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Messages - Flash Nick

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1
Mssr Dolan,
seems I'm not the only one with problems. Good to have a forum like this to share issues and solutions.

Yes, the SOC indicator is not so reliable it seems, and it was my experience that a "cold boot" was often required to ensure it showed correctly. I hope that it is rectified along with the intermittent stop problem before shipping up here (bike is still with Melbourne dealer, awaiting training to assist with correct setup).

Cannot blame the dealers who have no previous experience with electric bikes, and often not a great deal of experience with issues electric or electronic (although with fuel injection and computer control the latter is improving). High current, high voltage electrics is another area of expertise however, and procedures like torquing of high current electrical connections may not be fully understood, where it is in fact, critical. Hopefully training will address some of these issues. This is a very new field, as PVs were 40 years ago.

Ferrites are a magnetic material which, depending on formulation, will "absorb" high order harmonics. You often see them on plugpack supplies, as a lump near the plug, to do this and "suppress" these harmonics and "shield" the equipment being supplied from interference (caused by these harmonics produced by the switch mode power unit in the plugpack). Highly necessary on a >60kW power supply (aka Zero SR). There are many other ways interference may be caused, and many ways to protect systems from this - intelligent design, good materials and craftsmanship in construction all obviate issues down the track.

Trust this answers your query.

Could you inform me about the motor recall? I have not heard of this before.

Nick



2
Thanks for the feedback - have watched Zero improve for at least 5 years, and having disconnected my house from fossil fuels a decade ago (100% PV powered), was looking to a way to do the same for transport. When the 2014 model lineup and a dealer network was announced for Oz, the time had come to commit, so I did.

Initial problem was caused by the non-fitment of suppression devices causing interference with the computer (causing it to go AWOL is the technical term LOL). As an electrical engineer who has been designing hybrid solar/ wind systems (and writing their manuals) for around 40 years, and am quite familiar with devices electrical/ electronic, and to the problems of electrical "noise"/interference.

Did download via Bluetooth and email to the factory (nice feature!), which led them to pick up on the lack of suppression devices. These are required because the motor controller/ inverter which converts the DC to 3phase AC for the brushless AC motor causes very high current variation on the battery leads, and this causes harmonics which go into the MHz range and beyond, and consequent crosstalk then leads to interference with the computer/ controller.

The SOC reset was at close to full charge. Display was always still operational, except SOC indicated zero. On two occasions the bike lost power, so I stopped, turned it Off, waited half a minute, then turned it On, then correct operation resumed (also SOC came back to a proper reading). Only once did I run out of battery, and from then on was more careful watching range (it was cold, so battery capacity was less).

Am very familiar with the red warning triangular light sequences on the dash, and the BMS indicator lights. The one that sticks in my mind for the dash warning light was two flashes followed by one (6.3 contactor error). I carried a paper copy of the manual with me on my travels and have read it extensively. It has a few errors in it for the SR (for example the 20A Charger and 30A Quick Charger fuses are not where the manual says they should be - probably correct for the S and DS, but I have not had the seat off on these models, so this is supposition).

Further issues arose with the fitting of the supplementary tank battery (suppression devices were also left off), however these have since been fitted after I left Victoria to come back to Cairns.

I am sure Zero will figure out what is going on once they come out to Oz to train the dealers, and look forward to having my bike up here in the sunny, warm, dry winters that are Cairns signature climate. However I am grateful that they are holding my bike until after training, so that all issues can be resolved. Cairns is a long way from the Queensland dealer on the Gold Coast (over 1000km).

In the meantime I have logged every kWh that has gone into the SR, and am finding it gives me between 10 and 16km/kWh (around 6 to 10miles/kWh), depending on road conditions, headwind, speed, ambient temperature and how I ride - all as expected.

As an early adopter of PV and wind 40 years ago, I recognise these small issues happen with new technology, so am not overly frustrated. All in all, very satisfied with the bike, and am confident that problems will be solved by Zero and their dealer network here in Oz.

3
G'day from sunny Cairns, FNQ, Land of Oz,
have any Zero S or SR owners had problems with sudden loss of power, resetting of State of Charge (SOC) meter or refusal to restart after any of these issues?

Was first in Australia to purchase the SR, and to be fair to the dealers, they have yet to have training (sales got ahead of them). Partially my fault, as I have been awaiting introduction of these new models to Australia for a number of years (Zero had trouble setting up a dealer network and/or thought the bikes were not ready for our market). Anyway, they are dealing with the issues, and I hope to have the bike up here by the end of the month.

Did manage 2000km+ (that's 1200mile+ in imperial units) in the month I rode it around Victoria (it was purchased in Melbourne), and had a few "breakdowns". However, for the most part the bike is awesome. Vastly superior acceleration to my Ducati M900Sie, and similar "engine braking" to the Duke. Can't wait to try it out on my local circuit (Gillies Highway - over 100 turns going up to the tablelands - all in 20km).

Would be interested to hear if other S or SR owners have had these issues.

Nick

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