Print

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

[2014ZeroSR]

2014 SR with PT
Mileage = 17002

115vac wall outlet - checks good.
Second dedicated 115vac outlet - also checks good.
Bike charging cable - checks good
Second charging cable - also checks good, same results
2014 Owners manual is incorrect. It shows four fuses on the back of the battery, one of which is for the on-board charger. As a few posters have mentioned before, there are only two fuses, neither of which is for the on-board charger.

Bike is running well - it's now parked at 42% as I can't charge it.

Error codes - none
When plugging in, nothing happens:
[1] No click
[2] No green light
[3] No display

Bike is only charged with provided on-board charger.
Bike is plugged in when at home.

Two questions:
[1] Any suggestion(s) to prevent a trip to the dealer.
[2] If I had a fast charger, could I still charge the bike with this ‘no charge’ issue?

Dealer visit will be this Friday.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Error codes - none
When plugging in, nothing happens:
[1] No click
[2] No green light
[3] No display

Bike is only charged with provided on-board charger.
Bike is plugged in when at home.

Two questions:
[1] Any suggestion(s) to prevent a trip to the dealer.
[2] If I had a fast charger, could I still charge the bike with this ‘no charge’ issue?

I can only say that for [2], if you can key the bike on and the contactor shuts, you can charge through the aux power port while the contactor stays shut. There's a timeout that is likely set to 30 minutes (1800 seconds in the MBB settings) that will open the contactor after that much inactivity. Tweaking the throttle every once in a while will bypass the timeout (or I think turning the cutout switch to off and holding the throttle open should do the same? I haven't tested this in earnest yet).

[2014ZeroSR]

Thanks for the info BrianTRice. I wish I could verify your belief but without a fast charger I'm out of luck. Off to the dealer I go on Friday. Hoping San Jose BMW is able to repair it quickly.

[WoadRaider]

Can you hear a low clicking sound coming from the battery pack when you plug in?

[2014ZeroSR]

Can you hear a low clicking sound coming from the battery pack when you plug in?

WoadRaider - Dead silence, no sound(s) at all.

[WoadRaider]

Lol, I hate to beat a dead horse but.. You have good hearing and put your head down near the battery? If there's no sound I have no idea.

[ctrlburn]

2015 SR did the same thing - charger failure.

Didn't detect being plugged in at all - I could even drive it while plugged in.
No errors, because it didn't have an indication it was plugged in.
No clicks, no pops, no nothing.

Took a trip to the dealer.

[2014ZeroSR]

2015 SR did the same thing - charger failure.

Didn't detect being plugged in at all - I could even drive it while plugged in.
No errors, because it didn't have an indication it was plugged in.
No clicks, no pops, no nothing.

Took a trip to the dealer.

Lol, I hate to beat a dead horse but.. You have good hearing and put your head down near the battery? If there's no sound I have no idea.

WoadRaider - no noise(s) at all when plugging in.

ctrlburn - Your charger failed as mine has.
Questions:
[1] Odometer when it failed (approximate)?
[2] Cost to replace if known?
[3] any other useful info?

Thought - I wonder how common a failure this is?

Update 1 - my 14 SR - Charger failure per San Jose BMW.
Bike is out of warranty as of Aug 23, 2016 (about a month).
Will Zero cover any of the repair(s) because it’s just past the two (2) year mark? Also, I’m hoping Zero will take into account my six (6) month loss of the bike during the warranty period for accident repairs.

Whatever Zero does, I’m looking forward to the return of my bike.
Since the charger failure, I’ve been using my road bike - Getting gasoline is such an unpleasant experience. Its so nice to wake up with a full tank, ready to go.

[Erasmo]

Charger failure is on of the weaker point with Zero's, but they are doing a decent job replacing them.
Best to give you're dealer a call, I would expect them to do the repair under warranty.

[firepower]

Chargers should be included in the power pack warranty, what's the point of 5years warranty on power pack if you can't charge it.

[Richard230]

My 2014 S charger is still hanging in there after 10K miles and a lot of charging for short period of times - typically about 4 hours to fully recharge the battery pack.  I used to keep the charger plugged in all of the time, but when I heard about charger failures, I started pulling the plug after two days, when the charge read 100%.  (On my bike, it bulk charges to 98% and then shuts down for about 30 hours. Then it completes charging and balancing the pack to 100%, which is when I pull the plug.  The pack remains fully charged for at least a week, which it typically as long as I wait until riding the bike again.

I don't mind paying for a new charger, as long as they are still available for the bike once it is out of warranty, and is a just a plug-in repair, which doesn't require a tear-down of the bike to replace. 

[pacificcricket]

My 2014 S charger is still hanging in there after 10K miles and a lot of charging for short period of times - typically about 4 hours to fully recharge the battery pack.  I used to keep the charger plugged in all of the time, but when I heard about charger failures, I started pulling the plug after two days, when the charge read 100%.  (On my bike, it bulk charges to 98% and then shuts down for about 30 hours. Then it completes charging and balancing the pack to 100%, which is when I pull the plug.  The pack remains fully charged for at least a week, which it typically as long as I wait until riding the bike again.

I don't mind paying for a new charger, as long as they are still available for the bike once it is out of warranty, and is a just a plug-in repair, which doesn't require a tear-down of the bike to replace. 

The charger draws barely any current when battery is full. Mine failed last night after I plugged it in with 75% remaining, and it got the bike to 80% before going up in smoke. I would imagine that no chargers have failed under no load when the battery is full.

[Kocho]

Do we know what exactly is failing on these chargers?

The chargers do get hot and don't have active cooling. I'm inclined to believe that contributes to the failures. And I'm not convinced the generated heat is harmless for the battery above them either.

I avoid charging in hot weather, so I often forgo charging at work and instead am charging mainly at home in a cool garage, and having a fan create active air circulation at the charger/battery.

Those who have charger failures - it'd be interesting to know if you kept the bikes plugged in most of the time and whether you charge in warm or hot weather.

[pacificcricket]

Those who have charger failures - it'd be interesting to know if you kept the bikes plugged in most of the time and whether you charge in warm or hot weather.

Mine went out while charging in a cool garage, on a cooler day.

[2014ZeroSR]

Do we know what exactly is failing on these chargers?

The chargers do get hot and don't have active cooling. I'm inclined to believe that contributes to the failures. And I'm not convinced the generated heat is harmless for the battery above them either.

I avoid charging in hot weather, so I often forgo charging at work and instead am charging mainly at home in a cool garage, and having a fan create active air circulation at the charger/battery.

Kocho - I also think heat is the primary killer of these chargers. My stock cable got hot from it's first use. After a month or so, I became so concerned about the heat, I started using an external fan to keep the cable cool whenever I charged - only the cable, not so much for the charger. I touched the bottom of the bike under the charger and discovered it was quite hot. My thought at the time was - It must be OK because Zero performed the necessary R&D to make it OK.  I wish now I had redirected the airflow to include the charger. When the bike returns, I will use the fan to cool both.

+++++

Those who have charger failures - it'd be interesting to know if you kept the bikes plugged in most of the time and whether you charge in warm or hot weather.

Kocho - My charger usage -
Charge cycles, I think about 500. When the bike returns, I'll include the number is my final update.
Charged - almost everyday.
Bike is stored outside, but always under cover, thus the annual temps here normally range from about 25f to 102f.
Charging - I use a timer to turn the charger off when finished. I calculate the time required and add one hour to the timer to ensure the bike fully charged for the next day.
Bike usage - I will ride as long as the payment is dry. Temps, extreme cold or hot is not a deterrent thus the bike is charged most days. 

++++++

My 2014 S charger is still hanging in there after 10K miles and a lot of charging for short period of times....

Richard - 10k is not very much, neither is 17K (my failure).
Fan idea - I think Kocho is dead on with the fan idea cooling the charger.

++++++

(On my bike, it bulk charges to 98% and then shuts down for about 30 hours. Then it completes charging and balancing the pack to 100%....

Richard - Is this normal? Shouldn't it charge until it finishes? Not take a break for 30 hours, then finishes. Mine used to charge until it was finished. I wonder if anyone else has experienced the same as yourself.

Chargers should be included in the power pack warranty, what's the point of 5years warranty on power pack if you can't charge it.

firepower - +1