ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: De buurman on March 08, 2022, 01:16:29 AM
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Hello,
I've got a question about the charging behavior of my 2016 DSR.
It won't charge to 100%. Sometimes it stops at 86 % with all the lights in the dash flashing.
Sometimes it just stops somewhere in the 90 -96 % range.
I charge it at home on a regular wall socket.
It doesn't have anything to do with the weather, it does so with cold, hot, dry, wet weather.
When I unplug the bike and then after an hour or so plug the bike back in it will charge a few procents more and then stops again.
The green charging light is constantly burning then.
When I look in the app, the battery seems ok. It's been to the dealer a while ago and they said too that the battery is ok.
My question is, is there a fix for this, can it do any harm to the battery.
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My 17 is doing the same. Likely the charger is dying. It will top out lower and lower until it dies.
You can get a Kill A Watt wall plug meter and see what it's doing. The Amps will drop as it gets near it's new top end.
It can/will hurt the battery if the cells get (way) out of balance as they equal out at the end of the charge cycle at 100%.
I have a Delta Q external charger from Zero which can top it off after the onboard Calex charger stops working. They run bout $600 but halve your charge time when both are working right and as in this case it makes a good emergency backup.
It's around $1k US to have the Calex replaced, which should solve the issue.
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My 2014 did that as the on-board-charger was dying. After installing a new charger, the SOC went back to 100% when fully charged.
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In the Zero app what is the value of the mV field?
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It is changes between 4 and 5 mW
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I had an intermittent charging issue on my 2016 FXS. Turned out to the charge fuse holder that corroded and caused the OBC not to function at times.
https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=11400.0
According to the owner's manual on page 6.30, the DSR has a 100A charge fuse under the seat, just behind the trailing edge of the "tank", on the right side as you are sitting on the bike. While I'm not saying this is definitely the problem, it would be worth looking at it.
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mdjak1, hey it's worth a look.
Buurman, that's a very good range for now.
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OK, that's great, I'll a look before I order a new one.
Thank's everybody for the info.
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I had an intermittent charging issue on my 2016 FXS. Turned out to the charge fuse holder that corroded and caused the OBC not to function at times.
https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=11400.0
According to the owner's manual on page 6.30, the DSR has a 100A charge fuse under the seat, just behind the trailing edge of the "tank", on the right side as you are sitting on the bike. While I'm not saying this is definitely the problem, it would be worth looking at it.
Can I just take it out and plug it back in, cause 100 A is quite a lot
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Not really, it's not super easy to remove. And it only comes into play when charging via the anderson port anyway. On a DSR I've seen this countless times, and anytime it consistently stops charging below 100% it's either a) Your battery voltage is so imbalanced it had to stop charging) or b) The charger's max voltage is now less than 100% and it can't go higher.
You should be able to check imbalance from the app and if you can get bms logs from serial or the app I can usually confirm your charger needs to be replaced
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Can I just take it out and plug it back in, cause 100 A is quite a lot
Don't waste your time. Your fuses are fine.
Your problem is the OBC cannot supply the full voltage under the load of the battery. So that means your SOC will be low at the end when you charge by only the OBC. It is also probably slower than it should be even if only charged to 50% SOC.
An external DeltaQ charger will still charge your bike to full 100% SOC. Cheaper and more reliable than the stock OBC. But the DeltaQ charger, when used alone, is a little slower than the OBC. It is external to the bike but MUCH more reliable. You should be able to charge faster if you use the DeltaQ and OBC at the same time, at least until your OBC craps totally out.
-Don- Reno, NV
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Can I just take it out and plug it back in, cause 100 A is quite a lot
Don't waste your time. Your fuses are fine.
Your problem is the OBC cannot supply the full voltage under the load of the battery. So that means your SOC will be low at the end when you charge by only the OBC. It is also probably slower than it should be even if only charged to 50% SOC.
An external DeltaQ charger will still charge your bike to full 100% SOC. Cheaper and more reliable than the stock OBC. But the DeltaQ charger, when used alone, is a little slower than the OBC. It is external to the bike but MUCH more reliable. You should be able to charge faster if you use the DeltaQ and OBC at the same time, at least until your OBC craps totally out.
-Don- Reno, NV
OK, great, think I will give it a try, see if they're available in Holland.
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BTW, when I visited the Zero factory during their 10th anniversary, they had rows and rows of DeltaQ chargers charging up their newly assembled battery packs. Not an OBC in sight. ::) So that must tell you something regarding how Zero feels about the DeltaQ. I really should get one of those chargers one of these days as a backup for when the OBC gives up again. ;)
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OK, great, think I will give it a try, see if they're available in Holland.
They should be available at any Zero dealer. But only a few dealers keep the DeltaQ's in stock. Most likely will have to be ordered.
-Don- Reno, NV
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I had the same issue and suspected a faulty charger. It turned out to be a huge cell imbalance. Once the first cells in the battery pack reach max voltage, charging is stopped and the BMS starts burning off charge with little resistors in the pack. Once the highest voltage cells are discharged to some degree, charging then is re-started in an attempt to balance out the voltage.
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In the case of my 2014S with PT, I could leave the charger plugged in for a couple of days and it wouldn't change the low SOC. But once I installed the replacement OBC, everything went back to normal again. My daughter rode the bike over to my home today and it is still running fine. Even her DC-DC converter is still working. :) I replaced its OBC in 2018.
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So, I replaced the OBC and everything is working fine again. Finally got a 100% charge again.
Now hopefully this OBC will last me a long time.
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So, I replaced the OBC and everything is working fine again. Finally got a 100% charge again.
Now hopefully this OBC will last me a long time.
Good news and good luck! :)