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[picasso]

Wanted to put a PakTrakr on my Zero X, So I needed to open the batt. I did not see any "seal" for warranty unless Zero thinks all the hot glue counts for that seal. I did not think Zero used a BMS. But its clear as you can see something is watching the cells in groups of 7@8.XX volts. I don't see a way to bleed off a charge so I'm going to guess it sends a signal to the charger when a cell starts to get topped up? The control board has two groups of LED's, one green blinking in each group with another off. When I put it on the charger for a few hours one group (lower) will start to flash the other led (red) Not sure what its telling me but the charger still thinks 80%

http://shup.com/Shup/179135/10952921019.png

http://shup.com/Shup/179136/1095292123.png


Here is the spec sheet for the cells in the Zero X battery.
http://www.molicel.com/ca/pdf/IMR26700.pdf
Note the cycling characteristics. Wow thats low. With the pack @$2950 OUCH.

[guity]

picasso, you're always doing something fun and cool!  So this would mean it wouldn't cause any problem to leave the bike/charger plugged in to a wall socket for whatever length of time (overnight, all week, months) you went without riding the motorcycle?  Or would you be wasting electricity?  But the battery would not get damaged?

[picasso]

In the Zero manual and also from what those guys said to me, One can just keep it plugged in yes. However I was also told the charger will not over charge the bike, the charged light would come on. And the charger would shutdown. Well my charged light never comes on, always 80% light and it keeps spiking the pack.....So I unplug mine. From my understanding I don't think the charger could ever over charge the pack. My thinking is the charger is undersized for the pack. Safety?

Because the batt pack runs the board you can see in the above posts pics all the time it would self drain the pack if not recharged every few months...just at a low rate. I'm sure the batts self discharge a little over time anyways. I have not probed the board to whats going on yet but I will. Might not even need to do the PakTrakr. I'd settle for reading the batt pack groups my self. The board might let me do that.

To sum it up I will just keep it unpluged when not in use. From my watts up meter I know I've put in over 60kw hours now at 120v. Not sure how my charges this is. my guess about 85+ charges since new and maybe 50 since I put it on a wattsup.

[picasso]

I talked with Zero today, Thanks Jeff! So it turns out my bike is a little newer than the manual that came with it. The 100% charged light will never come on with my bike. The control board will send a signal to the charger when cells are full. I dont know what volt that is yet but I will check. I was also told that the Zero cells are never fully charged as well. This should provide for a longer life. I'm glad to hear the calls have unused over head.

[picasso]

Zero sent out an update to Im going to guess all Zero 2009 X/MX owners. Here is the wording from Zero.

"Zero motorcycles has created this small dongle in order to correct an issue that can allow the Power Pack to discharge below the minimum voltage allowed by the BMS/Charger system. This dongle should be used on "tunnel" type power packs only."

Will post picture soon.

[skadamo]

Man you dig up some great info.

[guity]

Yes, picasso, you do dig up some good info.  That leads me to another question (sorry it is off-topic).  With all your information, why is it you never seem particularly interested in the GPR-S bikes?

[picasso]

Because if I wanted to I could make the same bike. You can buy those frames and many others on ebay. I also hate the design on the GPR-S. If those guys still made a nice endero I would look at them. Those guys are locale to me so thats a big plus.

The main factor in me getting a zero was the 24hour race. I thought it would be fun to enter, so I did with a few of my friends. I do also like the Zeros design and the fact it was a locale company.

[guity]

Fair enough.  How about battery management systems -- do you have an opinion of who offers the better BMS between Zero and ElectricMotorsport?  Or general qulaity of workmanship, any opinion on which is superior?

Thanks!