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[DesignerDan]

This morning I happily found the bike fully charged, but it unfortunately faulted on power-up with a "4 blink, 1 blink" warning code.  This code seems to indicate a welded contactor (contact closure without an energized coil), which is a safety check.  The bike won't allow driving if this condition occurs - for obvious reasons.  After speaking with a rep (Chris) and getting some good technical info, Zero and Hollywood Electrics are taking care of it under warranty.  I might try to bump the contactor to attempt to free it up.  Due to the fact that the firmware was updated the previous day I am not entirely convinced it is not being caused by the firmware update itself.  The Zero rep informed me that there is some precharging functions built into the firmware to minimize arcing on contact closure, and that they have been pursuing similar issues as mine.  They did hint that similar protections may need to be implemented on contact opening as well.  I expect it will be resolved soon, as both Zero and HE have taken good care of me so far.

A few gentle taps is all it took to free mine up. However, Zero doesn't want customers opening that black box where the contactor is located because of the high voltage. They ended up replacing my contactor and updating the firmware. I was told that new controller firmware could also help prevent the issue but I haven't heard any news on new controller firmware.

I'm anxiously awaiting it because my bike still has the "glitch" where all throttle response is lost until the bike is rebooted. I was told the new controller firmware will fix that also. It's not that big of a deal but it's happened to me 8 times now since I got the bike. All it takes is a reboot to clear the error but it still is annoying when you're at a traffic light and it turns green and you realise that your electric motorcycle just stalled out and now you have to hold up traffic for a few seconds while the bike precharges again.

[dkw12002]

Dan, mine has done this 3 times now, always in the morning and always after I initially boot up to turn the bike on....no throttle response. Reboot and it's good to go. It has never stopped at a traffic light and had to be rebooted once it was running. That would be a whole different ballgame and dangerous. It would be like a stall and you could get rear-ended. The way mine stands now it is more comparable to an ice bike not always starting the first time. So yours actually stops while you are on the road and not just when you first boot it up?

[DesignerDan]

Dan, mine has done this 3 times now, always in the morning and always after I initially boot up to turn the bike on....no throttle response. Reboot and it's good to go. It has never stopped at a traffic light and had to be rebooted once it was running. That would be a whole different ballgame and dangerous. It would be like a stall and you could get rear-ended. The way mine stands now it is more comparable to an ice bike not always starting the first time. So yours actually stops while you are on the road and not just when you first boot it up?

I've had it happen in every scenario. Three of the times was when I turned on the bike; there was no throttle response right from the beginning. Two of the times were during hard acceleration; it just cut out and I had to reboot the bike while coasting (these were actually the most dangerous because they both happened at night so that meant I was coasting at about 30mph with no headlight or tail light for ~8 seconds while the bike restarted) Both of those times there was no good place to pull over and there was no one behind me so I figured it would be safer and quicker to reboot it while coasting. The other three times were at traffic lights. I twist the throttle when the light turns green and got no response. Once again, two of those were at night and recycling the key switch is very unsettling because it means no headlight or taillight for a few seconds with the bike restarts.

[Richard230]

As I have previously mentioned, my bike had the morning "no throttle response" glitch, which started immediately after the factory installed the new "wandering encoder fix" firmware last summer.  Over 50% of the time, upon the first start-up in the morning, the throttle would not move the bike, but once "re-booted" it would run fine for the rest of the day.  This occurred for about a year and then this summer, it started happening less and less frequently and finally I have not had the problem for the past 3 or 4 months.  It went away all by itself.  I guess I will never understand what electrons are doing from one day to the next.       Electronics are just not like mechanical devices. 

[dkw12002]

That's encouraging Richard. I can certainly live with an occasional morning reboot and as long as it doesn't quit on me while riding I won't worry about it. I recently acquired 2 more bikes so my Zero is not getting the miles it did a month ago, although I do have over 4100 miles on it, so it does get ridden a little every day or two year around. I have two other extremely economical bikes...a Honda Grom that gets 111 mpg and is a blast to ride, goes 64 mph tops and is legal on Texas but not Cali freeways...you just stay in the right-hand lane, and my neighbor recently GAVE me his 2006 Honda Met scooter with 972 miles on it.  Starting out free is a good way to get the cost per mile down immediately. It is fine for around town and gets about 100 mpg with a top speed of 40 mph.