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[craigomatic]

Hi all,

My gently used, stock 2017 SR (~3000 miles) recently tripped the breaker while charging, and when I discovered this maybe 1-2hrs after it tripped, there was an electrical smell in the air. I was in a bit of a rush after this discovery and later rode the bike to and from work with no issues. The bike said it was at 96% charge when I switched it on for this trip.

It of course now no longer charges and I'm not sure how to go about troubleshooting (I'm about a 45 min ride to the dealer and not sure I have enough juice to make it there).

Electrical smell probably means something is fried, is there a fuse or cable anyone would recommend looking at first? I've attached the relevant section of logs and nothing jumps out at me.

Cheers,
Craig

[rgutt]

There is a fuse located beneath your seat that goes between the charger and rest of the bike. If you download the manual for your bike, it's pretty easy to find. It's also probably not your problem. If you're lucky, you merely fried some wiring between the power receptacle on the side of the bike and the charger itself due to a loose connection. Of course, there are only two connections, one being the C13 bulkhead mounted to the left-hand frame upright and the second at the controller itself. Just start tracing the wires from behind the upright and follow them to the charger looking for burned insulation. More than likely though, your charger is fried.

[TEV]

Hi all,

My gently used, stock 2017 SR (~3000 miles) recently tripped the breaker while charging, and when I discovered this maybe 1-2hrs after it tripped, there was an electrical smell in the air. I was in a bit of a rush after this discovery and later rode the bike to and from work with no issues. The bike said it was at 96% charge when I switched it on for this trip.

It of course now no longer charges and I'm not sure how to go about troubleshooting (I'm about a 45 min ride to the dealer and not sure I have enough juice to make it there).

Electrical smell probably means something is fried, is there a fuse or cable anyone would recommend looking at first? I've attached the relevant section of logs and nothing jumps out at me.

Cheers,
Craig

Try using a different charging cable, any computer/monitor power cable will work, usually one of the connectors, either the one on the bike, or the one on the cable will go bad, and always unplug the charging cable from the power outlet first, not from the bike. 
If using a different charging cable, still trips the breaker, then more likely you have a bad charger, there is no fuse on the AC side of the charger.

[ESokoloff]

Try using a different charging cable, any computer/monitor power cable will work,........

If your power source is 115v then wire size MUST be #14 minimum.

If you have a volt meter & can check for proper voltage at the end of the cord without getting shocked then check that.
If you have a Ohm meter & know how to use it, check for continuity between the pins on the bikes charge socket. 
Should have continuity between the two power pins & infinite (open circuit) between ground & the other pins.
If there is no continuity between the power pins then fault is either charger or within the wiring to the charger. 

[Richard230]

When my charger burned up while it was charging it made a burning smell. But my home electrical breaker did not trip. The charger just died a quick death. 

[craigomatic]

Thank you for the replies, will do some investigation today!

If it does end up being the charger, is there a better option than replacing with the same 1.3kw charger it came with? And where is the best place to buy from? I'm in California.

[TEV]

Thank you for the replies, will do some investigation today!

If it does end up being the charger, is there a better option than replacing with the same 1.3kw charger it came with? And where is the best place to buy from? I'm in California.

https://www.af1racing.com/CALEX-CHARGER-ASSEMBLY-1300W-REG-105-EMC-COMPLIANT-ZM45-08123

Please note: "Current design includes additional ferrite. Please contact Zero Motorcycles Service Team if you need additional guidance on routing"
How to remove the charger: 

[craigomatic]

When my charger burned up while it was charging it made a burning smell. But my home electrical breaker did not trip. The charger just died a quick death. 

Found an almost identical bullet hole on mine, I haven't pulled the charger out just yet to look inside, imagine the board will look similar to yours...

[Skidz]

Still think it's crazy this isn't recalled somehow, if those units fail in almost the same manner it's a manufacturing error imho.

[Richard230]

Still think it's crazy this isn't recalled somehow, if those units fail in almost the same manner it's a manufacturing error imho.

When I replaced my charger, shown below, I discovered that the designed may have been revised in some way. The charger now has a new model number. Hopefully, whatever was burning up in the charger has been fixed in the new model. 

[craigomatic]

I ended up replacing the charging unit a couple of weeks ago, the video linked earlier in the thread was extremely helpful. The replacement unit I got had the same updated model number mentioned above and I noticed a large "box" in the cable that the prior one did not have (was a challenge to get it to where it needed to go)

[DonTom]

If possible, charge with 240 VAC instead of 120 VAC. The Zero OBC is more efficient with 240 VAC, which means less heat in the charger. Less heat could mean a longer life. 


-Don- Reno, NV

[Richard230]

My understanding is that "box" is referred to (at least by my son-in-law) as a "choke", which is designed to reduce sparking when the charger is plugged into the wall outlet. My daughter's 2014 S OBC had two of them stuck on the OBC's internal power cord that is connected to the bike's power connector on the frame, but mine only had one, as does the new OBC.  I took mine apart and it seemed to be nothing but a ferrite lump fastened around the power cord and had no direct connection with the actual wiring. 

[DonTom]

My understanding is that "box" is referred to (at least by my son-in-law) as a "choke", which is designed to reduce sparking when the charger is plugged into the wall outlet. My daughter's 2014 S OBC had two of them stuck on the OBC's internal power cord that is connected to the bike's power connector on the frame, but mine only had one, as does the new OBC.  I took mine apart and it seemed to be nothing but a ferrite lump fastened around the power cord and had no direct connection with the actual wiring.

Nope. It cannot do that. In a way,  it is a choke, but for much higher frequencies than 60 hz. What it does is prevent the noise from the charger getting into the outlet and causing interference to radio receivers such as TVs. It's to meet part 15 of the FCC rues, which states, " (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, ". 

It works by "choking" the high frequencynoise with the skin effect.

-Don- Reno, NV

[Richard230]

My understanding is that "box" is referred to (at least by my son-in-law) as a "choke", which is designed to reduce sparking when the charger is plugged into the wall outlet. My daughter's 2014 S OBC had two of them stuck on the OBC's internal power cord that is connected to the bike's power connector on the frame, but mine only had one, as does the new OBC.  I took mine apart and it seemed to be nothing but a ferrite lump fastened around the power cord and had no direct connection with the actual wiring.

Nope. It cannot so that. In a way,  it is a choke, but for much higher frequencies than 60 hz. What it does is prevent the noise from the charger getting into the outlet and causing interference to radio receivers such as TVs. It's to meet part 15 of the FCC rues, which states, " (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, ". 

It works by "choking" the high frequency noise with the skin effect.



-Don- Reno, NV

Thanks for the explanation. It certainly is a simple device, though.