ElectricMotorcycleForum.com

Sorry for the zombie thread, but I haven't been around the forum at all since I initially posted about this issue.

The dealer where I bought the bike (Fort Walton Beach FL) didn't know how to diagnose the issue.  As a matter of fact, they didn't even understand the definition of "ground fault".  Heh.

I discussed this issue with Zero, but they were also less than helpful.  I like the bike a lot.  It's got some major warts, but riding it is a blast and it fills the need I have for an electric motorcycle.  That all said... I won't be buying another motorcycle from Zero due to the way they refused to help me out with this issue.  And I steer people away from Zero because of my experience with their crappy customer service.

Charging the bike still trips some (but not all) GFI outlets.  I carry around a cheater plug for outlets that are problematic.  Not an ideal solution, but it's cheap and easy and works for now.  At some point I plan to replace the charger.

-keeto

Don- my 5.5 hp (which clearly isn't drawing that much power otherwise it'd trip the 20 amp breaker) wet vac doesn't trip this GFCI outlet.  Neither does a big blender, nor a coffee grinder.  I don't have anything else that I can think of that would be electrically "noisy" to throw at it, but I'm satisfied that the outlet isn't to blame.  This outlet only trips when there's a ground fault.  Personally, I think the acceptable level of current flowing down the ground wire is 0.000 amps.  It's tripping from the Zero due to some current flowing down the ground wire, and it happens every single time I plug the bike in and almost always within the first 5 seconds once the actual charging starts.  Whether it's just a weak induced current, or something more dangerous, I dunno.  I could have and should have taken a few more readings before dropping it off.  In any event, it's at the dealer and since I bought the bike literally 2 days ago it had best not be too long of a wait to get it back... neither Zero nor the dealer will like the result if that happens.

-k

There is a very simple fix for that issue.


If they don't have a ground fault outlet, bring them one of these. You may want to try it first on your bike to make sure it trips plugged into  a non-GFCI in your house. This extension cord is to go from a non-GFCI  to GFCI protection and should trip the same way.

GFCI simply works by detecting a difference in current going in the line from the current going out of the line.  Since they should always be EXACTLY the same, the slightest difference proves a short to ground and trips the GFCI. So GFCI can be added to any non-GFCI outlet.

Cheaper ways are to use one of with these without paying for the extension cord:

Either two or three prong.

The extension cord is rated at 20 amps, but the other two cheaper ones are rated at 15 amps. But even these should still be okay for running the on board charger, which is around 13 amps max, IIRC.

-Don-  Auburn, CA

The bike charges from a GFCI outlet as long as I break the ground wire connection (I used a cheater plug rather than breaking off the ground prong).  So I don't think the two prong you've got listed above would help, though the 3 prongs would as long as the ground prong on the source outlet was actually grounded.  It makes total sense... the bike is fairly well isolated from the physical pavement underneath it by the rubber tires.  The kickstand could theoretically be a path for current I guess, but again, it's sitting on pavement so there's practically no way for the bike to leak current into the actual earth.  The current leakage has to be through the ground wire of the charging cord.

I spoke with Zero technical support, and they said it's not supposed to trip a GFCI.  They said to take it back to the dealer for a diagnosis and repair, so that's what I did.  Now I've gotta twiddle my thumbs until I get the bike back.  No loaner possible, unfortunately.  It's a bit frustrating to pay for it and then not be able to ride it... but these things happen and I'll do my best to be patient.   

-k

Hi everyone.  I'm a new forum member (first post) and a new Zero owner.

Bought a Zero today.  It's a brand new 2019 Zero S, with the 14.4 battery.  Rode it home (47 miles) and plugged it in, but it tripped the GFCI a second or two after it started charging.  The outlet was old and probably only rated for 12 amps, so I ran out to the hardware store and picked up a new 20 amp GFCI outlet.  Installed it after double checking to make sure the wire polarity was correct.  Plugged in, and sure enough the GFCI tripped on the new outlet too.  BTW there is nothing else on this circuit at all... only the single dedicated GFCI outlet protected by a 20 amp circuit breaker.

For kicks I plugged my wet vac into the outlet, turned it on, and covered the suction hose end to put a little load on the motor.  No issues with the GFCI.

So I did a little searching on this forum and it seems this is a fairly common issue with the built in charger.  Recommendations seem to be to get a cheater plug, break off the ground prong from the charging plug, or charge from a non-gfci outlet.  I'll have to pick up a cheater plug I guess, but I'm not really happy to be forced to circumvent the GFCI protection.

So what do you all think... is it likely that the built in charger on my new Zero has an actual problem?  Or is this just par for the course and nothing to be worried about?  I don't quite understand why the charger would be tripping the GFCI unless there actually WAS a fault somewhere.  Maybe there's an induced current in the grounded charger case or something?

-k