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[2020_SRS_Commuter]

My 2020 SRS premium was bought new and currently has about 35k miles. There is no problem with reaching 100SOC on the battery pack, but the charging process indicates a problem.

When I charge at home with the supplied Webasto charger, charging occurs with no problems on 120 or 240v.
On the 240v the display shows I think 32A when charging. 12A for 120V. Works great.
The fans run well on both chargers and there is nothing abnormal that I observed there.

At work I connect to one of the 4 ChargePoints I have access to, and it attempts to charge at 6kw, 56A. I have not personally observed this until recently as it delays charging until just before its time for me to go home, while I am away in the workplace. Its usually finished when I walk out there.

About two weeks ago I arrived at the bike a bit early after work, and it was not done charging. I observed that it would reach 50+ amps, click off, drop to zero, restart, ramp to 50, click off, over and over. There was a kind of crackly noise coming from the bike that sounded like arcing or sparking. A day or two later that particular chargepoint quit working and I attributed the weirdness to that one having a problem. I mean, my bike is charging up all the way every day still, I'm just not normally there to see it.

Last night I was unable to connect during my work shift because the stations were all occupied, so after a person left when my shift was over I connected to another Chargepoint thing that was not the one I just mentioned, and sat down to wait so I could charge up and head home.

I observed that it would achieve 56A, click, drop to 28A, ramp back up to 56A, click, ramp back up, etc. How long it remained at 56a before clicking and dropping back to to 28A varied... it might hold that current level for 1 second or 10 or 20 seconds. Whenever it started ramping up from 28 to 56, or holding at 56, I could hear that same crackling noise. I could not tell which charger it was coming from, if thats where it is coming from. It also seemed like the fans on both chargers kept going... ones fans didnt stop when the click-off occured, as far as I could tell from holding my hands in there to feel the air.

Im guessing one charger has partially failed. Just a guess. When I charge at the lower currents at home there is never an issue.

I wonder, if you are using the Webasto charger at home, are both chargers working at a partial load at that time? Or does the second one only fire up if you have a signal that it can pull full current?

I also wonder if I can buy a replacement charger and try swapping one, then the other if needed, to see if the problem goes away. I dispise the dealer I have access to and I want to avoid them servicing the bike if I can.

Any advice? The good news is it still works.

[DonTom]

"At work I connect to one of the 4 ChargePoints I have access to, and it attempts to charge at 6kw, 56A.:


That needs clarification. Are you saying 6KW at 56 amps?  That doesn't make any sense at all, unless you're charging with 107.4 volts as that will be 6KW and we know that is impossible on a SR/S.


107.4 volts times 56 amps=6KW. No other way to charge at 6KW, other than with 107.4 volts,  with 56 amps being drawn.


So nothing is adding up.


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

What I meant by that is Im looking at the screen on the bike, and the upper right of the screen shows 56 and the lower right shows 6. Then it clicks, and the 56 drops to 28, the 6 drops to 3 something, and it ramps back up again. Im just reporting what I see on the screen.

[Floki]

My experience with my Fiat 500e has taught me never to depend on a Chargepoint actually working. About half the time they refuse to charge my car and cause it to throw up warnings and error codes. And I’ve learned from the forums that this is common with Chargepoint. I wouldn’t plug my Zero into one unless I absolutely had to. They are the only stations I ever have problems with. You might try reporting the problem to Chargepoint if you haven’t. Some say reporting problems gets the station fixed, at least for a while.

[DonTom]

My experience with my Fiat 500e has taught me never to depend on a Chargepoint actually working. About half the time they refuse to charge my car and cause it to throw up warnings and error codes. And I’ve learned from the forums that this is common with Chargepoint. I wouldn’t plug my Zero into one unless I absolutely had to. They are the only stations I ever have problems with. You might try reporting the problem to Chargepoint if you haven’t. Some say reporting problems gets the station fixed, at least for a while.

So far, I have found ChargePoint to be the most reliable of them all.


It is Electrify America that often gives me problems on my 2020 SS9--Except for the one in Fernley, NV. Not sure why, but that one has worked for me every time. But countless others, I had to give up on.


But I hear some of the newer versions of ChargePoint do not like the 21.5 KWH battery--I have no idea why. I hope my Experia with the 22.5 KWH battery will be okay with ChargePoint as it is what I use most often. I will soon know.


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[electrictwowheeler]

I can tell you that both chargers always work, even on 120v. You can see that info if you tap into the MBB through the OBD port. They each put out about half of the current so you might be right about one of the chargers working intermittently. Do the chargers each have a relay? I don't know about that. On my 2020 SR/S it always shows 5.8 KW on the dash while charging on 220v. If there are relays on each separate charger it might just be the relay. The sound might be the relay contacts arcing. I only hear the main contactor close when I start a charge but I will listen more closely tomorrow when I charge. I suppose if there are charger relays they could be internal. You couldn't just get any charger because it would have to be programed for the Zero CAN communication. It seems like you would get an error code of some kind.
As to the Charge Point chargers, I use them all the time and have found them to be good so maybe that is just on the Fiat. My Chevy Spark has a couple of charger brands that don't like it.

[themonsterit]

when you charge at home with 220v you use only one phase and one charger, with 3 phase charge station you use 2 phases and 2 x 3kw chargers.
now to understand where is the problem ... is not easy, maybe the charge station have problems on the second phase and charger disconnect until voltage is stable.. but if you find the same problem on all charge stations i think the problem is on the bike. 
my suggestion is to remove cables from second chargers, check connectors humidity and apply dielectric sillicon grease if is required... maybe is only oxidation problem.
regards
Artur

[electrictwowheeler]

when you charge at home with 220v you use only one phase and one charger, with 3 phase charge station you use 2 phases and 2 x 3kw chargers.
now to understand where is the problem ... is not easy, maybe the charge station have problems on the second phase and charger disconnect until voltage is stable.. but if you find the same problem on all charge stations i think the problem is on the bike. 
my suggestion is to remove cables from second chargers, check connectors humidity and apply dielectric sillicon grease if is required... maybe is only oxidation problem.
regards
Artur

I assume you are in Europe. Commuter mentions charging on 120v so is in the US. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think the US uses single phase 240. I believe that US and European bikes are wired differently.

[electrictwowheeler]

This is how the chargers work on 120v

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

when you charge at home with 220v you use only one phase and one charger, with 3 phase charge station you use 2 phases and 2 x 3kw chargers.
now to understand where is the problem ... is not easy, maybe the charge station have problems on the second phase and charger disconnect until voltage is stable.. but if you find the same problem on all charge stations i think the problem is on the bike. 
my suggestion is to remove cables from second chargers, check connectors humidity and apply dielectric sillicon grease if is required... maybe is only oxidation problem.
regards
Artur

I assume you are in Europe. Commuter mentions charging on 120v so is in the US. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think the US uses single phase 240. I believe that US and European bikes are wired differently.

Im in USA, so in my home two phases of 120v are provided. One phase charging uses one of the phases and the neutral. The other is both phase of course.

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

Thanks for all the replies. I did click notify but somehow it... didnt.
I hope it IS the relay, that hopefully is replaceable, and those chargers must cost a fortune.
From my days in PC repair decades ago I was always cautioned not to run a switching power supply with no load. IDK why, its just what people said. So if the relay burns open and a charger has no load I suppose I'll have to stop limping along with it and tear it down.

Logically it makes sense that relay contacts are the issue because at this point anyway its directly correlated with how much current is flowing. Lower current, no problems. For now.

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

My experience with my Fiat 500e has taught me never to depend on a Chargepoint actually working. About half the time they refuse to charge my car and cause it to throw up warnings and error codes. And I’ve learned from the forums that this is common with Chargepoint. I wouldn’t plug my Zero into one unless I absolutely had to. They are the only stations I ever have problems with. You might try reporting the problem to Chargepoint if you haven’t. Some say reporting problems gets the station fixed, at least for a while.

I've had good luck with the chargepoints at work. I also appreciate that they answer the phone quickly. I report issues to them when I see them. The flaw in this system is they then have to deal with the "Station Owner" and receive permission for, and money for, the repair. In this case the station owner is my employer, a severely bloated and decaying large corporation. So sometimes fixes take months. We had four but have been down to three for quite some time, and meanwhile more and more people are using them.

[karlh]

Im in USA, so in my home two phases of 120v are provided. One phase charging uses one of the phases and the neutral. The other is both phase of course.

US household wiring is fed by single phase 240V (two hot wires) with a center tap on the input transformer (neutral wire) to split it into two 120V circuits.

[DonTom]

I've had good luck with the chargepoints at work.

Are you referring to a J-1772?  All they are is the AC input (like a power outlet) to the charger in your bike. A j-1772 is NOT a charger, it's just an AC  power source. They are common at workplaces and rarely give anybody any issues, regardless of make.


OTOH, CCS true DC chargers are often kinda  flakey. They run too complicated of a program-- so countless different makes and models of EV can use it. I have not heard of any workplaces that had CCS chargers.


-Don- 

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

I was referring to a ChargePoint station, the kind where it has two plugs for EVs and you present either a credit card or a ChargePoint account card to the reader to use it. I'm aware its a source of AC. I don't think they are the source of the problem I'm having. Maybe wrong. There are two different stations there and it happens with both of them.

I think the reason I see the problem at those Chargepoints at work, and not at home, because they tell the bike to pull 56A, instead of the 36 I get with the Webasto at my house. I think the problem occurs at higher currents only. At least for now. Maybe it gets worse before I get a chance to work with it. Im guessing if I had Level 2 charger in my garage capable of 56A I would see the same problem at home.