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[SRich]

A couple of months ago the charger on my 2015 Zero S stopped working. I took it to my local dealer and they said the charger needed to be replaced. Almost exactly a year previous my battery died and was replaced under warranty. The original battery was  9.4 Ah. The battery was replaced with a 14.4 Ah battery, which was great, except that I am wondering if the original charger was not capable of charging the 14.4 battery without overheating.  The reason I question this is I rarely depleted the battery below 50 percent (I don't think ever durring the year I had the 14.4 ah battery) until the point the charger failed. When the charger burned out it was the one time I had depleted the battery down to 15 percent. The charger lasted until the SOC was 98 percent before it failed.  What are the chances the original charger was not up to the task of charging a 14.4 ah battery in the first place, or perhaps not for any significant period of time?  Has anyone else had a similar experience? According to the dealer, Zero would not cover the charger under warranty.  Ironically at the same time my charger died, the dealer had another 2015 Zero S in the shop with a dead charger.  So maybe the chargers  were just not very reliable in the first place. If that that were the case, wouldn't there be a recall on the charger, or wouldn't Zero at least cover the cost of the charger even if out if warranty?  I am presuming Zero will stand behind  their product like other companies.
My Honda motorcycle has had a couple of recalls that were taken care of outside the warranty period.  Wouldn't you think Zero would do the same?  Anyone heard if there may be a recall issued for chargers? 

[NEW2elec]

This is a common failure.
As far as I know all the  "S" bikes have the same charger.  The BMS should tell it when to turn on and off.
Lots of people have wanted a recall but I assume since it's not a safety issue they aren't mandated to do it.

There is a new "version" number on the newer replacement units so maybe some improvements.

Sorry but you'll likely have to cover it yourself.

[DonTom]

What are the chances the original charger was not up to the task of charging a 14.4 ah battery in the first place, or perhaps not for any significant period of time? 

It will charge at the same KW as before, which means the charger is on longer. That means the same amount of heat in the charger, but for a longer time.

However, how much difference that makes in reliability is not known.  Zero uses the same charger on the smaller battery of the same year as the larger battery.  With my two 2017 Zeros one has a 6.5 KWH battery, the other has 16.5 KWHs to charge.  AFAIK, they both use the same charger. But of course the bike with more KWH is on about 2.5 times as long.

If you're concerned that could make a difference, always run a quick charger, even when you're in no hurry to charge. That's what I do, to reduce the number of hours the on-board charger is on.

-Don-  Casa Grande, AZ (RV)

[NEW2elec]

+1 on the quick charger.

[DonTom]

+1 on the quick charger.

And I should add you can also run only the quick charger without the OBC. Just do not plug the bike in and turn the key on and off once after the quick charger is connected.

-Don-  Casa Grande, AZ (RV)

[volt]

@SRich can you tell us what you ended up doing? I'm having the same issue, my onboard charger literally caught fire. Good thing I had my eyes on and it happened right when I plugged AC in, so there was very little damage, but sure enough the charger itself ceased to work.

[Richard230]

@SRich can you tell us what you ended up doing? I'm having the same issue, my onboard charger literally caught fire. Good thing I had my eyes on and it happened right when I plugged AC in, so there was very little damage, but sure enough the charger itself ceased to work.

I experienced this problem with my first electric motorcycle, a 2009 Electric Motorsport GPR-S, after only 300 miles. Fortunately, I was in my garage at the time when the bike started smoking.  When the manufacturer told me that the charger and its BMS was no longer available, my solution was to trade that bike in for a 2010 GPR-S. That one lasted for 1300 miles before the batteries died. At least the charger didn't burn up before the batteries gave up.    After that experience, it was all Zeros from then on. 

Yours is the first time that I have heard of a Zero charger reported to have caught on fire mentioned on this forum, other than a couple of instances with the 2012 models that resulted in a recall of the entire year's production of S and DS models.  I am happy to hear that you caught it before any more damage was done.

[TEV]

Yours is the first time that I have heard of a Zero charger reported to have caught on fire mentioned on this forum, .

I don't think that was really a fire, it just let out the magic smoke.

[volt]

Does anybody know if the OBC has to be reprogrammed once replaced, or is it plug and play?
I'm about to order a new one, just double checking.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Yours is the first time that I have heard of a Zero charger reported to have caught on fire mentioned on this forum, .

I don't think that was really a fire, it just let out the magic smoke.

Mine caught fire internally and didn’t let out smoke. The potting is extremely thick and fills most of the chassis so it will extinguish board fires typically.

Unlike most people, I diligently removed the potting to expose the board and found the damage to be more extensive than I would have guessed. I posted the teardown to the manual.

Anyway I do think that when these fail, many times there is a tiny fire that is immediately extinguished by the potting.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Does anybody know if the OBC has to be reprogrammed once replaced, or is it plug and play?
I'm about to order a new one, just double checking.

It does not.

[alpha1511]

The onboard charger is a common failure for all the S/DS Zero. Even the new 1300w version died after a few thousand kilometres on my bike. And the price is too expensive for a 1kw power charger... In my opinion, the 6kw charge tank is a better solution. Easy install and much more durable.

[valnar]

And I should add you can also run only the quick charger without the OBC. Just do not plug the bike in and turn the key on and off once after the quick charger is connected.

-Don-  Casa Grande, AZ (RV)

What's the procedure?  Plug in charger, turn key on, then off.  That's it?
I might pick up the DeltaQ quick charger.

[NoMoreIdeas]

Key on, plug in quick charger, wait for it to start charging, key off and it will keep charging.

[DonTom]

What's the procedure?  Plug in charger, turn key on, then off.  That's it?
I might pick up the DeltaQ quick charger.

The QC connector is just above the motor. I find it a small hassle to get to, so I have mine connected to a "Y" cable mounted on the bike so I can then easily use one or two QCs as well as the OBC as I am now doing.

The differences will be:

1. The bikes's key will have to be on for the charging to start. As soon as it starts charging, the bike can be switched off and charging will continue. This is only if you cannot use the OBC as well. On the QC, when the top light is on, you're charging. That may take ten seconds or so after everything is connected up correctly.

2. The QC is a little slower than the OBC. The OBC is around 1.4 KW charging, each QC is only 1.0 KW charging. But if you add a Y cable and use two QC's you will charge at 2.0 KW which will then be a little faster charging than your OBC or twice as fast as using one QC.

3. To charge on the road you will have to bring the QC with you.

4. The QCs are MUCH more reliable than the OBC. While I have heard of several OBCs crapping out, I have yet to hear of a QC crapping out.


-Don-  Reno, NV