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[Electric Cowboy]

Morgan filmed some of what I was working on the other day.

The gist of it is that while riding your dash looks the same, however when you roll off the throttle to neutral or even into regen if you want, you will see the resting voltage instead of wh/mi. Also when you are charging, you will see the amps in the range area. If you wanted to see the range again you would just roll the throttle a little. Basically the best of both worlds and you have real time ACCURATE guage of what is left in your battery.

It is the best fix for the current firmware issue I have come up with. And It's pretty exciting even if there wasn't a firmware issue in the Zero.

Remember, always trust your voltage!

[mrwilsn]

It's so ridiculous that Zero doesn't put voltage or amps on the dash and bad ass that you are out there solving for Zero's deficiencies.

Rock on brother!

When can I buy one and for how much?

Does it work with key off?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Electric Cowboy]

Thanks Mr. Wilson!

Currently it only works while the bike is on to keep with stock bike functionality. I don't want to change things too dramatically right off the bat.

What do you think something like this would be worth? I'll probably use a machined housing and pot the boards with a USB for updates and power from the accessory USB plug.

I know for people with the firmware bug it is basically priceless, and crazy riders like Terry and I have wanted this functionality forever.

Machined parts are expencive though. I can probably reduce costs by using the same housing as the SCv2 control board.

[mrwilsn]

I completely agree..... voltage is a critical piece of information and the only thing you can completely trust. Before I even bought my first Zero I was already thinking about this problem with their design. My work around was installing a DVM to get voltage and using the Zero app for amps. Anton's voltage app also works great for amps and voltage and I use it too.

I do like that the way I have my DVM wired I can see voltage from a distance without having to walk over and key on and/or mess with Bluetooth.  But your solution is without a doubt the cleanest solution for anyone that wants a clean or stock looking bike and doesn't want to mess with Bluetooth connections.

If I'm walking up to my bike while it's charging to check voltage and amps it's not really a big deal to key on so I think you probably made the right design call to keep it simple.

I like that that you are potting. I ride through all weather and the potting on the SCv2 control boards has performed flawlessly and I potted my DVM in the same way and it too continues to work perfectly after over 14k miles.

I can't wait to see and try out the finished product!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Electric Cowboy]

Thanks for the encouragement!

[Richard230]

The funny thing is that when I gave my daughter my 2014 S I showed her the different types of information that could be shown on the dash display, as well as how to use the Zero app and what it would show about the condition of her bike.  That discussion was pretty much a waste of time.  All she pays attention to on the dash is her speed and the remaining battery charge. She has fun riding the bike but just doesn't care about things like motor temperature, voltage, projected range, trip mileage, etc. She doesn't even bother to look at the time display since I placed an analog stick-on clock on the right mirror. 

While I enjoy learning about the condition of my vehicles and what they are doing while I am riding, I think there are a lot more people who don't care about that stuff and just want to ride. 

[nnelson65]

Fantastic!  OT, but what bikini fairing is that?  It looks great!

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I have yet to watch the video and need to think on it some more, but this is definitely an interesting hack!

It's good that you're minimizing override of the operating display, and particularly to only override when voltage is likeliest to match a resting state.

The funny thing is that when I gave my daughter my 2014 S I showed her the different types of information that could be shown on the dash display, as well as how to use the Zero app and what it would show about the condition of her bike.  That discussion was pretty much a waste of time.  All she pays attention to on the dash is her speed and the remaining battery charge. She has fun riding the bike but just doesn't care about things like motor temperature, voltage, projected range, trip mileage, etc. She doesn't even bother to look at the time display since I placed an analog stick-on clock on the right mirror. 

While I enjoy learning about the condition of my vehicles and what they are doing while I am riding, I think there are a lot more people who don't care about that stuff and just want to ride. 

That's definitely something we should expect of most riders, but it's also a factor that they're a relation and gave them the bike, so it's easier for them to relax knowing someone they trust can answer questions.

Also, you're in the SF Bay Area where the manufacturer is reachable, besides two dealers.

[Richard230]

I have yet to watch the video and need to think on it some more, but this is definitely an interesting hack!

It's good that you're minimizing override of the operating display, and particularly to only override when voltage is likeliest to match a resting state.

The funny thing is that when I gave my daughter my 2014 S I showed her the different types of information that could be shown on the dash display, as well as how to use the Zero app and what it would show about the condition of her bike.  That discussion was pretty much a waste of time.  All she pays attention to on the dash is her speed and the remaining battery charge. She has fun riding the bike but just doesn't care about things like motor temperature, voltage, projected range, trip mileage, etc. She doesn't even bother to look at the time display since I placed an analog stick-on clock on the right mirror. 

While I enjoy learning about the condition of my vehicles and what they are doing while I am riding, I think there are a lot more people who don't care about that stuff and just want to ride. 

That's definitely something we should expect of most riders, but it's also a factor that they're a relation and gave them the bike, so it's easier for them to relax knowing someone they trust can answer questions.

Also, you're in the SF Bay Area where the manufacturer is reachable, besides two dealers.

The point I was attempting to make in a roundabout way is that I believe (having spent a lot of time on motorcycle brand-specific forums) that many young people, and especially women, have little or no interest in what makes vehicles, like motorcycles and cars go.  They just want them to go and to get them somewhere. The how and why is not interesting to most younger people that didn't grow up spinning a wrench in a garage - or doing whatever it is that you guys do on your workbench.  While you and I likely find lots of information about our vehicles interesting and enjoyable to know, I believe that most future consumers will not be as interested in this kind of stuff as us "early adopters".   

And the younger they get, the less interested they become, to the point that many young people (including my two college-age granddaughters) are not even interested in owning a motor vehicle.  If they need to go somewhere they take a bus or call a Uber or Lyft-thing - while holding out for the self-driving AI vehicle to solve all of their transportation problems.    

[NEW2elec]

Richard I think the best part for your daughter is the fact that by being a woman she won't do the stupid things like say " 0% SOC, let me see if I can go 2 more miles"  the way men do. 
A woman is smart enough just to go recharge.

As for the OP I wish Zero would hire you guys to get these bikes' firmware and app code finally up to speed.
I did have one question though.  On my 13 DS if I have the app up (version ) with the bike on it goes to the "dash display" only.  But if I hit the throttle kill switch I can go to the "battery" screen and see my voltage.  Do the later bikes do this too?

Also thanks for the aux port to female 120 cord setup from Diginow, Brandon, an electric chainsaw powered from a motorcycle is the only way to go.   

[Richard230]

Richard I think the best part for your daughter is the fact that by being a woman she won't do the stupid things like say " 0% SOC, let me see if I can go 2 more miles"  the way men do. 
A woman is smart enough just to go recharge.

As for the OP I wish Zero would hire you guys to get these bikes' firmware and app code finally up to speed.
I did have one question though.  On my 13 DS if I have the app up (version ) with the bike on it goes to the "dash display" only.  But if I hit the throttle kill switch I can go to the "battery" screen and see my voltage.  Do the later bikes do this too?

Also thanks for the aux port to female 120 cord setup from Diginow, Brandon, an electric chainsaw powered from a motorcycle is the only way to go.   

My 2014 S displayed all of the information that the current app displays, except that until recently, it showed the battery condition using two screens.  The new app does it using one screen that you need to scroll down to see everything. I never had to use the 2014's kill switch to do anything.

[Shadow]

Slick hack. Could this also be a data display method for a randomized bluetooth pairing pin code? Interested in better security on the data reaper type product.

[NEW2elec]

So Richard your app shows your bike's voltage when riding?
I thought that was what everybody has been talking about the bike needing.

[goomicoo]

The OP posted it as showing voltage only @ zero throttle. Assuming that's the "Richard" that you speak of.

[Electric Cowboy]

Hey guys, I think Rich may not be aware of why I built this.

Sometimes the new firware will show 75% when you are at 0% and sometimes it will show 0% when you are at 75% so trusting the percent is not possible for any bikes updated after May 2017.

The bikes will still ride reasonably well (some minor effects) however if you do not know what % you are at you are screwed. So the voltage is the *only* think a rider can rely on with the new FW.

Immagine getting on your bike after someone unplugged you and your bike says it is at 75% SOC but its at 97v... more like 15-20% SOC real. after a few miles the bike will shut off and you will be stranded because you did not know you needed to charge.

Seeing the voltage is a work around for that issue. I agree with what you are saying @ Rich, but sadly right now if they rely on that they are screwed because it is unreliable.