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[Papochk]

Hi there, first post and new owner.

So I bought this used SR and I am experiencing range issues. I don't travel far for work and I am seeing battery loses ranging about 10% after only 3 miles going on average of 40 mph.  The bike does have that older power pack which is 45 lbs and I am a 195 lb rider. The average watt hour per miles is 104. I am scheduled for the dealership and asked for general inspection. Any clues for issues or is this normal? I want to learn and be knowledgeable.

[Crissa]

Uhh... Why does it only have 2.8kWh pack?

Because 10% of 2.8 is about three miles...

-Crissa

[staples]

It's probably the Power Tank at 2.8kWh.

[Papochk]

Yes the discontinued zf 2.8 power tank. I didn't know it was there when I purchased the bike. So that on top of the 12.5 normal setup and I am burning through the battery charge going the average speed on the road.  So,  doing the math, I probably couldn't make it more than 30-40 miles

[Crissa]

What we're saying is that your bike isn't using more than a single battery module.  If it has the Power Tank, it ahould have five modules.  10% over three miles is exactly the performance if the bike was only using the Power Tank.

That's bad.

-Crissa

[mdjak1]

I wonder if it is possible that the main battery is bad or the battery management system board for the main battery has failed?   I would imagine the power tank has its own battery management system board that is still functional and that is why the bike still works at all.

[Papochk]

Oh yeah, that sounds bad! So the simple answer at this point is the main battery working.

[mdjak1]

The fact that the battery is out of warranty is bad.   On my 2017 FXS modular, one of the two battery management boards failed but being within the 5 year warranty meant that I didn't have to pay for the repair. 

Of course, it could be something else that is causing the bike to work only on the power tank.  Best bet is let a Zero dealer see what they can find.  I hope you didn't pay a lot for the bike.

[Papochk]

I have it scheduled at the dealership this week, but I am glad that I have new information to share. I'll have them start there!  Thank you!

[TEV]

You can take a look at the BMS lights on the main battery pack, that will tell you the status of that pack https://zeromanual.com/wiki/BMS_Reset_Procedure

[Shadow]

I have it scheduled at the dealership this week, but I am glad that I have new information to share. I'll have them start there!  Thank you!

There's a setting in BMS to run the bike without the loopback plug attached to an open-ended powertank harness. Obviously this is a safety measure. It does mean that the dealer (or an owner taking due care) should be able to disconnect their powertank and run the bike on the monolith battery only. The dealer should (my opinion) have on-hand basic diagnostic tools like a spare loopback plug for the powertank harness as well.

Source: have done this myself w/ help from someone who sold me a powertank that frequently became out-of-step with my monolith because of cell and cycle life aging also different Ah ratings for the cells. Can't explain further as I don't remember details, they'd fiddled with the BMS setting for a safety interlock to allow me to drop the cowl and charge the monolith-only configuration then re-attach the powertank and charge again until the two modules were in-step again.

[Papochk]

This is great information!

[Papochk]

I followed instructions from the manual. When I uncovered the weather plugs on the front of the battery both top and bottom the top one with the four LEDs. Going in order red green green Green, only the fourth LED was blinking green no other colors.  I did a reset on the right and then both following the instructions from the manual. The LEDs lit up to all four and then two and four green LEDs both blinked and went back to only blinking on number four.

[TEV]

I followed instructions from the manual. When I uncovered the weather plugs on the front of the battery both top and bottom the top one with the four LEDs. Going in order red green green Green, only the fourth LED was blinking green no other colors.  I did a reset on the right and then both following the instructions from the manual. The LEDs lit up to all four and then two and four green LEDs both blinked and went back to only blinking on number four.

One blinking green light it's, usually, a good sign. Until you get to the dealer, you should let the bike on charging as much as possible ( I know that it goes against the "new recommendations" ) to give the charger the opportunity to balance the cells and the packs, if the packs don't get to the same voltage the bike will only use one of the packs.

Good luck.

Tom