" position, notice the exclamation mark warning indicator flashing in a pattern. 2 blinks, pause, then 4 blinks. This doesn't look good:

Cause: Battery Management System (BMS) Throttle Disable
Solution: Contact Zero or your dealer.

First year of the two-year warranty runs out soon 

The charger is doing an odd pattern too, it looks like it thinks the battery is charged, the 100% charge LED is lit solid, then it changes to the 80% charge LED flashing, so the charger and BMS are balancing or the BMS stopped charging because one or more of the cells has reached maximum voltage.

The BMS indicators on the rear of the pack looks like all is normal...

[mehve]

My 12 SZF9 also flashed at me thus. Zero made a new board out the 2013 parts and sent it over. I'm at the moment experiencing very sluggish throttle response.

+ m

[craigq]

Thanks for the information. Did you get the board replaced through a dealer or did you contact Zero directly and they shipped it to you?

[craigq]

No reply yet from emailing Zero tech support. How long do they usually take?

The BMS on the power pack is now indicating that:
"Power Pack Unbalanced - Leave on Charger for 72 Hours"

[craigq]

Zero is calling it a BMS board failure, and are shipping out a replacement. The local Zero dealership is going to collect the bike when it arrives, then they'll be able to see if it repairs the fault. Zero mentioned the dealer needs the software to program/configure the board etc.

This is my 5th bike since 2004, and the first failure/no-start other than the OEM battery failing on the first bike after 2 years 

[Doctorbass]

The BMs seem to not do a correct balancing job...

I guess if you could open the pack and rebalance all cell bank manually it would give you full bar on battery charge indicator... but once you recahrge t the next time it wont balance perfectly and just get worst over the next cycle...

Doc

[protomech]

Zero is calling it a BMS board failure, and are shipping out a replacement. The local Zero dealership is going to collect the bike when it arrives, then they'll be able to see if it repairs the fault. Zero mentioned the dealer needs the software to program/configure the board etc.

Any update on this?

[Whit]

I've got the same issue.  I'll post when I get a solution.

[craigq]

No update, will type up one when there's activity.

The last I heard was on 15-APR-2013, the board was being prepared for shipment to the local dealership. It probably takes about 5-7 business days for USPS shipping from California to Quebec, and Zero didn't mention if the board was in-stock or if they had to build one so I've no idea when it will arrive.

[Whit]

I spoke to someone on 4/26/13 and emailed my power pack serial number the next day.  Sound like the same issue.  No response as of yet.  I've owned the bike for one month.  It has been functional for one week of that month.  I hope this can be rectified soon. 

I wonder what is going to break next honestly.  Thinking about looking into lemon laws here in Florida.

I hope we both get our bikes running soon.  I'll keep you posted.

[craigq]

I called the "local" dealership today inquiring about an update. They received the replacement BMS board from Zero. However, they don't have the cable required to connect their computer to the bike (BMS board, MBB?) to reprogram/synch them. Zero didn't ship one with the replacement board. I imagine it will be another week or two.

There are no lemon laws in Ontario, one can either pursue recompense through a lawyer, or attempt arbitration by going through an entity called CAMVAP (which a manufacturer has to participate in, not all do).

[craigq]

Latest update from 3-JUN: The dealership is still waiting for the cable from Zero, no ETA.

I've started looking for a low-cost ICE bike, probably going to be in the 125-250cc range...

[craigq]

Latest Update: Phoned Zero Warranty 1-888 today, 17-JUN. They stated the back-ordered cable was now in-stock and they were shipping it out to the "local" dealership.

[manlytom]

just a general comment.

find the response of Zero is very swift - including sending parts if they are in stock. yet to include all that is needed is not allways happening. Dealers to fix it ? what dealers ?
Zero tries to often to go through ICE dealer that do NOT HAVE A CLUE on how to spell ELECTRIC. does not help - and my local dealer gave up (anyway useless) - I rather go direct.
A challenge is that despite trouble shooting with us "end-users" to many things might be wrong. so we get part, put it in - at a weekend or so and still no luck. I am frustrated that we do not have an end-to-end guide and then troubleshoot. I get it in piecemeal, Zero sends out parts - brushes, controller, throttle, motors .... still no good.

[craigq]

Today's update: The local dealership received the cable. They don't have the "software" to communicate with the BMS. The Zero warranty rep I spoke with pointed out all they need is terminal emulator to set the date/timecode on the BMS. All this waiting for a timestamp...

Manlytom: A troubleshooting guide, or better yet a complete factory service manual, would be a great thing to have. Does anyone know if Zero has these available for purchase? Every other motorcycle manufacturer does...