Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Richard230]

I have been unable to determine by reading the 2018 Zero owner's manual if this is supposed to happen:  Once the bike has fully charged and you remove the charging cable, as recommended by Zero, the information on the display and the green charging light stay lit - apparently forever, until you toggle the ignition on and off.  Then it goes blank, as did my 2014 Zero when the power cord was disconnected. Does anyone know if this is a new "feature" of the 2018 models?

Another odd thing is that the four LED battery charging indicator lights behind the clear window on the front fairing, behind the front wheel, have been deleted.  The 2018 owner's manual says to pull the rubber cover off of the front of the bike to check the status of the charging of the battery pack by looking at the lights under the cover.  However, there are no lights under the cover.  Just a lot of silicon waterproofing grease and the Zero cable connection installed under this cover from at least since 2012.

[Shadow]

Are you perhaps looking at the effect of residual power in the capacitors from the charging circuit? When at the end of a charging cycle the charger from my 2016 DSR is drawing very little power and will remain on for a while (some minutes... not overnight). The same effect is seen on a 2017 FX because its charger is such low draw the charging mode stays active much longer than I'm used to compared to the '16 DSR. Alternatively if there is something keeping the charging mode line high like powertank or chargetank I would guess, it might take even longer.

[Richard230]

Are you perhaps looking at the effect of residual power in the capacitors from the charging circuit? When at the end of a charging cycle the charger from my 2016 DSR is drawing very little power and will remain on for a while (some minutes... not overnight). The same effect is seen on a 2017 FX because its charger is such low draw the charging mode stays active much longer than I'm used to compared to the '16 DSR. Alternatively if there is something keeping the charging mode line high like powertank or chargetank I would guess, it might take even longer.

The display and steady green charging light seems to stay on at least for 12 hours, that I have noticed so far. When I return home today and recharge the pack after my ride, I plan to pull the plug and then see how long the display stays lit.  Maybe you are right and it will go out eventually, without a reboot of the ignition. It could be that Zero has changed a component that is hanging on to more power than it used to once the charging system is turned off. 

[Richard230]

Today, after 24 hours, the display was still lit, showing a 100% charge and the green charge light was still lit.  So I checked the charge with the  Zero app and it showed 100% charge and 15.18 kWh.  Then I plugged in the charger, the contactor clicked on, and it immediately started charging at 1460 watts for about 10 minutes.  So I checked the app again with the charging cord plugged in, while charging at 5 watts, and it showed a 100% charge and 15.38 kWh available.  So turned off the app and pulled the charger plug - and the contactor (finally) clicked off, as did the charging light and the dash display.    Hopefully whatever was going on has fixed itself.    I guess time will tell. 

[NEW2elec]

Shot in the dark guess here, I wonder if it's staying on to link with the app?

[Richard230]

Shot in the dark guess here, I wonder if it's staying on to link with the app?

I don't think that is the case.  I turn the app off and the dash Bluetooth symbol goes out before I pull the plug. The problem seems to be that the contactor switch is not clicking off when the charger plug is pulled, as always happened with my 2014 Zero.  Maybe I need to get down there and lubricate the contactor switch.    Or perhaps a tap with a heavy hammer will help.  That has always helped me solve my mechanical problems in the past. 

[Richard230]

Well, whatever the problem with the display and the charging light staying on after pulling the plug was, it seems to have corrected itself.  And I didn't even have to get out my hammer.    Happy days are here again. 

[Ndm]

Sometimes the threat of the hammer is greater than the hammer itself, maybe zero built in some AI!

[TheGap]

Once the bike has fully charged and you remove the charging cable, as recommended by Zero, the information on the display and the green charging light stay lit - apparently forever, until you toggle the ignition on and off.

I have the exact same behaviour on my Zero SR 2017.

I have been unable to determine by reading the 2018 Zero owner's manual if this is supposed to happen

Neither have I and I already asked my reseller several times by mail ... I just don't get a response.

[Richard230]

Once the bike has fully charged and you remove the charging cable, as recommended by Zero, the information on the display and the green charging light stay lit - apparently forever, until you toggle the ignition on and off.

I have the exact same behaviour on my Zero SR 2017.

I have been unable to determine by reading the 2018 Zero owner's manual if this is supposed to happen

Neither have I and I already asked my reseller several times by mail ... I just don't get a response.

I thought the problem had fixed itself, but it happened again yesterday. Even though the display was showing 100% charge and the charging light was lit with the power cord unplugged, I plugged the cord back in and it started charging again.  After a few minutes, I checked the battery pack with the Zero app and it showed 15.38 kWh available and the cell balancing was ranging between 1 and 2 mV.  That sounded good enough to me, so I unplugged the power cord, the contactor "clicked", and the display and charging light went out, as it is supposed to.

A little odd, but so far it doesn't seem to be causing any problems.  However, I plan to take my Zero in for its initial servicing (and motor "commissioning"  ) soon and will ask my dealer's service department about this issue.  Maybe they will contact Zero and obtain an answer. 

[droidish]

I posted this in another thread, at the risk of being repetitive I copied and pasted here.   

When I charge my 2017 SR to 100% using the onboard charger and 120v outlet, the charge indicator stops blinking and goes solid green. I unplug the bike and the green light stays lit. It will stay lit for 2 or 3 days if I don't ride it. If I do ride it, the green light goes out as soon as the contactor closes.

I contacted Zero about this, and spoke to an engineer who explained that prior to 2017 models, the green charge indicator did go out once the bike was unplugged. For 2017 though, a component was deleted, so the light stays on until voltage in the circuit bleeds off, or the contactor is closed.

[Richard230]

I posted this in another thread, at the risk of being repetitive I copied and pasted here.   

When I charge my 2017 SR to 100% using the onboard charger and 120v outlet, the charge indicator stops blinking and goes solid green. I unplug the bike and the green light stays lit. It will stay lit for 2 or 3 days if I don't ride it. If I do ride it, the green light goes out as soon as the contactor closes.

I contacted Zero about this, and spoke to an engineer who explained that prior to 2017 models, the green charge indicator did go out once the bike was unplugged. For 2017 though, a component was deleted, so the light stays on until voltage in the circuit bleeds off, or the contactor is closed.

Thanks Michael.  I did see your other post.  That is nice to know and makes sense.  I take my new Zero into my dealer for its first service tomorrow and plan to ask them about the charging anomaly.  I will report what they have to say.  (I am expecting to hear that: "they all do that sir" - or: "we have never heard of that before"     )

[Richard230]

I have just returned from my dealer after getting the 600-mile servicing.  While there, I asked about the display and charging light staying on after the charging cord is disconnected, the battery pack has been fully charged and all of the battery cells completely balanced.  It should be no surprise that the technician found no odd logs and had never heard of this issue before. So I guess I won't worry about it and just enjoy riding my new Zero.   

[droidish]

I have just returned from my dealer after getting the 600-mile servicing...

Did they check the motor "commissioning and timing"? If so, does your invoice show the labor time for that operation?

[Richard230]

I have just returned from my dealer after getting the 600-mile servicing...

Did they check the motor "commissioning and timing"? If so, does your invoice show the labor time for that operation?

My invoice showed total labor being billed at 1.75 hours (although I was keeping an eye on my parked bike and it only spent one hour in the shop, which is typical of the service time billed at my BMW shop, too).  The invoice listed 38 items that were to be inspected and were checked off. "Commissioning" was not mentioned, however the following was performed:  "Adjust Encoder timing using zero diagnostic software";  "Check zeroserviceportal.com for all applicable service bulletins or campaigns" and "With the latest Zero Diagnostics utility, found on zeroserviceportal.com, run the 'check firmware versions' and update as necessary".