Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[enaef]

Hi there

I wonder about the experience of others, riding an SR/F in cold temperature.

First:
I have to park my SR/F outside, covered only with a hud.

Last winter I once needed to do some chores at a temperature of -3 Celsius (I don't own a car).
The 12V battery failed completely and I had to wait for warmer temperatures of >5 Celsius for quite a while.

I then changed the 12V battery in Summer at the dealer with an original battery. Dealer said, I wouldn't have the problem next winter.

This winter I need the bike for commuting. Temperatures went down and the bike was out as always.
It was a whole day at 0 Celsius and it left me on the way home - showed several different failure codes. I assumed it was a temperature problem. I waited a while, failure codes and messages changed finally to the message, the 12V battery being heated up.
After some minutes waiting at the road side, I could ride again - for may be 2 or 3 km until the same game started over again. And 1 or 2 km after that even again. After that I reached home. The "Check Engine Light" was activated with the first error codes and never went away, even when I could ride inbetween the 'failure-episodes'. I turned the bike off and left it, knowing that the Check-Engine-Light still was acitve when I turned the bike off.

Quite an unpleasant situation, being in a snowstorm in heavy laobur traffic being left by the bike.

I'm aware of the 'Cold and Hot Weather Considerations' in the manual. However - I still was within the recommendations.

I know - best thing would be to store it in a heated garage. But I don't have that ...

I'll wait for warmer temperatures and am hoping the Check-Enginge-Light is gone after a day in temperatures of >5 Celsius. Meanwhile I need to use public transportation which quadruples the time for coummuting ... :-(.

Nonetheless I wonder aobut experiences in such cold weather situations.

[Specter]

Even if you kept it in your garage at barely above freezing, the moment you brought it outside in the cold and began riding it, it'd probably cool down pretty quick and you'd end up right back where you are at.
Lith batteries do NOT do well in cold temperatures ie below freezing without internal heaters.

Maybe if you kept it in the house at 20 to 25 C or something thatd be one thing and you could use the thermal mass of the battery to get you where you needed, and how yo going to keep it warm at work?  but just 5 c, umm not going to cut it really.

aaron

[TheRan]

I was gonna say, before I got half way through your post, that I thought the 12v battery has a heater. It kinda sounds like something is up with the heating system on yours, either the actual heater is cutting out or the control for it isn't activating at a high enough temperature.

[Specter]

and they get the power to heat themselves.... from themselves.....
Don't expect this battery, that is already having issues staying warm, and making proper power, to last very long.

aaron

[TheRan]

I would assume the heater gets powered from the main battery, not the 12v. My understanding is, and this would be the logical configuration, that most stuff gets powered from the main battery via a DC-DC converter like the older models and the 12v battery is used for the always on components like the cellular connection and GPS tracker.

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

AtomicDog here says he is deriving the pinout for the MBB, and according to what he had so far that I dloaded from him ( THANKS )  the battery heater voltage comes from pin12 of MBB2

[SkyYeti]

I have commuted on my SR/F for the last 5 winters in the UK.
I've had quite a few commutes below freezing (showing -3 degrees Celcius on the dash is the coldest I think) and I haven't had the same issues that you describe Enaef.
My bike does live in a garage overnight, it's not heated but it doesn't seem to drop below freezing in there.
My commute is approx 45 min one-way to work, and is a mix of roads and speeds - 20min of the commute is at 70 mph, which really cools rider and bike, and yet I haven't had any warnings like you.

It does seem to suggest that maybe the heating isn't quite right with your SR/F, or maybe I've just been lucky...

Regarding the Check Engine Light (CEL) - I know it well. Not from cold weather warnings but from other issues with my SR/F (water ingress causing isolation warnings/faults).
I seem to recall that I could clear the CEL after turning the key on and off 3 (or was it 5) times in a row.

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

Regarding the Check Engine Light (CEL) - I know it well. Not from cold weather warnings but from other issues with my SR/F (water ingress causing isolation warnings/faults).

Sorry to thread hijack, but just so you know, I also had that ISO issue starting at 1 year of ownership,  and chased that around for about a year trying to figure it out. Finally I resorted to precision water applications with a feeding syringe for small animals to test, and it turned out to be the problem others had related, that is, water entry into the air cooling duct of the chargers. Just 35ml of water applied into the bottom of either charger duct would cause it. Some took their bikes back for this and had replacements, but what I did is cut a strip of coroplast and apply door sealing foam, and make a kind of shroud for it that allows airflow, but not direct access to the elements. Since I did that I haven't had the problem once, and I live in FL and ride in rain regularly.

[zeronimbus]

Regarding the Check Engine Light (CEL) - I know it well. Not from cold weather warnings but from other issues with my SR/F (water ingress causing isolation warnings/faults).

Sorry to thread hijack, but just so you know, I also had that ISO issue starting at 1 year of ownership,  and chased that around for about a year trying to figure it out. Finally I resorted to precision water applications with a feeding syringe for small animals to test, and it turned out to be the problem others had related, that is, water entry into the air cooling duct of the chargers. Just 35ml of water applied into the bottom of either charger duct would cause it. Some took their bikes back for this and had replacements, but what I did is cut a strip of coroplast and apply door sealing foam, and make a kind of shroud for it that allows airflow, but not direct access to the elements. Since I did that I haven't had the problem once, and I live in FL and ride in rain regularly.

Hi, do you have a photo of your modification?
my 2 chargers have been replaced but I still have insulation problems when driving in the rain.
thanks to you

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

Not much to see, just a rectangular strip of coroplast held on one end with a tube clamp, and at the other end a notch cut in that sits on a piece of the frame to hold it up. There is also stick on foam sealer that makes it form a sort of tunnel, that way there is no restriction for air being drawn in.
On the side stand, the chargers are tilted with this side more upwards. With enough rain and particularly wind, enough water drips or is blown in there to cause a fault. It occurs about 60 seconds after I begin riding. This little shroud seems to be enough to thwart that. Since I put it in I've never had the problem again, and prior I had it EVERY time it rained.

[zeronimbus]

Thanks for the photo.
It's strange though that it's just that which causes our insulation problems, I was leaning more towards the rear wheel side on the bus bar of the controller, a tired joint.

even zero doesn't know, my motorcycle has been immobilized for 2 winters, and I still have the same problem.
I was thinking of changing all the joints on the controller as well as the 2 bus bars.
I studied the manual service, I think that since the motorcycle is no longer guaranteed, I will try that during my next vacation and taking all the safety precautions on the technical review.