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[Richard230]

2014ZeroSR said: Richard - Is this normal? Shouldn't it charge until it finishes? Not take a break for 30 hours, then finishes. Mine used to charge until it was finished. I wonder if anyone else has experienced the same as yourself.

I have no idea if this is normal or not.  It is just what my bike does every time when charging at home.  However, when I charge up at my daughter' home, located a 37-mile ride north of San Francisco, the display will show a 100% charge when it cuts off after 4 hours of charging.     The only thing different between her electricity and my electricity is that at my house I am seeing 125 volts from that wall, but at her home I see 118 volts, using the same Kill A Watt meter.   

All I care about is that the charger and the rest of the bike still work and get me down the road. However, I agree that having chargers fail after just a few hundred recharges and less than 20K miles of riding is unacceptable, considering that the battery pack is supposed to last (in my case) for around 350,000 miles.  At that mileage, the cost of replacement chargers could really add up!      

In my opinion Zero needs to find another (more reliable) vendor to replace their current brand of on-board chargers. This may be a case of an off-the-shelf electrical device not being up to the rigors of motorcycle usage.   

[AndyB.]

Mine just failed today. I have just over 34k mikes on the bike, 2014S and it is the first time it has failed. Interesting sequence of events... There was an odd hissing sound followed by a circuit breaker trip and then the acrid odor familiar with electrical component frying. Nothing happens now when I plug it in.

Sent an email to Harlan to see what can be done. About 3 months past the 2 year warranty. I'll be interested to see if it is covered under the power pack 5 year warranty.

Anyway, charging is usually done in mid 70s to 80s at 220V.

[2014ZeroSR]

Good, very good news.

Zero ‘did’ cover the whole replacement process even though the bike was out-of warranty.
The on-board charger was the issue.
Total repair cost was probably about $1k - Charger ($830), Diagnosis and labor ($170) 

I took the bike to San Jose BMW.

Repair time line:
Sep 23 - bike dropped off (Friday afternoon)
Sep 28 - San Jose BMW calls, advised the charger is bad.
Oct 7 - Bike is ready (Friday)

Overall, I was pleased with the shop.

New on-board charger - when charging, case temp to the touch is much cooler than old unit. Charging cable temp is also much cooler to the touch (barely warm).

I’m now following BrianTRice’s method of charging - i.e. flow air over the on-board charger when charging whenever possible. Thanks BrianTRice for the idea.

[pacificcricket]

Excellent news!

[bikerscooby]

Interesting reading...  I wonder if the newest chargers are different/better than the old ones or do they just degrade over time and eventually overheat and fry.  My new 2016 SR charges at a regular 120V outlet with the original cable only getting slightly warm sometimes but never hot, so I was surprised at the reports of hot cables and such.

[pacificcricket]

It would be interesting to open one up and see what burned out. Electrolyte capacitors are known to go out over time, but I don't know what's really inside of those chargers.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Interesting reading...  I wonder if the newest chargers are different/better than the old ones or do they just degrade over time and eventually overheat and fry.  My new 2016 SR charges at a regular 120V outlet with the original cable only getting slightly warm sometimes but never hot, so I was surprised at the reports of hot cables and such.

What I've heard is that some Calex 1200 revisions had reliability issues and the design was fixed by the time they were sourced for the 2016 models. So, that's a claim that it was specific to a certain generation of the design.

[SoundMusic]

My 2014S just stopped charging. 15k miles.
I barely made it to San Jose BMW.
I went to work with a low charge and figured I'd charge there.
No luck, so I called my dealer.
They said it just went out of warrenty but that Zero has been covering these charging issues.
Let's hope so.
Just drove off with a loaner scooter.
Will know more tomorrow.

Just got confirmation that the charger is bad.
New one on order. Waiting for Zero to reply to request to cover costs.

[SoundMusic]

Well just got the bad news that Zero will not cover the charger as it is out of warranty.
This just plain sucks!
As others have mentioned, what good is having a longer warranty on the battery if it cannot be charged.
I'm not sure I'd buy another Zero if it costs so much to repair after only 16k miles.
Especially given the initial purchase prise.
Shame on Zero. I won't be recommending there product anymore.

[Shadow]

Well just got the bad news that Zero will not cover the charger as it is out of warranty.
This just plain sucks!
As others have mentioned, what good is having a longer warranty on the battery if it cannot be charged.
I'm not sure I'd buy another Zero if it costs so much to repair after only 16k miles.
Especially given the initial purchase prise.
Shame on Zero. I won't be recommending there product anymore.

There's an opportunity to improve the charging system.

[dukecola]

Glad that worked out for you.  It's amazing to me that since charger failures are common, why oh why don't shops have them in stock and us Zero owners always have to wait 2 or more weeks for a repair.

Good, very good news.

Zero ‘did’ cover the whole replacement process even though the bike was out-of warranty.
The on-board charger was the issue.
Total repair cost was probably about $1k - Charger ($830), Diagnosis and labor ($170) 

I took the bike to San Jose BMW.

Repair time line:
Sep 23 - bike dropped off (Friday afternoon)
Sep 28 - San Jose BMW calls, advised the charger is bad.
Oct 7 - Bike is ready (Friday)

Overall, I was pleased with the shop.

New on-board charger - when charging, case temp to the touch is much cooler than old unit. Charging cable temp is also much cooler to the touch (barely warm).

I’m now following BrianTRice’s method of charging - i.e. flow air over the on-board charger when charging whenever possible. Thanks BrianTRice for the idea.

[Cama]

Well just got the bad news that Zero will not cover the charger as it is out of warranty.
This just plain sucks!
As others have mentioned, what good is having a longer warranty on the battery if it cannot be charged.
I'm not sure I'd buy another Zero if it costs so much to repair after only 16k miles.
Especially given the initial purchase prise.
Shame on Zero. I won't be recommending there product anymore.

Re,

is that true?

I thought, MY 2014 S/DS/SR/DSR has the GreenWattPower's Calex EVC-116-1200?

GWP offers a 5-year-warranty:

http://www.greenwattpower.com/1300evc.html

I would try to contact Zero by myself ...

Thanks,
Mario.

[oobflyer]

I've been using this Wi-Fi switch for over a year now - you can use your smart phone to set the time the switch turns on and off.
I charge at night when it's cooler and the electricity is cheaper ;-)

It also allows you to monitor how much electricity you're using - and you can use the mobile app from anywhere you are connected to the internet.

I have no brand preference (WEMO is actually quite difficult to set up), but this set up has worked for me.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I've been using this Wi-Fi switch for over a year now - you can use your smart phone to set the time the switch turns on and off.
I charge at night when it's cooler and the electricity is cheaper ;-)

It also allows you to monitor how much electricity you're using - and you can use the mobile app from anywhere you are connected to the internet.

I have no brand preference (WEMO is actually quite difficult to set up), but this set up has worked for me.

I considered this exact model and held off out of electrical anxiety about the continuous current rating. I'll try it now, thanks.

[togo]

I've been using this Wi-Fi switch for over a year now - you can use your smart phone to set the time the switch turns on and off.
I charge at night when it's cooler and the electricity is cheaper ;-)

It also allows you to monitor how much electricity you're using - and you can use the mobile app from anywhere you are connected to the internet.

I have no brand preference (WEMO is actually quite difficult to set up), but this set up has worked for me.

I'll second the WeMo *INSIGHT* switches and point out that the ouimeaux library in GitHub can be used to measure and control the switch with python. I've been successfully charging at night, programmatically stopping charge when current decreases by 20% to end up with an indicated SoC of 96% in the morning, which means my Regen works when I go down the hill.

-- edit --

Added the word INSIGHT to the above just now, since only that variant measures power.  These are branded Belkin Wemo Insight now.

I'll also note that there seems to be little difference between the 120VAC and the 240VAC versions besides the physical connector, I hesitantly tried a north american unit on 240VAC and it worked fine, so far so good, haven't burned down the house yet.  I am *not* recommending anyone else take this risk.