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[Alan. Yes THAT Alan]

Some background:
 My 2014 worked perfectly last year. Then somebody stole it. The police recovered it. I just got it home yesterday.

 I can turn on the 'ignition' and everything boots up. The Zero is driveable. The dashboard shows 45% charge.
But when I plug in the power cable, nothing happens. Nothing lights up. There's no relay click. I can connect my phone via bluetooth and it doesn't say anything is wrong. The Zero just never acknowledges that it has an AC cord plugged in.
  The cord works. The A/C outlet works. I can see the 3 prongs in the plug-in hole.

Any ideas where the problem is?

[DonTom]

Some background:
 My 2014 worked perfectly last year. Then somebody stole it. The police recovered it. I just got it home yesterday.

 I can turn on the 'ignition' and everything boots up. The Zero is driveable. The dashboard shows 45% charge.
But when I plug in the power cable, nothing happens. Nothing lights up. There's no relay click. I can connect my phone via bluetooth and it doesn't say anything is wrong. The Zero just never acknowledges that it has an AC cord plugged in.
  The cord works. The A/C outlet works. I can see the 3 prongs in the plug-in hole.

Any ideas where the problem is?

Your OBC most likely crapped out. You can still use an external charger such as a DeltaQ but you will have to turn on the key to get it to start charging. If you do not have a way to charge it up soon, do NOT ride it. You want to keep the SOC near that 45%, if it gets to zero, you could ruin the battery.


So you can charge it with an external charger or replace the OBC.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[TheRan]

I would say the chances of the charger crapping out after 8 years at the exact time you get it back after being stolen aren't that likely. However a thief fucking about with stuff is. They could have been poking about trying to find a way to hotwire it, assuming they didn't have your key too. The first and most obvious thing I can think of to check would be the connections behind the charge port and all the wires that go into the rear of the charger. Then it's under the seat which they may have removed, I'm not sure of the exact locations of parts you'd want to check under there but you could see if there's anything that looks out of place or damaged.

[Alan. Yes THAT Alan]

TheRan,
  The thief didn't have the key; he drilled out the 'ignition' lock, so the motorcycle can be started with a flathead screwdriver. And the seat has been removed for some reason, so he was trying to do something under there. I didn't see anything obviously cut or loose but I'll look again. Is there any kind of safety cutoff switch/fuse that I should be looking for?

[TheRan]

There is a fuse for the charging circuit. Unlikely to be damaged from just poking about as it's more substantial than the little 12v fuses but for all you know the thief could have tried charging with a dodgy cord.

https://zeromanual.com/wiki/Gen2/Charging_Circuit_Fuse

[Alan. Yes THAT Alan]

TheRan,
  Thanks for that link. I started looking for that little fuse last night (still haven't found it). But I did notice a couple of things:
1) To clarify, when I plug in the charging cable, absolutely NOTHING happens. No relay click, nothing comes on the dashboard, and no change in the small LEDs on the front of the battery.

2) The thief had already removed the seat for some reason. Inside there, I see any obvious cut wires, but I do see several zipties that have been cut, so he was in there doing something.

3) I've removed the bottom floorpan, to get to the charger. The wide connector is plugged in tightly. Is there anything I can look at on the charger itself (a hidden LED or something?) to verify that power is even getting to it?

4) I'll go look out today and look again for that inline contactor fuse that I can't locate. Does anybody have a photo of what it looks like while it's on the motorcycle? Also, is the fuse between the charger and the contactor/relay, or is it between the contactor/relay and the battery?

[DonTom]

TheRan,
  Thanks for that link. I started looking for that little fuse last night (still haven't found it). But I did notice a couple of things:
1) To clarify, when I plug in the charging cable, absolutely NOTHING happens. No relay click, nothing comes on the dashboard, and no change in the small LEDs on the front of the battery.

2) The thief had already removed the seat for some reason. Inside there, I see any obvious cut wires, but I do see several zipties that have been cut, so he was in there doing something.

3) I've removed the bottom floorpan, to get to the charger. The wide connector is plugged in tightly. Is there anything I can look at on the charger itself (a hidden LED or something?) to verify that power is even getting to it?

4) I'll go look out today and look again for that inline contactor fuse that I can't locate. Does anybody have a photo of what it looks like while it's on the motorcycle? Also, is the fuse between the charger and the contactor/relay, or is it between the contactor/relay and the battery?

Have you tried to charge with the key on, so the contactor will close?


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Alan. Yes THAT Alan]

Don,
  When I turn on the key, I can hear a relay clunk somewhere, but it still doesn't acknowledge any kind of charging cable present.

[DonTom]

Don,
  When I turn on the key, I can hear a relay clunk somewhere, but it still doesn't acknowledge any kind of charging cable present.

That is the same contactor in the battery. It has to close for the battery to charge or for the bike to run.


If you're not hearing it when you first try to charge, it is not closing as it should. However, turning the key on will close it. So if it still will not charge, you have more than one reason why. Both of them can be the OBC itself.


By any chance do you have a Delta-Q to try? You will have to key on the bike to use it if your OBC is not closing the contactor.


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Alan. Yes THAT Alan]

Don,
  I think your first instinct was correct.
  I unplugged the connector that runs out from the charger. The sticker on the charger says the output should be 116V DC. But when I connected my multimeter to it, I got 0.0V. Then I double-checked to make sure I didn't accidentally unplug something else while I was trying to get to the connector. Nope; everything is plugged in tightly. Checked the output again, and this time it's fluctuating between 12V and 17V. Nowhere near the 116V that it should have. But at least there is SOME voltage coming from the charger.

  I plugged the charger back into its connector, but still no relay click and no sign of life on the dashboard. I'm guessing that there's a minimum voltage needed to click the relay and tell the computer that it's time to charge and 17V is below that minimum.
  Even with the "key-on" position, there's a clunk from a relay and the motorcycle powers up, but still won't acknowledge any kind of charging taking place.

  My conclusion is that you were right at the start and the charger has gone bad while it was in the custody of my motorcycle thief. Anybody have another alternative? Is there other troubleshooting that I should do, to narrow down the problem?

[DonTom]

  I unplugged the connector that runs out from the charger. The sticker on the charger says the output should be 116V DC. But when I connected my multimeter to it, I got 0.0V.

That may not mean a thing. Most modern chargers put out no voltage until they see at least some voltage from the battery.


I can tell you for certain my Elcon external chargers are that way. No output voltage until connected to the battery. I assume the OBC will be the same.


I assume they do that for safety.


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Alan. Yes THAT Alan]

Ah. Then it still could be that mystery fuse that I still haven't been able to get to. Will hunt for it again tomorrow.
  Thanks for the alternative.

[TheRan]

Yeah they're not like a laptop charger, they won't put out any power unless told to do so. I'm pretty sure it doesn't need to see any voltage from a battery to do so, it just needs a signal (canbus?) telling it to turn on. You can think of them as not just chargers but as power supplies, like you would get in a computer for example, and thus they can be used to constantly power something that doesn't even have a battery.

https://zeromanual.com/wiki/Gen2/Calex_Charger

This article may be of some use should you wish to "hotwire" the charger into putting out power to see if it's still functional. I don't really understand what it's saying, it may just be enough to connect pin 11 to pin 13 but absolutely don't take my word for that:
https://zeromanual.com/wiki/Gen2/Calex_Charger/Connections

[Richard230]

The OBC is a lot more complicated inside than you might think. Lots of electronic parts that could fail and put it out of commission. Attached are a couple of pictures of my OBC after one of those parts inside failed and started a small fire that put a quick end to its charging abilities.   

[DonTom]

I'm pretty sure it doesn't need to see any voltage from a battery to do so, it just needs a signal (canbus?) telling it to turn on.

While there is more than one way to accomplish the same outcome, my Elcons have NO connections to anything other than the battery. No canbus connections. They only charge to 95% SOC because of that. After the 95%, the OBC has to do the rest to get to 100% SOC.  They require the battery voltage to turn on. And also turn off at a certain voltage (~95% SOC).


Of course, the OBC can use the canbus and most likely does.  I really don't know how it turns on and off.  But it really could require both the battery voltage and the canbus.


-Don-  Auburn, CA