Great questions, thanks vaiarii - see my answers below in
italics.
Does your charger need the onboard charger to run for the contactor?
Answer - no it doesn't require the onboard charger to run to close the contactorIf so, charging at a domestic socket might be difficult since these are limited to 3.3kW
That's why I would be interested in mennekes adaptor
We may offer a Mennekes adaptor in addition to the J1772 adaptor if there is sufficient demand. If there are other vendors who supply Mennekes to 2 x IEC C19 splitter then that would likely work with our chargers as long as the Mennekes stations provided sufficient current to each IEC19 plug.These rectifiers can be permanently AC input controlled to suit your available power
Does that means I would be able to adjust the power it draws if I 'm aware that the circuit I try to use can't provide enough power?
If so, what would be the adjustment process? (I guess something like turning a screw somewhere...)
We programme the AC input current limit of the charger via CAN commands. We set the chargers to 15A default for each AC input, but it can be as high as 19A for maximum power. At this time, the charger does not have a physical control (button, lever, knob, screen) that allows you to adjust the output current up or down from the setting we make when we ship the charger. Connectors to the CAN terminals are included on our prototype chargers, however it is unlikely that we will give users the commands for them to make changes themselves because of the risk of an unfamiliar person making a mistake and rendering the unit inoperable. when paired in our charger they provide 116v - i.e. 100% charge on a Zero. The Elteks only get you to 115.2v max - about 95%.
I own a 2014 SR, is it concerned by these numbers or are they different?
I also own a 2014 SR and have tested these chargers extensively on my own bike. All Zero motorcycles from 2013 upward have the same max pack voltage.I also read many time that most people doing DIY chargers kept the last % of charge for the OEM charger (for cell balancing I guess). Have you get any troubles when charging up to 100% with your charger? Would it be possible to keep these last % ?
As a CC CV charger, the charger starts reducing current around 114-115V as it nears it's maximum voltage. The last 1v from 115-116 takes a number of minutes to push into the battery as the current drops. So, in effect, the chargers fast charge to around 114-115V and then ramp down as they push in the last ~1-2V. We are able to turn the maximum voltage lower if you wish eg. to 114-115v. With that setup you will have to use another charger (eg. onboard) to get to 100% charge as the chargers will no longer be able to do that.Does your charger automatically stop when reaching its top % of charge or do I have to stop it "by hand" ? (in other words can I let the charger work alone and take a 2 hour brunch
without fear)
Yes, the chargers stop pushing current when they reach 100% charge ~116V, so you can leave them unmonitored. However the chargers don't power off entirely - the fans run whenever they are connected to a live AC socket. When you have finished fast charging, you should turn them off in a reasonable timeframe - i.e. minutes rather than hours. They are not like a slow-charger that you would leave on all night.I'm not familiar with import duties for different countries
Me neither
I don't even know how this works (should the duties be paid in advance when expeding the paquet from Australia? or when receiving here in France? who should know how much it cost? ...)
But I really whish you charger to be mine in a few time!
We hope to get enough interest to sell you one. However, all import duties, VAT etc will be the responsibility of the buyer. Please research them before buying.Do you have expected date for sale?
No, we don't have an expected sale date. We're asking for expressions of interest because there is a significant amount of cost, effort and risk to package and sell chargers such as these as can be seen with others on this forum who have being doing it over the last 1-2 years with mixed success.
If there isn't sufficient interest for the chargers we are offering, we won't sell them. The chargers will suit a certain type of Zero owner but not all so we need to understand how many people that may be - 10, 50, 100?. As these are a low cost charger, there is little to no profit in these chargers - we are doing this because we want more Zero riders enjoying their bikes. Fast charging rocks but the other charger options suitable for Zeros are either too expensive, too heavy, or too large for many Zero owners so we wanted to bring something to market that might work for some of those who haven't taken the plunge into fast charging or want something smaller, lighter and more powerful than what they already have.
We're not an EV charger manufacturer with dozens of employees and a huge R&D budget, however, we have in-depth understanding of Zero motorcycles from over 2 years of racing, performance tuning and fast charging, PCB design skills, along with access to electrical and mechanical engineering knowledge to be able to take commercial DC power equipment and package them into chargers suitable for our Zeros.
The poll has given us a reasonable indication of demand and coupled with interest on facebook and other e-bike sites we will be able to make a decision on whether to proceed in the next week or two.
We will provide an update to this thread by the end of April on whether, and how, we will sell these chargers.
It's been a largely positive response thanks to the kind words from people like yourself.
Thanks again!
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