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[evtricity]

I'm looking at the SmartCharge 12000 from Electric Motor Werks for fast charging my 2014 Zero SR at track ride days.

The SmartCharge units http://emotorwerks.com/tech/electronics have enormous flexibility supporting AC single and three phase as well as DC inputs and customisable outputs.

The track days consist of up to 6 x 20 minute sessions followed by 1 hour rest in between. Based on an an aggressive power consumption of 200Wh/km and average speed of 120kph for 20 minutes, power usage could be as high as 8kWh  (200Wh/km x 40km). So ideally I'd like to charge close to 8kWh so that I can start each session with the same capacity as I had at the start of the previous session.

At the race tracks I have access to 3 phase 415V 20A power connections (approx. 8,300 watts available) as well as 240V 15A (3600 watts).

I have some questions about the Fast Charge capabilities on the Zeros before I dive in and get the SmartCharge.

1. Is the Anderson connector an SB50 and does it have just the two positive/negative wires i.e. no BMS connection?
2. Is there a maximum kWh rate that the fast charge port can handle?
3. Can I run the onboard charger in parallel with the fast charger (to handle the balancing primarily) but also if I am on a lower power connection like the 240V 15A?
4. With a peak battery voltage of 117V on the Zero S/SR/DS what maximum voltage would I set on the SmartCharge, leaving the topping off and balancing to be done by the onboard charger?
5. Other than the nominal and peak voltage settings and Ah capacity (100) is there any specific charging algorithm that I need to be aware of with the Zero battery pack?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[arno]

Hello, here is Arno.

your proposal is of interest for me too, but i fear that i will loose my 5 years battery warranty in case of connecting own loaders.
A official statement from zero would be very helpful here.
The battery connector is a SBS75XBRN.

http://www.andersonpower.com/products/multipole-sbs.html

There are  four auxiliary contacts with unknown function for me.

As i know you need a CC-CV characteristic.

[evtricity]

Thanks Arno for the connector reference. I did check mine just now and it is the one you mention.

Not sure about the warranty side of things. If Zero's largest dealer is offering third party chargers such as the Elcon and Zero have been happy to let that continue without alerting customers on any warranty impact I think they are comfortable about alternate chargers being used presumably as long as they follow guidelines from Zero.

I contacted Zero via email a few days ago and have yet to receive a response about fast charging options. The SmartCharge looks like a very flexible solution, you could even add a Chademo controller and connector to it and use the Zero Chademo inlet but that's another $3,300 on top of the $2,000 for the fully assembled SmartCharge (or $1300 for the DIY kit). I have a Nissan Leaf that I could charge via Chademo but that's another story and not one that I can justify $3K on either!

Anyway, hope to hear from others who've got Elcon, Meanwell or even Delta-Qs for more about their configuration to see if the small pins on the Anderson connector are used to communicate with the BMS. I believe the SmartCharge would accommodate whatever battery communications is required.

[DynoMutt]

Sorry for the late response on this thread, but the home CHAdeMO charging functionality of that unit might well be attractive to anyone that owns a 2011 or 2012 LEAF SL that only has the 3.3KW J1772 charge unit on it.  Being able to charge at 10KW would greatly speed charging time at home and would probably be cheaper than attempting to replace the onboard unit on the LEAF.  Correct me if I'm wrong, I could be wrong about LEAF model years.

[trikester]

There are two signal connections used in the Anderson connector. The Delta-Q charger that Zero sells (1100W) only connects to one of those two wires (the WHT/BLK). I don't know what communication the Delta-Q might use it for.

What I use this connection (WHT/BLK) for is to pull it up to the B+ connector blade wire, through a 100K resistor, in order to pull in the contactors and open the connection to the batteries at the Anderson connector. I do this when I want to charge from chargers other than the Delta-Q (it has this function built in). You will need to do this if you use chargers that don't have this signal connection.

There was another thread on this forum about this subject a short time ago, where I explained it in a little more detail.

Trikester

[CScalpeL]

Hey dgh853, did you get any response from zero regarding the battery warranty with third party chargers? Upgrading the chargers seems like the most significant upgrade one can do to these bikes but I don't want to void the warranty on the battery to do it... Thanks

[evtricity]

No, I never actually asked Zero directly whether charging with non-Zero chargers would impact on the battery warranty.

I did end up buying the emotorwerks SmartCharge and it's been painful getting the thing wired with in-rush resistors into the SmartCharge as it comes with a High Voltage Capacitor bank that trips the circuit breaker before I can even start the charger. Hoping to get enough information from emotorwerks to get it working soon. The onboard charger takes forever and doesn't allow me to get through more than about 4 x 20m full sessions on a track day of 6 x 20 min sessions.

[laschrocket]

Just interested to hear if you made any progress with the emw12000 and your zero?

[Chocula]

Just interested to hear if you made any progress with the emw12000 and your zero?

+1
I know its not the least expensive option, but it seems to have a lot more versatility.  I too would love to hear how things worked out  with this charger.

[vaiarii]

Being able to charge at 6kW, at 12kW or even more (with the  emw25000) with only one charger would be awesome.

The ability to configure the input/output (and thus to avoid flipping the circuit breaker) opens even more the charging station possibilities!!!

evtricity, did you succeed in getting this work?

[evtricity]

I could never got the fully built emotorwerks DC charger to charge the Zero successfully.

I tried to get support from emotorwerks but repeated attempts got limited and then no response. I should have read the topic on DIY electric car forums @ http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/10kw-60a-diy-charger-open-source-59210p299.html and I never would have made the mistake of buying it. The USD2300 charger is now sitting unused and with seemingly no way to get it going or my money back. I considered shipping it back but after my polite emails requesting a refund were ignored, spending $300 to post it from Australia seemed like throwing good money after bad.

I understand that emotorwerks are involved in the Diginow Supercharger build. I hope that for those Zero owners paying over USD3000 for something similar to what I ordered two years ago, there is far better build quality and after sales support.