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Author Topic: How bad is my battery?  (Read 4567 times)

Auriga

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #15 on: May 19, 2020, 09:01:03 AM »

Well, you could look at the point where it reaches the highest voltage and see if it says why it stopped charging. The bikes are designed to stop charging when one cell gets to the max voltage. With that imbalance, that could be at a lower SOC.  Beyond that, I think you need a known good charger to get it up to full voltage and attempt to balance it.
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Richard230

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #16 on: May 19, 2020, 08:12:02 PM »

I would be worried about that 116V reading.  That is what you should be seeing at 100% SOC, not 75%. To me that sounds like a bad battery pack where one or more cells have hit their top voltage and the system shut down so as to not damage those cells. I think the excessive balance number is also indicative of something wrong. 5mV is what you should be seeing at 100% SOC when everything is in good shape. Replacing the batteries if necessary is not going to be quick, cheap or easy.

On my app when the logs are downloaded they automatically got emailed to Zero (even thought I didn't want to do that at the time). They wanted both the BMS and the MMB logs to look at, which will keep your phone busy for a while. You should probably just email the log file that is stored on your phone to Zero. I think the app has their email address.

I thought I had a problem with my Zero a few months ago and they got back to me the same day and said that they didn't see anything unusual, but to have my dealer check my bike over during the next regularly scheduled service - which didn't surprise me much.  Zero is always trying to toss business to their retail outlets.
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DonTom

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #17 on: May 20, 2020, 12:15:35 AM »

I would be worried about that 116V reading.  That is what you should be seeing at 100% SOC, not 75%. To me that sounds like a bad battery pack where one or more cells have hit their top voltage and the system shut down so as to not damage those cells.
Isn't that close to the normal max voltage?

Sounds to me like the calibration is off, not the battery.

-Don-  Reno, NV


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Richard230

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #18 on: May 20, 2020, 03:49:35 AM »

I would be worried about that 116V reading.  That is what you should be seeing at 100% SOC, not 75%. To me that sounds like a bad battery pack where one or more cells have hit their top voltage and the system shut down so as to not damage those cells.
Isn't that close to the normal max voltage?

Sounds to me like the calibration is off, not the battery.

-Don-  Reno, NV

That is correct, but if the SOC value is only 75% and the balancing is way off, I would think that is an indication that the battery pack has some issues.  Of course the app's display could be way off, but that does seem like a pretty crazy set of values and I would think they could only be the result of a nutty MMB. However, I have read more stories regarding bad battery packs than I have bad MMBs or weird app information.   ???
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TheRan

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #19 on: May 20, 2020, 04:38:17 AM »

If the charger isn't getting to 100% then it won't balance the cells so it's not really unusual that they're out of balance. Being in the 300mV range does seem high from what I could find with 100-200mV being more typical at a low SoC, but I suppose it depends on just how many cycles the pack has been through without being balanced.
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TEV

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #20 on: May 20, 2020, 04:41:24 AM »

If you have an Android phone, you can use this free app, and it will show you a more detailed pack voltage information,  and the actual voltage of the lowest voltage cell , and the highest voltage cell. Also can do some other things too 😁.
https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=9065.0
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DonTom

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #21 on: May 20, 2020, 06:04:24 AM »

That is correct, but if the SOC value is only 75% and the balancing is way off, I would think that is an indication that the battery pack has some issues. 
I wouldn't use the SOC for any type of data.

Ignore the SOC and then  try to find a problem. If you can't, then it probably  means the SOC number shown is the real problem.

An accurate voltage measurement is a real & meaningful reading.  For either the battery voltage or the balancing difference.  The SOC number isn't much of anything useful, other than a hint that something could be screwy.

-Don-  Reno, NV
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Richard230

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #22 on: May 20, 2020, 06:15:47 AM »

Double-checking the actual voltage should be easy enough with a multi meter.
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quixotic

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #23 on: May 20, 2020, 07:40:38 AM »

Thanks everybody.  (I only vaguely recall volts, amps, and ohms from school days, so this is a tremendous help).

TEV, I tried the app (thanks also, 1973), and the numbers I got were as follows:
92% state of charge  (quite different than the 75% that the Zero app gave me, but after a day of balancing on the charger...and I'm still at 8 bars)
115 pack voltage
27/68 pack capacity
23 degrees controller temp
(the bike was turned on, but not charging, so I didn't get charging rate or current.  Should I have?  It didn't seem to want to connect in that state).
cell voltage min/max 3401/4316
pack temp min/max 26/27

Please keep in mind that for any advice, I'm more than 1,000 km's away from the nearest dealer (the Calgary dealer where I bought the bike, stopped selling Zero's less than a year after I bought it), so I'd rather limp through life with a faulty battery (my commute is quite short), than try to get the bike to Vancouver and back for a new battery. 

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BrianTRice@gmail.com

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #24 on: May 20, 2020, 07:58:29 AM »

Those cell voltages are not good: https://zeromanual.com/wiki/Battery_Voltage

If your readings are mV, 3.401V corresponds to basically 0%, and 4.316V corresponds to over 100%.

Keep that battery on a slow charge for another couple of days. I'll look at the logs in case anything jumps out at me.
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BrianTRice@gmail.com

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #25 on: May 20, 2020, 08:13:05 AM »

There are a number of chassis isolation faults to various cells in the battery, which could actually be an indication that the problem is environmental.

I think you need to pull BMS logs, and also check the front plate of the battery for dirt and ingress into the window to the BMS.

I think you should also take off the bellypan and examine the charging units under the bike for dirt and moisture. You can clean them, but only while the bike is unplugged and keyed off.

If there's any sign at all that there's dirt or moisture behind the front plate, you may need to carefully lift that plate off and see what might be an issue ***without touching anything***, either around the pins to the cells or elsewhere.
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quixotic

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #26 on: May 20, 2020, 08:43:49 AM »

Thanks Brian.  I'll tackle the belly pan on the weekend. 

What is the BMS?
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DonTom

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #27 on: May 20, 2020, 10:00:22 AM »

Thanks Brian.  I'll tackle the belly pan on the weekend. 

What is the BMS?
BMS=Battery Manage System. It's the electronics built into the battery case that monitor &  control just about everything possible with the battery.

See here.

-Don-  Reno, NV
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2017 Org Zero DS ZF 6.5/(now is 7.2)
2017 Red Zero SR ZF13 w/ Pwr Tank
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quixotic

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #28 on: May 20, 2020, 07:22:39 PM »

I think you should also take off the bellypan and examine the charging units under the bike for dirt and moisture. You can clean them, but only while the bike is unplugged and keyed off.

If there's any sign at all that there's dirt or moisture behind the front plate, you may need to carefully lift that plate off and see what might be an issue ***without touching anything***, either around the pins to the cells or elsewhere.

Speaking of the belly pan, I seem to recall trying to take it off a few years ago, since I thought I had some pebbles rolling around in it (but the noise has since disappeared).  But I don't think I ever managed to get it off.  Is it as much of an ordeal as I'm afraid it might be?
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BrianTRice@gmail.com

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Re: How bad is my battery?
« Reply #29 on: May 20, 2020, 09:13:45 PM »

I think you should also take off the bellypan and examine the charging units under the bike for dirt and moisture. You can clean them, but only while the bike is unplugged and keyed off.

If there's any sign at all that there's dirt or moisture behind the front plate, you may need to carefully lift that plate off and see what might be an issue ***without touching anything***, either around the pins to the cells or elsewhere.

Speaking of the belly pan, I seem to recall trying to take it off a few years ago, since I thought I had some pebbles rolling around in it (but the noise has since disappeared).  But I don't think I ever managed to get it off.  Is it as much of an ordeal as I'm afraid it might be?
The belly pan comes off with 8 bolts, and isn’t supporting anything directly, it just covers the charger. The unofficial manual has a trivial removal procedure. I think you might have to remove the side plastics first.

https://zeromanual.com/wiki/SDS_Platform/Belly_Pan_Removal

If the charger has to be removed, that’s a little trickier but not terribly hard. We don’t have good documentation for the 2013 units because the later Calex chargers have been more of an issue.

After several years, it would not surprise me if accumulated dirt has caused isolation issues. I think you’ll want to give it all a good brushing and possibly have an electrician look at it. Definitely wash the pan separately with a hose and let it dry before reinstalling. What you don’t want to do is use pressured air to blow the dirt because it might push it deeper. A vacuum would be better.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2020, 09:28:17 PM by BrianTRice »
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