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[2020_SRS_Commuter]

The battery light on my dash flashes on for a split second from time to time. Maybe once in an hour of riding, and probably less if I had to guess. When it does, if I have my big extra road lights on I can see them dim just a split second as the battery light flashes. If only the stock headlight is on.... haven't seen that flicker.

I tried turning on the road lights and the grip heaters and high beam, and flashers, everything at once, to try to load the thing and see if the battery light comes on then but it didn't. The little flashes seem random, not associated with a bump in the road or any action I can take.

Could the DC to DC module be going bad? I'm going to use a load tester on the 12v battery tonight to check that as well.
I'd rather not replace the DC to DC to see what happens unless I can be reasonably sure that's the issue, because of the cost and the hassle of changing it.

I'm assuming that at some time, maybe all the time, the DC to DC must be in parallel with the battery to charge it. When does the 12v battery have charging voltage applied? All the time the bike is on? There must also be some charge times when the bike is off because of the cell connection module. Is that also constant?

[zeronimbus]

I noticed this too yesterday morning when I unplugged, it came on briefly for 1/2 second.
for me I think it's since the last update...
for a problem solved by an update, zero creates new ones lol

[Richard230]

Maybe that light is just a test to see if it really works.   

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

Thanks for the replies. I've purchased a meter and shunt, something people use to monitor solar panels evidently,  to add to the battery and make observations. It will be here in a few days.

[karlh]

I'm assuming that at some time, maybe all the time, the DC to DC must be in parallel with the battery to charge it. When does the 12v battery have charging voltage applied? All the time the bike is on? There must also be some charge times when the bike is off because of the cell connection module. Is that also constant?

I believe the DC-DC converter only operates when the key is on or the bike is charging.  I say that because, during the first winter I owned my SR/S, the 12 V battery was drained because the bike was not on or charging for a few months.  I was able to recover the battery with an Optimate lithium charger.  Now I periodically turn the bike on for 20-30 minutes when not riding for extended periods to keep the 12 V charged.

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

I learned from experimenting with my shunt and meter that when the contactor closes when you first power the bike up, from that point on the DC to DC is active. It keeps the voltage at about 13.2 and the current from the battery at zero, no pun intended.
WHen I first key the bike on , the battery light is lit and I can see 2a coming out of the battery, for the low beam and all else. Then the contactor closes, battery light goes out, and voltage rises a bit from 13.1 to 13.2 and current drops to zero.
Im still working on this. I think maybe its my big LED spot lights that are causing the problem.
I can see the voltage supplied by the dc to dc decreasing as I turn stuff on. For example, instead of 13.2V, if I turn on grip heat full, high beam, LED spotlights, and brake light I'm down to 12.9V with little tiny current draws appearing from the battery from time to time. The LED spot lights are supposed to be 20W, each, so 40W total.

I see in the logs this message that is probably correlated with the little battery light flashes.

2086     10/29/2024 23:57:25   P   ?üFault pending: 12V_COMBINED_LVW sets in 30 seconds   
 02087     10/29/2024 23:57:25   ¾
?üFault cleared: 12V_COMBINED_LVW   

Im guessing LVW is "Low Voltage Warning".

This is different than another error/flag that can be set, DC to DC LOW, which I believe appears when the contactor is open and its running on battery power, or when it periodically closes the contact when sitting parked, to keep the battery charged.

[zeronimbus]

I have a lifepo charger that I plug in quite often in winter.
Last week, I saw this light come on for a brief second...
I put my lifepo charger on Sunday, which optimized the battery and since then nothing to report this week.
It's possible that it's your lights that are causing this problem.
Maybe the sign of a battery that's not charged enough.

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

Im still working on this. The DC to DC is on all the time the bike is keyed on, after the contactor closes. It also closes the contactor sometimes when the bike is off in response to a request to charge the 12v battery. This can be seen in the logs.

My bike charges my battery to about 13.3v. Is that high enough? I used a Battery Tender for LI batteries to charge the 12v battery tonight, after disconnecting from the bike. When I first connected the Tender, it showed that the battery was already above 80% charge at 13.3, then pulled it up to 13.8 before stopping. I disconnected it and the battery remained at 13.8. After reconnecting the battery to the bike in a few moments it was back down to 13.3, 13.2.

Has anyone noticed in their logs this line, from the bike occasionally charging the battery when its off? And if so, is your battery voltage higher?

02354     04/06/2024 15:46:44   ¸?
üStopping 12v charge.  DC-DC 240752uV, Battery 13096648uV, Combined 12300354uV, Ambient 24C

I'm wondering if these events here correspond to the little flashes of the battery light, which occur when its keyed on:
02225     11/03/2024 20:46:20   Ö¬üFault pending: 12V_COMBINED_LVW sets in 30 seconds   
02226     11/03/2024 20:46:20   °?üFault cleared: 12V_COMBINED_LVW   

Note the above is not the same thing as this set, I don't think, where it calls for a top up of 12v when the bike is keyed off.

02087     11/03/2024 20:20:45   x¼"üFault pending: DC_DC_LOW sets in 30 seconds   
02088     11/03/2024 20:20:45   x¼#üFault pending: ALL_CONTACTORS_OPEN sets in 30 seconds

The latter I assume is normal, the former, not normal.

[karlh]

I usually see around 13.3V on the ZeNGo aftermarket app right after riding.

I've never seen the contactors close to keep the 12V charged when the key was off.  As I indicated in reply #4, I've seen my 12V discharge to the point where I couldn't turn the bike on and was only able to recover it with a Lithium charger.

This sounds like a question for Zero Tech Support, if you can get them to respond.

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

Zengo, I'll try that. I dont see a "zengo" in the google app store. Where did you get it?

I assumed the bike closing the contactor from time to time to charge the 12v was normal. Mine has always done that. If Im passing through my garage sometimes I'll hear it click. Not often

[karlh]

The app is actually titled Zer0 Electric Motorcycles App, and the "0" at the end of Zer0 is the numeral 0, not a capital O.

When you hear the contactor click with the key off, is the charger plugged in?

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

When I hear the click, its not connected to the charger.
Its just sitting, parked and keyed off. There is no sign of activity any other way. I assume thats correlated to the log events saying its 12v is low and calling for a charge. Since the cell module always has power you would think it needs to be charged from time to time. On my bike the cell feature doesnt work anymore btw. If I do a remote connect I may see its status from hours or days ago.

[karlh]

My cell module does not connect either unless the key is on or the bike is charging.  I have a case open with Zero, and this seems to be a common problem, but I'm not holding my breath.  If the cell module doesn't connect then the ZeNGo app is using the same old data that the Zero app uses when you try Remote Connect.

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

I contacted Zero back when it was still under warranty about the cell module but they didn't respond after creating a case number, and I didn't keep pushing on them so nothing happened.

The Zengo app shows my bikes location correctly, and its SOC. On the "overview" page there are some words in letters that are white with a black outline, and the word "dropped!" . The "model" number which I assume is the serial number is wrong, mileage is wrong, location is correct, and there is a  voltage shown which is 12.79V. I checked with a meter and my battery is 13.2  There are three little orangish icons that show a power plug, and two battery icons, but they are nearly transparent as if they are unavailable, and they cant be selected.
So, thanks, it was worth looking at that app but I think Im going to uninstall it. Maybe if the cell module actually worked it would be more useful.

I'm considering throwing money at my problem/symptom by replacing the 12v battery. Ive used these kinds of batteries in other motorcycles and yard equipment and they do decay and ultimately go bad, and this one is at least 4 years old. Maybe its time.

[karlh]

The Unit No should be the serial number of the CCM; mine is correct.  The mileage is what is recorded in the CCM, which I think is based on the CCM's GPS receiver.  Since I had my CCM replaced a few weeks ago, that mileage is way off.  Even when my old CCM was working, the ZeNGo app mileage increased faster than the odometer on the dash.

The "dropped!" display indicates if the bike has been dropped.  The plug and battery symbols indicate the charger cord is plugged in and the charging status.  The date and time below the large SOC circle shows when the data was received.  The time is UTC.