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[DPsSRnSD]

Has anyone tried a simple power strip with an on off switch?  Nothing else plugged into it of course.

An industrial power strip would work if it's rated for switching 15A. General purpose household power strips might melt or catch fire.

[DonTom]

Has anyone tried a simple power strip with an on off switch?  Nothing else plugged into it of course.

Yes. The power strip I used has a has a circuit breaker as well as an on/off switch.   The circuit breaker tripped after about two hours of charging, so I removed the power strip. The bike charging was the only load on the power strip. But I think this is a cheap HFT power strip.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Justin Andrews]

Switched sockets, so sad that they never took off outside the UK... And of course you lot have the best plug design!

You don't have switched plug sockets...? 

[DPsSRnSD]

Switched sockets, so sad that they never took off outside the UK... And of course you lot have the best plug design!

You don't have switched plug sockets...? 

Yes, but it's inside the house in the living room. I haven't been able to convince my wife to let me bring the bike inside so I can work on it in the air conditioning.

[togo]

> I lobbed on dielectric grease to clean electrical connectors between a right-angle C13 cord semi-permanently fixed to the receptacle on my Zero DSR and it still melted to crap.

Dielectric grease does *not* clean contacts. You need electrical contact cleaner for that. Dielectric grease prevents water ingress and further corrosion from that source but it doesn't clean up any resistance-inducing material or corrosion that is already present.

> As for where to find replacements, I'll keep buying the "3ft 14AWG Right Angle Power Cord #7683" from Monoprice when mine melts, which it is want to do from time to time.

Those are good. 14awg is good, or 12awg to be even safer. If you have access to 220vac, it halves the amps so thinner capable would be ok.

[Doug S]

Dielectric grease does *not* clean contacts. You need electrical contact cleaner for that. Dielectric grease prevents water ingress and further corrosion from that source but it doesn't clean up any resistance-inducing material or corrosion that is already present.

You really need to be a bit careful with that stuff. It's great for keeping water out, but it's non-conductive, so it actually insulates, and it's fairly tenacious, so if you get it on the contacts themselves, you can easily create a WORSE contact than you had before. Since it's silicone, it can be very difficult to completely remove, too. Apply it only to the mechanical sealing edge of the connector (for the Anderson connectors, the back side of each shell), and be careful not to get it too close to the contacts, keeping in mind that it will squeeze out a fair bit when the connector is mated. Look at the way the connector shells go together, and only apply the grease where it's needed to keep water out. It's our best friend in terms of sealing the connector body, but you don't want to just fill up the connector with it. Properly designed contacts should scrub each other clean as they're slid together, but why ask for trouble?

[togo]

Thanks, Doug.  Really good information to get out there.

[Richard230]

When I visited the factory and saw the Zero staff assembling the bikes they really slobbered that stuff all over everything that had a connection or a crack that water might enter.

[clay.leihy]

I always stuffed it into the sparkplug boots of my ICE vehicles. Never a problem. Likewise many auto manufacturers fill the external light sockets with grease. If the contacts have a good tight mechanical connection they'll cut through the grease and displace it.

[DonTom]

Yes, but it's inside the house in the living room. I haven't been able to convince my wife to let me bring the bike inside so I can work on it in the air conditioning.

It's very easy to add a 15 amp switch.  These are rated at 15 amps and you can turn it off and on remotely.

Here is the manual.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[wijnand71]

If the replacement of the cord turns out not to be the solution and the pole is keeping on melting on new cords, it might be a bad crimped AMP connection on the back of the socket like in my scenario:
http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=7127.msg59275#msg59275

[quixotic]

If the replacement of the cord turns out not to be the solution and the pole is keeping on melting on new cords, it might be a bad crimped AMP connection on the back of the socket like in my scenario:
http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=7127.msg59275#msg59275

Is there any way to tell for sure?  (I just had another cord melt).  Just like the first time, it only melted around one of the poles.  Guess I'll take the bike socket out and have a look at the backside.  If so, are those terminals from the bike always hot?  Or can I take a soldering gun to it without worrying about shocking myself?

[wijnand71]

You can check if the hot pole is clean or not. If its clean and still getting hot, it could be the AMP connection on the back. In my case I could see that easily; the heatshrink wich covers the AMP connections on the back was melted.
There should be no power on the poles when the bike is disconnected/unplugged from the mains. So it should be fine to work on.

[quixotic]

You can check if the hot pole is clean or not. If its clean and still getting hot, it could be the AMP connection on the back. In my case I could see that easily; the heatshrink wich covers the AMP connections on the back was melted.
There should be no power on the poles when the bike is disconnected/unplugged from the mains. So it should be fine to work on.

I thought it was clean.  I just used a small file and some rubbing alcohol.  Guess I'll know more when I look around back.  Thanks.

[togo]

You can test it with a multimeter set to resistance.

Resistance should be low.  High resistance will prevent current from flowing, and medium resistance will generate heat, like we learned in physics P=I*R^2.