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« on: August 20, 2018, 09:41:42 PM »
Hi, I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but even though I've been riding motorcycles for going on 30 years (and doing most of my own mechanical work) I'm really new to electric vehicles. So please forgive me.
Anyway, I bought my first, a 2017 Zero FXS 6.5 Modular on August 10, 2018. It is the most amazing riding experience I've ever had. But anyway, when I got home I installed the Zero application on my phone, and saw that the bike needed an update, and it had to be done by a dealer.
So I called the dealer, took it in on August 18, 2018 (I was at around 600 miles on the bike) and they did the update and commissioning. They said everything looked great. I got the bike home, charged, etc. did a little housecleaning, an then went out for errands. Parked it for a couple hours (plugged in), came out, fired it up and rode home with no problems. I realized, on the way, that I needed to make an additional stop at a drug store. So I stopped, bought what I needed, came back out. Kickstand up, kill switch in run position, turned ignition on. Little green "on lamp" showing. Turned the throttle (or is it called a rheostat in this context?) and nothing happened. No flashing lights or anything. The bike just didn't "go." I turn it off and on a few times, baffled that nothing is happening. So I change the display to show error codes. 0000 displays. So I do another full restart.
This time the display shows codes 25 (contactor open warning), 48 (SEVCON startup disable), and 49 (contactor open disable). Then the codes disappeared, and 0000 (no error) is displayed. The bike still won't go, but everything else shows normal.
I mutter, curse, invoke the name of Nikola Tesla, hum a few bars of the other Tesla's "Little Suzi" and do a few more restart attempts. And it works, the bike goes. I get home, breathe a sigh of relief, and decide to see if it happens again. I shut everything off and try a restart to see if the gremlins are truly gone. Error codes 25, 48, 49, then shows 0000, green light, I twist the throttle...and nothing happens. I say screw it, turn it off, go inside to get a drink, and come back 15 minutes later. This time it works. I charge it, unplug when it's at 100% and leave it be. I sent an error log to Zero, but haven't heard anything back other than an auto email.
This morning, August 20, 2018, I go to start it: Error codes 25, 48, 49, then shows 0000, green light, I twist the throttle...and nothing happens. I twist the throttle again and the bike launches. I close the throttle, shut the bike off, check my underwear, and then start the bike again. Same codes, but this time the bike performs normally, but I'm not going to ride it to work if I can't be sure it's not going to work. So I parked it and took my other (gasoline) bike to work.
So here's my dumb question(s):anyone have any idea what's up? The bike was awesome until the update, and now it's a mess. Should I be talking to the dealer (almost two hours away from me) or Zero about this? Is this an issue with the code that runs the bike (like whatever bike BIOS is called?) or a physical issue?
Thanks, and sorry to unload a wall of text. I really love the way the bike rides, and I'm more than a bit of a nerd, but if the bike isn't going to work well enough to commute I don't think it's a good fit for me until the tech matures a bit.
I am pretty sure that changing to a different set of brake pads will probably silence them, at least in my case. I might add that the original pads of my 2014 S, with its Nissin front brake caliper, never made any noise. They functioned just like you expect brakes to do. They stopped well and were quiet.
