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[Justin Andrews]

I'm having an issue... Sad to say, and I thought I'd prevail upon the combined knowledge of people here.

A couple of weeks ago my ZF9-S (2012) decided it did'nt want to go. The exact symptoms were when I turned the key on, the lights come on, the dash board lights up and goes through the normal checks (the 2011 11 display, the speedo needle whizzing around etc) but no drive when turning the thottle, and no error lights.

The thing I really noticed was no click of the contactor. After leaving the bike for a day, I came back to find it fine, the contactor clicked on, as the bike drove normally. (Yey!)

Two weeks later, and it happens again (boo!) this time I've left it for a few days trying to turn it on occasionally, with no joy.

Does anyone have any ideas what might have happened.

I'm wondering if damp has gotten in some where, and the controller is deciding that as a result it is unwise to engage the contactor. Or maybe a loose connection.


Anyway the bike is under warrenty, so invoking that seems the sensible course of action, but I was hoping someone might have a solution, as I really could do with getting the ZF9 back on the road (as the Diversion is a the Garage having its rear brakes repaired... I'm clearly not having much luck with my bikes at the moment... )

[Richard230]

That is exactly what my bike does most (but not all) mornings, lately.  But the contactor clicks and it starts up immediately after turning the ignition switch off and then back on again.  And it is fine the rest of the day - unless it sits out in cold, windy weather for several hours and then the startup glitch will happen again.

[Justin Andrews]

I could live with that if it were the case.
Sadly a few dozen attempts at switching off and on do nothing.

I'm confident its something stupid, and it'll be fixable, and I'll be back on the road again. 


(Least its not like the three Suzuki bandits I owned, every one of which would die in heavy rain because the CDI unit got wet. That was really annoying.)

[BSDThw]

To see if the Sevcon has a problem or the MBB BMS -> (I don't think so you should have an error code at the dash) - has one, you can remove the seat. You will find the sevcon covered with a plastic part the sevcon has a green LED it is right from the connector if you stand to the left of your bike. I am not sure if it is visible with the plastic cover or if you need to lift/remove it (take care with your warranty!)
The LED has a blinking code you will find in the attached pdf.
If you see a fault blinking maybe we find out what the reason is!

[Justin Andrews]

Ok, at least the LED on the sevcon is really easy to get to.   (Good design decision by Zero there.)

Its flashing three times, which looking at that fault guide you posted means:

The Mosfets in the Sevcon are faulty.
The Hardware over voltage has been detected. (Does this mean the Battery voltage is too high?)
Or an over current trip has activated.

I guess the third (over current) happens during operation / riding which is not the case here.
So battery over voltage or faulty Sevcon perhaps?

[BSDThw]

The Hardware over voltage has been detected. (Does this mean the Battery voltage is too high?)

The battery can not be too high - the over Voltage value is a software setting in the Sevcon and ~103V at my controller.
It could be the voltage measuring has a problem and see more voltage but if your battery has 103V parked it would be not longer be IN the battery box in you bike!

Or an over current has activated.

If there is a shortcut in the motor it could detect maybe this - but it is very unlikely to me specially your bike run once again.

The Mosfets in the Sevcon are faulty.

So it looks to be a real HW defect to me - come over I have a size 4 on my table  .
Maybe a kind of faulty solder point?
I never heard of a defect Sevcon here so let us know what was the real problem!

Sorry I think you really need your dealer

Hope things get OK in your case!

[vchampain]

For 2013 models this is a known issue, for which Zero dealers seem to have a fix (i'll try this this week). I really advise fixing this as soon as possible - my first zero (a 2012 XU, stopped for 6 months at Zero's service center without any news on when I will be able to have it fixed again) first had this issue before having more serious ones (stopping brutally into the traffic)...

[Justin Andrews]

  come over I have a size 4 on my table

Curse the channel / north sea, for it does get in the way sometimes!
(We should all sort out a European Zero Owners get together at some point, we UK zero owners feel kinda lonely over here... )


Cheers for the help though.

I'll contact the service center tomorrow. I'll also be surprised if the Sevcon is faulty, as they are renowned for their reliability, but then nothing is fool proof either.

VChampion, I've had the fix for the glitch, so my bike no longer cuts out in traffic.

[Justin Andrews]

Hmmm. After three days of rest my bike decides to fire up this morning...

So whatever the fault is, its intermittent.
I'm wondering if damp or something might be triggering a short somewhere, and thats causing the code 3 fault.

Grr, I hate intermittent faults more than any other.

[Justin Andrews]

Gah, one light rain shower half an hour later and the bike decides to go back to sulking.

I think Zero need to help me on this one. 

[BSDThw]

I feel sorry for you!

How is your dealer situation in the UK?

[Justin Andrews]

I feel sorry for you!

Cheers, its one of those things that happens though, not worth getting unhappy about.

How is your dealer situation in the UK?

Not great if you want to buy a new Zero, but Zero has a deal with a dealer in Bedford to handle warranty work at their garage, so its not all that bad either.

[Justin Andrews]

Just tested the bike again, and its working again.

I suspect that something has not been sealed completely somewhere (maybe a connector) and damp is getting in.

Its not something that any other Zero owner has reported here though, so it must just be "one of those things", hopefully Zero will be able to look into it.

[Richard230]

My recollection is that Zero had a recall of the BMS board that corrected a moisture problem in the early 2012 bikes.  Perhaps your bike has not been updated with the new waterproofed board?

[Justin Andrews]

Seems somewhat unlikely that its that Richard, as my bike has just had the waterproofing on the board done the other month.