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[Killroy]

I had to replace regular charge cord because the plastic on the plug around the terminals started to deform and crack from too much arcing.

At work I share a charge cord with 2 other Zeros and it gets used every work day.  It about a year old and I know its rated for our Zeros on-board.  It is run on a long extension cord that is also rated for our power, FYI.

I use to think the problem was moisture in the terminals, but now we have a new cord and I am seeing and hearing evidence of arcing on the new plug when it is dry.  I notice it when plunging in, not pulling out. 

The GFCI holds up fine.

Is it a issue with the charger?  Or is that just the way it is for our on-board charger? 

My coworker has the FX and he said he is not experiencing the problem. 

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Try spraying contact cleaner on the power inlet. Resistance there is what can overheat your cord plug.

[Erasmo]

Also plug in the bike before the wall socket.

There are 3 Zero riders at your workplace? Cool!

[jnef]

If you can get connected to a 240-volt connection instead, that would help too.  Double the voltage, half the current, and therefore much less heat during charging.  Wouldn't help the initial inrush arc on connection though.

[Killroy]

Also plug in the bike before the wall socket.

I have been trying that.  It works better, but I still think there is a little arcing when I plug in the other side of the cord to the extension. 

[Killroy]

Try spraying contact cleaner on the power inlet. Resistance there is what can overheat your cord plug.

I will try that.  It can't hurt. 

I don't think it is a heat build up issue though. 

[Richard230]

Whenever I connect my 12V motorcycle/car battery chargers to my 120V wall outlet I get a spark and a "snap".  However, I haven't noticed that with my Zero's charger.  What I do with my Zero is to leave my charger cord connected to my wall outlet and plug in the charger cord at the frame connection when I want to charge the battery pack. If there is a spark, I don't see or hear it. 

[Kocho]

I do hear it on mine if I do exactly what you do. So I do the opposite - plug the Zero end, then plug in the wall.

I've read/seen on YouTube about another person with a '13 who's been going through power cords at an unreasonable rate due to arching and burning at the Zero socket at the bike. Maybe the contacts in the bike are undersized or something like that and don't make good contact with the power cord?

Whenever I connect my 12V motorcycle/car battery chargers to my 120V wall outlet I get a spark and a "snap".  However, I haven't noticed that with my Zero's charger.  What I do with my Zero is to leave my charger cord connected to my wall outlet and plug in the charger cord at the frame connection when I want to charge the battery pack. If there is a spark, I don't see or hear it. 

[Killroy]

Looks like there is a issue with the terminals on my Zero and its going to be warranty replaced tomorrow. 

I'm local to Zero Customer Service at their headquarters in Scotts Valley and they were available today to see my SR. 

Nicolas at Zero said that popping or arcing is OK, but one terminal was burnt from overheating during charging because a bad/high resistance harness to terminal connection.

He also replace my power cord. 

[MajorMajor]

I plug the charge cord into the Zero first and afterwards the wall socket.
I figure, if there's going to be damage, I prefer it on the wall socket than on the bike itself.

[Richard230]

Well there is another reason that I plug the charger cord into the side of the bike instead of the wall outlet.  My bike is parked in front of the wall and I have to lean over it and extend my arm to reach the wall outlet. Leading to the possibility of me loosing my balance and falling on to the Zero, possibly pushing it forward and off of the side stand.  (It did happen once a couple of years ago.    )  Anyway, so far I have charged my Zero hundreds of times by plugging the cord into the bike's terminal last without any problems occurring.

[Kocho]

I think unplugging while in the middle of full-current charging (when the current is highest) might be worse than plugging at the beginning of a charge (when the current is smaller). Since many unplug only after charging has completed, probably a non-issue for them. I often unplug at partial charge and I think it is safer for the bike and cord to do it at the outlet in the long run.

The other aspect is a quick and decisive motion to connect and disconnect. Not a slow and careful approach that would let the arching linger longer than necessary ...

The potential damage due to the arching is slow and cumulative - it will happen over many charge cycles. Will it ever get bad enough to notice? If you are lucky enough - no, it won't get bad enough to cause overheating or a bad connection. But if the contacts are already weak for some other reason, it might happen faster.

Now if that rubber plug on the bike would somehow remind me to put it back over the charge port on the bike after charging, it would be ideal I keep forgetting it off and dangling after a charge, leaving the port exposed while I ride...

Well there is another reason that I plug the charger cord into the side of the bike instead of the wall outlet.  My bike is parked in front of the wall and I have to lean over it and extend my arm to reach the wall outlet. Leading to the possibility of me loosing my balance and falling on to the Zero, possibly pushing it forward and off of the side stand.  (It did happen once a couple of years ago.    )  Anyway, so far I have charged my Zero hundreds of times by plugging the cord into the bike's terminal last without any problems occurring.

[Killroy]

I went home expecting my home charge cord to be fried, but it looks brand new.  That's weird. 

[Shadow]

The manual states to plug and unplug from the wall, and that is what I have done for 7000mi+ on my 2016 DSR. However my charge cord melted on the bike side. The problem was noted and the bike is in for clean-up of some shoddy earlier warranty work. My guess is this kind of plug is not rated for the heat of a higher resistance electrical contact connection, and the contacts are not self-cleaning, so it is susceptible to failure due to heat.

[Killroy]

I went home to see how my power cord at home was doing because my guess was that it was fried too, but it was not!

It looked brand new.

Looks like not all charge cords are created equal.