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[pacificcricket]

IOW, they are just being too cheap to change the "96 volt" stamp just for our  Zero motorcycles.

Change it to what ? It is an industrial programmable charger that supports 10 charge profiles and up to 135V of output. I think you're just being difficult for no particular reason

[DonTom]

Change it to what ? It is an industrial programmable charger that supports 10 charge profiles and up to 135V of output.

So why doesn't it say so? Why pick "96 volts"? Is it just a meaningless random number for its output voltage which has nothing to do with reality?

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Doug S]

So why doesn't it say so? Why pick "96 volts"? Is it just a meaningless random number for its output voltage which has nothing to do with reality?

t's almost a meaningless random number. A "battery", 60 years ago or more, was six lead-acid cells strung together in series. Cell voltage varies a fair amount with state of charge, load, temperature and other parameters, but 2V was considered "nominal", so six strung together makes a "12V" battery. "Standard batteries" strung together give 24, 48, 96V. Those remain the standard values to this day. They're imprecise, inaccurate, they move around. But what would you propose that's more "connected to reality"?  Batteries are extremely real, a voltmeter is only a measurement instrument. Reality can be inconvenient.

[DonTom]

So why doesn't it say so? Why pick "96 volts"? Is it just a meaningless random number for its output voltage which has nothing to do with reality?

t's almost a meaningless random number. A "battery", 60 years ago or more, was six lead-acid cells strung together in series. Cell voltage varies a fair amount with state of charge, load, temperature and other parameters, but 2V was considered "nominal", so six strung together makes a "12V" battery. "Standard batteries" strung together give 24, 48, 96V. Those remain the standard values to this day. They're imprecise, inaccurate, they move around. But what would you propose that's more "connected to reality"?  Batteries are extremely real, a voltmeter is only a measurement instrument. Reality can be inconvenient.

Thanks for that info. Now I understand why they call it 96 volts, as batteries like 12 volt increments and have nothing to do with reality, just the name that is used.

However, it still seems improper to me. But I do understand "110 VAC means ~117 VAC" and that a 2x4 does not measure 2" by 4" and etc.

But IMO, they should use accuracy where possible. But even our 12VDC car batteries are closer to 13 VDC when fully charged.

But all these are rather small differences compared to a battery charger that is 117 VDC called "96 volts". That is off by about 23% from what it says, which seems rather unacceptable to me.

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[pacificcricket]

However, it still seems improper to me. But I do understand "110 VAC means ~117 VAC"

No, it doesn't mean that.

But all these are rather small differences compared to a battery charger that is 117 VDC called "96 volts".

For the second time, you don't have a 117V battery, you have a 100.8V battery.

That is off by about 23% from what it says, which seems rather unacceptable to me.

LOL, whatever.

[DonTom]

No, it doesn't mean that.

Many people call ~117 VAC as "110 VAC". You must have seen such yourself, at least if you're in the USA.

For the second time, you don't have a 117V battery, you have a 100.8V battery.

100.8? Did you measure yours on a full charge?

-Don-

[Richard230]

The voltage at my garage wall outlet measures 121 Volts, which drops to 118 Volts when the bike is charging.

My Zero app says that, when fully charged, my battery pack's voltage is 116 V.

[Doug S]

Dude, it's a charger intended for 8s lead-acid battery strings, 96V nominal. It's been co-opted to charge our battery packs because it has enough adjustability to charge our batteries up to 114VDC (at least originally, that's what my 2014 SR charged to). Why whine that they should call it something else?

And you know that a nominal "96V" lead-acid battery pack is more like 105.6V (13.2V per cell) when charging, 102.4V (12.8V) when fully charged but open circuit, and considerably lower (maybe 80V, 10V per cell) when near discharged, especially when loaded. It's still a "96V" battery pack, no volt meter is going to change that. It's just terminology, nobody's claiming it's precise language.

As far as line voltage is concerned, my understanding (Horowitz and Hill, "The Art Of Electronics") is that residential voltage is nominally (there's that word again) 117VAC, or twice that, 234VAC. You're also smart enough to know that there are considerable variations from that, +- 15% or even more sometimes. "110VAC" and "220VAC" is just the terminology we use, nobody's saying there's anything precise about those values.

If you want to whine, whine about something worth whining about, like why your car says it's "empty" when there's still two gallons left in the tank.

We've drifted way off topic, anyhow. We all owe the OP an apology.

[pacificcricket]

Many people call ~117 VAC as "110 VAC". You must have seen such yourself, at least if you're in the USA.

Many people say "off of", but it's not proper English either. We have two numbers at this time that are actually relevant:
120V - generating equipment is putting out that voltage. After some transmission drop the actual voltage may be lower. But inverters, generators, UPSes sit much
closer to the consumer equipment and will deliver such voltage.

115V with 10% tolerance - that's what consuming equipment is designed to operate on.

100.8? Did you measure yours on a full charge?

Batteries are not identified by full charge voltage. They are identified by nominal voltage - voltage at 50% charged state.

[DonTom]

Dude, it's a charger intended for 8s lead-acid battery strings, 96V nominal. It's been co-opted to charge our battery packs because it has enough adjustability to charge our batteries up to 114VDC (at least originally, that's what my 2014 SR charged to). Why whine that they should call it something else?

Two reasons to "whine":

1. It is not used on a lead acid battery in our case.

2. It is not 96 VDC, but significantly higher in voltage.

-Don-  Auburn, CA