Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SM]

Looking for any advice and straight-up help connecting my 2013 Zero S 12.5 (new battery) to my camper and solar system. I got an incredible deal on a 2013 S that was sitting with the local Zero dealer after learning of the battery replacement. Can't use the motorcycle much as it's not road legal here so willing to part, seems I'll buy a 2017 SR soon enough, so I more or less have this for the 12.5KWH battery. Problem is, now can't figure out how to best connect it up for power storage. Our installer was thinking to pull the battery or strip the bike to the bare essentials and make it wheeled power source. If I'm going to do this though I might as well build a small cart to install everything on it to minimize the size. What parts would we need to connect it up? I've read we can pull 100v DC off the Anderson charge connector but how do we turn it on if just the battery? How do we connect to charge if just the battery? I imagine we can use the S charger? I read a post this summer that made all seem a bit simpler. Installer is saying the battery must be "switched" on according to Zero. How do we hack this together? Thanks for the help.

[clay.leihy]

Looking for any advice and straight-up help connecting my 2013 Zero S 12.5 (new battery) to my camper and solar system. I got an incredible deal on a 2013 S that was sitting with the local Zero dealer after learning of the battery replacement. Can't use the motorcycle much as it's not road legal here so willing to part, seems I'll buy a 2017 SR soon enough, so I more or less have this for the 12.5KWH battery. Problem is, now can't figure out how to best connect it up for power storage. Our installer was thinking to pull the battery or strip the bike to the bare essentials and make it wheeled power source. If I'm going to do this though I might as well build a small cart to install everything on it to minimize the size. What parts would we need to connect it up? I've read we can pull 100v DC off the Anderson charge connector but how do we turn it on if just the battery? How do we connect to charge if just the battery? I imagine we can use the S charger? I read a post this summer that made all seem a bit simpler. Installer is saying the battery must be "switched" on according to Zero. How do we hack this together? Thanks for the help.

Where are you that it's not road legal? I'm thinking that if it's a perfectly good bike maybe you should sell it to buy a suitable battery rather than junking it.

Clay
DoD #2160,6
2015 FX ZF6.5  😁

[Electric Terry]

I agree with Clay, use the motorcycle as a motorcycle.  The Zero is absolutely amazing!  You can still tap 88-116 volts off the controller leads, but you need to keep the bike as it is.  The Main Bike Board reads data from the Battery Management System and if everything is good sends a signal to the Sevcon which then closes the contactor basically making the battery "Live" at the leads coming out of it.

It is possible to strip away these safety protections, but I can almost guarantee without the BMS working with the MBB and controller to monitor the voltage of all 28 cells and protect them, you will end up having a cell go too low in voltage and destroy the pack.  Not worth it.  Sell the bike and use the money to buy batteries designed for monitoring and protection and communication from a solar system charge controller and inverter.

Best is to turn the bike on and you can access the controller as a power source, and the BMS will still protect the system.  This way you can still ride it!  The thought of tearing it apart doesn't make sense to me unless it was wrecked beyond repair.

If your dealer was selling it I'm sure it can be registered to be legal, just ask him.  Where do you live?  The battery on the Zero is great, but riding it is what is best.

[Shadow]

You could strip all of the bike electronics and mount them up in a case. The Zero Motorcycles factory does something like this for testing battery packs at time of assembly.

With the pack wired up as intended, at your own risk you could run some kinds of switching power mode 120vac electronics directly off of the controller leads, I.e. uninterruptible power supply that has surge and brownout correction features.... or an awesome story I heard about christmas tree lighting.

This is of course actually dangerous even if you are absolutely sure of what you're doing, because people make mistakes and electricity doesn't care.

[SM]

I can only ride uninsured off road. I really dig these bikes though and I'm thinking to buy a 2017 as soon as they're out.
If I strip down the bike how do we turn-on the battery?
I read that we can turn it on with a 120v "contactor charge" but not sure what this means and reads there's than an issue keeping it on?
I was told the BMS will balance the battery w/ or w/o the MBB.  True?
Is it possible to use the charger to load up the battery before going camping?  I want to top it off with solar.

[clay.leihy]

Sorry if this is a little OT, but why can't you insure and ride that bike? No title? Imported illegally? Just got my curiosity into overdrive...

Clay
DoD #2160,6
2015 FX ZF6.5  😁

[manitou]

I am of no help other than to say, I'd like to know how.  Some day, people will use these battery packs for more than just go juice. Multipurpose a bike for an off grid cabin you say?  Sure plug this in and that and wala. Some day. (And there's a company waiting to be born supplying a kit to the public.. I suspect tesla will be the first)

[KrazyEd]

I have seen similar systems to use the Nissan Leaf to do this, maybe look at how THEY do it and go from there.
Chevrolet also pushed this as a use for batteries that are no longer powerful enough to drive the car  but still
will have use as home power. Last I read, the Volt batteries aren't giving up.

[dukecola]

I am of no help other than to say, I'd like to know how.  Some day, people will use these battery packs for more than just go juice. Multipurpose a bike for an off grid cabin you say?  Sure plug this in and that and wala. Some day. (And there's a company waiting to be born supplying a kit to the public.. I suspect tesla will be the first)

I've heard of people using VOLT power pacs to run house during outages.

[clay.leihy]

A couple of these? https://www.tesla.com/POWERWALL

Clay
DoD #2160,6
2015 FX ZF6.5  😁

[manitou]

Sure, buy a power wall for $7k (+install since they won't sell without a certified installer) when you have a perfectly good 12.5kw pack in the bike though.

[clay.leihy]

I wouldn't want to risk damage or premature wear on my precious motorcycle battery using it to light the house. Candles are good enough. 😋

And this thread looks really ambitious - connect to solar system - all the planets? That's a lot of power!

Clay
DoD #2160,6
2015 FX ZF6.5  😁

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I wouldn't want to risk damage or premature wear on my precious motorcycle battery using it to light the house. Candles are good enough. 😋

You don't need more than a kilowatt to light the house, which could allow the battery to run for hours. In any case, consider the scale: the motor at high speeds discharges the battery in an hour at roughly 10kW average (100 amps).

So, no, the battery isn't really that precious. Granted, it's more valuable than 18650 or Leaf cells because it's better for motorcycling, but not by an order of magnitude.