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[TNCreator]

Hey.

I am considering using my charge tank as a low power charger, to avoid using the unreliable standard 1.3kw charger.
This seems easy enough with a simple cable like this : https://www.evchargeking.com/fr/chargeur-mobile-type-1-10a

now my question is, as you already saw in the title, does this have any influence on the cell balancing by the bms ?
the two chargers seems to have a very different integration to the bike, and the balancing process with the standard charger only starts once the battery is full if I recall correctly.

So, does the charge tank as a daily charger still allows to balance the pack if left plugged ?

thank !

[TheRan]

I would imagine so, the balancing is done by the BMS so it shouldn't matter which charger is feeding it (on board, charge tank, or an external one connected to the accessory charging port).

[DPsSRnSD]

Is your cell balance excessive? Previously on my SR, I charged from 20 to 90% weekly with a pair of tank-mounted Diginows. This was sufficient to keep my cell balance typically below 5mV.

[MVetter]

Chargers do not balance the cells. The BMS balances the cells. The charge tank, when activated, will put the bike into charge mode. This lets the BMS go into cell balancing at 114+ volts.

[Doug S]

As noted by others, cell balancing is handled by the BMS, so yes, it will cell balance on any charger.

The real question, though, is are you going to be connected long enough to do it? I strongly doubt it, since most likely the whole reason you're using a more powerful charger is to charge up faster and get back on the road quicker.

[DPsSRnSD]

As noted by others, cell balancing is handled by the BMS, so yes, it will cell balance on any charger.

The real question, though, is are you going to be connected long enough to do it? I strongly doubt it, since most likely the whole reason you're using a more powerful charger is to charge up faster and get back on the road quicker.

I charged at 7.2kW and didn't have a problem. YMMV

[JaimeC]

The point being that balancing occurs only when the battery is at 100%.  Typically that only happens when you're slow-charging overnight but if you charge to 100% on a J1772 station and leave it there long enough, balancing will occur.  I believe Zero recommends charging to 100% once a month to maintain the cell balance, but I don't remember where I read that.

[MVetter]

Close to 100%. Over 114 volts, and pack capacity is 116.4

[TNCreator]

Thanks all for the information, makes sense.

About keeping it plugged at 100% long enough, initially my question was about replacing the overnight use of the onboard charger by a wall plug to j1772 adapter to avoid using the onboard charger, so yeah it would still sit at 100% in my garage at will, no problem about that !

[Crissa]

Aside from the monthly cell-balance or the night before you're going to use up half the battery, the bike shouldn't be left at 100%.

-Crissa

[DPsSRnSD]

Thanks all for the information, makes sense.

About keeping it plugged at 100% long enough, initially my question was about replacing the overnight use of the onboard charger by a wall plug to j1772 adapter to avoid using the onboard charger, so yeah it would still sit at 100% in my garage at will, no problem about that !

The bike won't remain charging all night. The charge rate will taper as SOC goes over about 90% until the charger shuts down and the contactor opens. I don't think I saw if you responded to how off is your cell balance. If it's low, you can continue with your current practice. I've read conflicting information about how the BMS handles cell balancing. If it only did it in the taper, my cells would never have been actively balanced since I tried to avoid entering that final regime. Yet, my cells typically stayed within 5mV of each other. One might be led to think that the BMS has been set up to balance the cells whenever warranted while the contactor is closed.

[MVetter]

The bike won't remain charging all night. The charge rate will taper as SOC goes over about 90% until the charger shuts down and the contactor opens. I don't think I saw if you responded to how off is your cell balance. If it's low, you can continue with your current practice. I've read conflicting information about how the BMS handles cell balancing. If it only did it in the taper, my cells would never have been actively balanced since I tried to avoid entering that final regime. Yet, my cells typically stayed within 5mV of each other. One might be led to think that the BMS has been set up to balance the cells whenever warranted while the contactor is closed.

Again, cell balancing on Zero bikes is enacted when the battery is over 114 volts.

[DPsSRnSD]

cell balancing on Zero bikes is enacted when the battery is over 114 volts.

What is that? Something between 80 and 90%?

[TheRan]

95%

https://zeromanual.com/wiki/State_of_Charge

[DPsSRnSD]

The bike won't remain charging all night. The charge rate will taper as SOC goes over about 90% until the charger shuts down and the contactor opens.

I'm walking this back. In 2016, when my bike remained plugged in whenever it was home, before firmware updates, before new guidance from Zero, and before I installed DigiNow chargers, I recall being surprised that my contactor seemingly closed again about 24 hours after the bike had finished charging to 100%.