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[Snafuperman]

I continue to believe, based upon many years of riding and owning motorcycles, if everything is working just fine and you are happy with your bike's performance, don't mess with anything.  It will likely get worse.   

I pretty much live by that, and that would probably include software updates for a (possible) future electric motorcycle.   

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

My best understanding is that motor commissioning is the tuning of the Sevcon controller sine wave programming against the motor position sensors so that the field is applied correctly.

This would reduce wear on the motor bearing and minimize wasted current.

I've added a provisional manual section for reference. I'd referred to this before as "controller alignment", but I realize that the proprietary term gets thrown around and deserves an index entry...
 http://zeromanual.com/index.php/Unofficial_Service_Manual#Motor_Commissioning

That sounds like a reasonable thing to do if there has been any factory experience with the sine wave programming wandering. However, I do find the term "commissioning" kind of goofy and rather obtuse.

I continue to believe, based upon many years of riding and owning motorcycles, if everything is working just fine and you are happy with your bike's performance, don't mess with anything.  It will likely get worse.   

Mostly, I agree, and I try not to mess with my bike at all until/unless strictly necessary.

However, part of my nuclear technician background disagrees: I spent a good part of it helping run a program where we'd attach 6-axis accelerometers to sensing points on equipment, to study motor and bearing wear and predict problems. It was clear that anticipating a wear problem by observing non-concentric forces on a shaft or axis was worth the time invested, and our plant's defect rate dropped considerably.

I think motor commissioning falls into that category, and the Sevcon DVT software does make this relatively straightforward, so I think Zero's recommendations here are appropriate: once 600 miles after getting it on the road, and then yearly or every 8k miles.

Sure, there's probably some slack in the interval, but I wouldn't let it go. Again, the point of maintenance is to catch problems before they cause damage, and the imperceptible problems are the ones to mind carefully.

(Also, I see that Sevcon refers to this in their manual as "controller commissioning" which is a little less awkward a term).

[MajorMajor]

How much do your dealers charge for software updates?
Mine is slightly above $100

[JaimeC]

My dealer charges $125 an hour... doesn't matter WHAT the service is.  I'm not positive, but a software update probably doesn't take anywhere NEAR an hour. 

If the service includes new parts (like brake pads, for instance), that too. 

[Fred]

If I can get hold of a discarded MBB I suspect it would be possible to work out how to do our own firmware updates. My own FXS is only a few weeks old so I'm a bit reluctant to take it apart and risk breaking something.

Even a photo showing the markings on the microcontroller might give a clue to how easy it would be. If it's something common with a readily available debugger or development board it should be easy enough.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

If I can get hold of a discarded MBB I suspect it would be possible to work out how to do our own firmware updates. My own FXS is only a few weeks old so I'm a bit reluctant to take it apart and risk breaking something.

Even a photo showing the markings on the microcontroller might give a clue to how easy it would be. If it's something common with a readily available debugger or development board it should be easy enough.

I'm pretty sure the dealership access is what's key there. Look up on the forums about cables to access the Sevcon and that toolkit being $900, and that doesn't count the MBB. The dealership access and rest of the cabling probably bumps that up quite a bit.

I happen to have lucked upon a full set of cables over a year ago and my only real capability is to apply Sevcon settings.

Attaching a debugger would be interesting but it won't get us the connection to get the updates to apply. The new 2017 OTA update model may change that but probably will add reverse engineering time.

I don't like throwing cold water on ideas, just trying to set expectations. The unofficial manual does list the connection types for Sevcon and MBB, at least. I can double check those soon.

[Erasmo]

Probably just key on the bike while hooked up to the service laptop, press next a couple of times and have a coffee while the laptop rambles along.

[Fred]

The Sevcon is something that's out of my area, and i wouldn't want to be jumping into that. However, I would think the MBB just has a suitable microcontroller for managing everything - something like a TI Hercules or similar. If Zero haven't been too concerned about protecting their code and the JTAG pins are broken out on the MBB connector then it may be possible to both read and write firmware. I've done it on other commercial products - e.g. a Tado smart thermostat.

If you think that a firmware update spans both the MBB and Sevcon then that would indeed be trickier.

Sooner or later I'll pull my FXS apart and find out for certain.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

The Sevcon is something that's out of my area, and i wouldn't want to be jumping into that. However, I would think the MBB just has a suitable microcontroller for managing everything - something like a TI Hercules or similar. If Zero haven't been too concerned about protecting their code and the JTAG pins are broken out on the MBB connector then it may be possible to both read and write firmware. I've done it on other commercial products - e.g. a Tado smart thermostat.

If you think that a firmware update spans both the MBB and Sevcon then that would indeed be trickier.

Sooner or later I'll pull my FXS apart and find out for certain.

Time with a JTAG debugger would not be wasted. I've developed on some firmware projects but only at a relatively high level with TFTP over serial. Check the manual for how the serial connection works at least.

And yes some updates include Sevcon settings and some include Sevcon firmware builds. This is all hearsay; I don't know how it's packaged.

[SM]

mine charges about $100, but service here is doing much more than just an update. electric powertrains are not maintenance free. from what i see they're reviewing logs and also checking something regarding the motor position. well worth it to know that all is in order, especially while its under warranty. spent just $400 on service last year, including new brake pads and a basic alarm.

[Delnari]

My 2017 SR refused to engage the motor.  After being towed to the dealership they sent the logs to Zero and had the dealership do a new software update with 1080 miles on the odometer.  Getting regular maintenance checks might have avoided my problem if I brought it in at 600 miles.

I don't understand.  Sorry.  Why would the bike require a software update in order to "work"?  If it worked the day before then why did it quit working?  Did the dealer say why?

I have the charge tank installed.  After topping off at work late last month the bike won't engage the motor.  The BMS 2-4 error flashing.  After sitting at the dealership for a day or so the motor finally engage with no changes made to the bike.  To be safe, they sent the logs to Zero and waited for a recommended diagnostic before releasing the bike back to me.  Zero sent them the latest firmware update and asked the dealership to tell their customers on the new bikes not to leave them plugged in all the time.  Not saying that caused my issue, but had I brought the bike in at 600 miles I probably would have received the firmware update sooner and not experienced the problem.  Will see what happens on the next 1000 plus miles.