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[Булгаков]

Hi all,

My 2014 zero S has died again. It was parked, unplugged. I wasn't riding it because I am recovering from a bicycle accident. I noticed that the dash is flashing (no backlight) even with the key not in and turned on!

Tried plugging/unplugging the cord to the power outlet, turning kill switch or key on and off, made no difference.
The contactor doesn't click at all, and I know that the contactor is not stuck on because my voltmeter shows no voltage across the DC power leads.

No LEDs on at all in the BMS window, and resetting BMS button makes no difference.

I tried replacing the BMS 4Amp fuse, and the flashing dash went away.
However, as soon as I *either* turn the key on, or if I plug in the power cord to the charger, the dash immediately starts flashing again and gets stuck that way until I pull the fuse again. Also still no contactor click.

I'm out of warranty on the bike and I'm broke now that I'm in school, so taking it to the dealer is the last resort.

Apparently other people with this symptom had it with a dead charger? Should I consider trying to disconnect the OEM charger? It was already replaced once under warranty...

[Richard230]

You could try riding it around for a few minutes and then plug the charger back in and see what happens.  The only time I have seen that screen flashing on my 2014 S was when the bike performed a "self-test" of the charger which failed the test.  But when I unplugged the charger cord, cycled the ignition and plugged the charging cord back in, the flashing went away and never returned. 

On my 2018 S the screen will flash like that when its firmware is being updated via the internet, but that would not be the case with your bike.

Sorry but that is all I have to offer.   

[alko]

Try unplugging the 2 cables from the mbb under the seat on each side of center frame member and plug them back in. My problem wasnt exactly the same but this cured it. Couldnt hurt. See pic.

[Richard230]

Also, I think the 2014 models have a button under the front cover that will reboot the MBB.   

[Булгаков]

You could try riding it around for a few minutes and then plug the charger back in and see what happens. 

Unfortunately, as I said  it's completely dead and will not even engage the contactor. So the only way I can ride it around is if I find a hill to push it up to and coast down ...

I have tried plugging and unplugging the charger as well.

[Булгаков]

Try unplugging the 2 cables from the mbb under the seat on each side of center frame member and plug them back in. My problem wasnt exactly the same but this cured it. Couldnt hurt. See pic.

Thanks for the suggestion-- I will try it if I can get back to the bike.

I was also wondering if I went to Fry's if I could find some USB CANBUS adapter in stock,  and try downloading any logs from the bike since the Zero App on my phone won't connect.

[Ayebah]

I swear it’s the firmware. The bms go into a internal disable or there is a bad sensor in the bms triggered by the new firmware. Be easier to disable the bms then order a recall.

[AutoE]

We have 2014 BMS.  What was your purchase date?

[Auriga]

There are threads on here and on the unofficial manual with people who have built serial cables to talk to the bike. I guess you could try that, but if the bike isn't working I'm not sure you'd get much.

I swear it’s the firmware. The bms go into a internal disable or there is a bad sensor in the bms triggered by the new firmware. Be easier to disable the bms then order a recall.

If they did this and anybody proved it, they'd get sued so bad. Remember when Apple got caught slowing down older phones?

[Crissa]

If they did this and anybody proved it, they'd get sued so bad. Remember when Apple got caught slowing down older phones?

...And nothing happened to them because their reasoning was sound, that high-cycle batteries are more likely to crash on power draw spikes so slowing power-draw would reduce the number of crashed phones?

*sigh*

-Crissa

[Булгаков]

Try unplugging the 2 cables from the mbb under the seat on each side of center frame
member and plug them back in. My problem wasnt exactly the same but this cured it. Couldnt hurt. See pic.

So I finally got a chance to get back to the Zero and try this out, but unfortunately it made no difference (other than blanking out the flashing dash , but that happened again as soon as I turned the key in the ignition).

I also tried unplugging the on-board charger signal cable, but that also made no difference.

Is there any other recommendation for things to try testing?

[Булгаков]

We have 2014 BMS.  What was your purchase date?

I believe it was purchased in May 2016 -- it was one of the last old 2014 models that I bought "new" on discount because it still had a warranty based on the purchase date.

Why do you ask? Is there a difference between month of manufacture?

[Булгаков]

Okay, updates:

I built the USB TTL to OBD-II and also the USB TTL to BMS adaptors to try and troubleshoot some more.

The symptoms are the same currently, no contactor click, flashing dash when i turn the key, even with the onboard charger disconnected as well as external QuiQ charger.

I was not able to get any output from the OBD-II port at all, with the key on or off.

However, from the BMS port I was able to get some data (see attached log files). I tried doing a software reset and it appears there's a bootloader issue? I don't know why there would be -- nothing has changed recently (it's not like i had recently gotten a firmware update or something like that).

It appears to be preventing the rest of the system from enabling, and so no troubleshooting elsewhere.


The battery is still under warranty, but the 2-year full warranty has already expired.

Is there anything else I can try?

If I take it to a dealer, is it mostly likely going to be a battery/BMS issue (and therefore covered under warranty) or might I get a nasty with an expensive replacement of one of the other boards?

Thanks everyone for their help

[Crissa]

It does sound like a failure in a logic board that's shorting across the display pins.

From here, there's no way to isolate which board, tho.

-Crissa

[Булгаков]

It does sound like a failure in a logic board that's shorting across the display pins.

From here, there's no way to isolate which board, tho.

-Crissa

Hm. That sounds like it would be an electrical issue that I could fix if I could locate it ...  But I'm worried that I may have software/firmware issues now.