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[ElectricZoro]

Is anyone familiar with the procedure taken to replace the monolith on a 2014 SR?

My monolith is being replaced and the dealer has fitted the new monolith but they say there is only 3V on the battery?

Is that normal? The dealer says they will need to charge the battery. Is the battery ‘off’ for shipping and needs to be turned ‘on’ once installed on the bike?

[Auriga]

I would ask how they measured 3V, that doesn't sound like a typical diagnostic step on a new battery.
I'd also ask if they've talked to Zero HQ, whether they have communication with the BMS.

Zero doesn't send out batteries at 3V, they don't need to be turned on. So either the dealer is doing it wrong, there's an issue with the BMS(not the monolith). Or you have a very rare case.
I've replaced a fair share of these and that doesn't sound right.

[ElectricZoro]

I have asked many, many questions but they aren%u2019t forth coming unfortunately.

I suspect they are measuring the voltage on the doghouse terminals but if the contactor is open then there should be no voltage at all, correct? I don%u2019t think the voltage is being read from the serial port on the BMS. Are there other terminals on the monolith were voltage is measurable?

[Auriga]

There's no way to directly measure pack voltage without removing the doghouse cover and probing the contactor. Zero dealers almost never do that, and its not really taught.

With the contactor open, voltage across the large pins would be zero. They could be measuring low voltage B+, which is pack voltage and always on, but that comes through the BMS.
Almost all of the time if that is unrealistic(like 3V), the BMS is damaged. It takes a long time to discharge a monolith from 116V to 3V, and Zero sends them out charged.

If you're replacing the battery on a MY14, they replace those with current monoliths, which I believe requires a full harness swap as well. That can lead to a couple extra wires as well.

To me, this sounds like either a bad BMS or dealer error.

[ElectricZoro]

Thanks Auriga, you are giving me a glimmer of hope.

The battery has also been in storage for 5 months since it was shipped from Zero HQ. Do you think the battery could have discharged substantially in that time?

It is a MY14 SR

[Auriga]

I can't really be sure, but there is a MY14 harness upgrade guide, and if they're talking to Zero they'll figure it out.

Five months is a while to sit, but it still shouldn't be enough to fully discharge a monolith.

[ElectricZoro]

Thats good news.

Another concern I have is the dealer says the bike doesnt power up, there is no display on the dash

When the monolith is replaced, is it merely plug and play or do the Zero technicians need to do anything? I guess what I am asking is if the battery and BMS were fine, then would the bike work without Zero intervening?

When they did the diagnostics last year on the bike, they upgraded all the firmware to the latest.

[Crissa]

You can't update the firmware if the bike won't power up!

It sounds like your techs are feeding you a little bit of phone-game.  Which doesn't necessarily mean they're intentionally misleading you.

-Crissa

[ElectricZoro]

The firmware was upgraded at the time the battery was diagnosed as needing replacement. The battery was then ordered and has now been installed but not yet functional.

Sorry if that was unclear.

[ElectricZoro]

I’d also like to add that this post is in no way criticism of Zero or the dealer, I am merely trying to better understand the technology on the motorcycle and the procedures followed during the maintenance being performed.

[Demoni]

As people above have said the pack voltage is separated from the bike by contactors. This is a safeguard against high voltage being present when the bike is keyed off.

The current draw on the battery pack when it is disconnected from a bike should be very low. This allows them to be stored as inventory on the shelf for a long time till needed.
I am not familiar with the Zero dealer diagnostic tool but suspect it has the ability to view the packs voltage even when keyed off. All that information should be sent by the BMS.

Hopefully Zero is working with the dealer to view this data. I have a hard time believing that Zero would ship a battery pack without first confirming the packs overall voltage and the high/low cell voltages.