ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: benswing on June 12, 2016, 10:09:26 PM
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My digiNow supercharger is on my bike and I have been testing it out. The first, and most important, test was at a NEMA 14-50 outlet. I'll be using these all day on June 16th when I leave for my Four Corners of the USA journey.
Here is a video of testing it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LebJPBZiEc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LebJPBZiEc)
Attached photos:
1) Peak charging power was close to 10kW at a NEMA 14-50.
2) Average charging power was between 8-9kw.
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Nice paint job, so that's why you had to remove the plastics.
Can't view visit view the video because of my connection, but how did the controller installation go?
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Congratulations! I am so jealous!
Can't wait to hear about your trip... be safe.
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Hey, that's great! Maybe soon they'll start shipping units to the rest of us who gave them $3000 in October.
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The video will embed if you use http instead of https in the URL.
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LebJPBZiEc#)
Are you planning to take the Elcons as well, for insurance?
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Ok Ben so it looks like you had real high amps up through over 91% than it started easing up which is nice. So the big question how long to go from say 20% to around 95% on that big 1450.
Nice new tank too, enjoy your journey and spread the word like an easy riding Johnny Appleseed.
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So is the Diginow on the passenger seat and another charger on the side rack?
Is the noise the Fan on full blast? If you install the Diginow in the 'tank' area, how does it get airflow?
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So is the Diginow on the passenger seat and another charger on the side rack?
Is the noise the Fan on full blast? If you install the Diginow in the 'tank' area, how does it get airflow?
This is not the recommended install location, and might be temporary for testing. The tank location gets plenty of ventilation under the plastics and between the frame and battery. Running the charger within an open top case should also provide enough ventilation.
The fans run at a single speed whenever the charger has power. This is not a regular charger.
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Hey, that's great! Maybe soon they'll start shipping units to the rest of us who gave them $3000 in October.
Yes. Soon. Please be patient; they're ensuring that the product has the right quality of build and system interaction.
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Ok Ben so it looks like you had real high amps up through over 91% than it started easing up which is nice. So the big question how long to go from say 20% to around 95% on that big 1450.
The short answer is that it really more or less works like P=IV. So, current times voltage and time yields state of charge change. The Zero app estimates time to 100% rather well so you can set an alarm by it (say) 10 minutes early to get a reasonable top off.
A community driven trip planning guide is probably going to happen, because charging doesn't happen in a vacuum.
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Brian are you running both chargers at the same time?
And if so how are you getting around power running from one charger to the other during charging, big diode?
Or are you running one set of chargers through the controller and the other through the on-board aux charging port?
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Sometimes just the supercharger, sometimes both. Install is the latter, already documented but not trivial to operate, not a casual thing to just adopt.
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Please be patient; they're ensuring that the product has the right quality of build and system interaction.
That's easy to say when you've got one. Apparently the "quality of build and system interaction" was good enough for Ben, but not for the rest of us? Look up the phrase "creeping elegance". At some point you have to actually ship product.
Seriously, this went from ridiculous to absurd a long time ago, and now it's just starting to smell like weeks-old trash. I realize I may be killing the messenger here, but since you seem to have a back channel the rest of us don't, light a fire under those guys.
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Please be patient; they're ensuring that the product has the right quality of build and system interaction.
That's easy to say when you've got one. Apparently the "quality of build and system interaction" was good enough for Ben, but not for the rest of us? Look up the phrase "creeping elegance". At some point you have to actually ship product.
Seriously, this went from ridiculous to absurd a long time ago, and now it's just starting to smell like weeks-old trash. I realize I may be killing the messenger here, but since you seem to have a back channel the rest of us don't, light a fire under those guys.
I really understand your frustration, but lighting a fire is literally the wrong thing to do if you want something that works. Ben's ride has PR value and he's game to deal with the teething issues. I'm dealing with them because I volunteered and can deal with all the engineering explanations and rough edges.
These guys have been working beyond normal hours and solving integration problems that literally everyone else threw their hands up about. The risk for failure for early adopters is getting stuck remotely with slow charging, so be glad it's me and not you.
I may be enjoying electric touring at times but I'm wasting a lot of time testing and fiddling and checking performance and reliability issues. It's not smooth sailing; I get to figure out headwinds and weird or occupied chargers, how to navigate small towns, reading Plugshare very carefully, and optimizing my Elcon rollout and cable arrangement. Not to mention being a newbie at this and soliciting advice from the extremely tiny group of experienced people, hoping to package that advice up for others.
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Please be patient; they're ensuring that the product has the right quality of build and system interaction.
That's easy to say when you've got one. Apparently the "quality of build and system interaction" was good enough for Ben, but not for the rest of us? Look up the phrase "creeping elegance". At some point you have to actually ship product.
Seriously, this went from ridiculous to absurd a long time ago, and now it's just starting to smell like weeks-old trash. I realize I may be killing the messenger here, but since you seem to have a back channel the rest of us don't, light a fire under those guys.
They DO exist...
They're just an incredibly hard product to design/test and mass produce. Im making something much simpler for myself, and I have more issues than expected. lol.
Would pictures help you feel better?
(https://emotorwerks.com/media/com_hikashop/upload/thumbnails/220x256f/dsc_7495_1076319199.jpg)
(https://emotorwerks.com/media/com_hikashop/upload/dsc_7496_660769427_1821097755.jpg)
(https://emotorwerks.com/media/com_hikashop/upload/thumbnails/220x256f/dsc_7486_657085828.jpg)
(https://emotorwerks.com/media/com_hikashop/upload/thumbnails/220x256f/dsc_7484_1282640995_1601659758.jpg)
(https://emotorwerks.com/media/com_hikashop/upload/thumbnails/220x256f/dsc_7481_1950670805_804684879.jpg)
(https://emotorwerks.com/images/DSC_6395.JPG)
(https://emotorwerks.com/images/tttt.jpg)
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Also, just to clarify, so no one feels slighted, Brian Rice is #3, and Ben Rich is #4, so the deliveries are going in order. There is no favoritism in our delivery order. But we are delivering slowly to prevent any unnoticed issues :)
Terry was customer #1 Luke #2 both of them are such good friends and want the product to succeed so much that they said "Brandon, wait, lets go slow, lets see how we can break it" and I am so glad we did.
To be fair, a lot of people might not know that engineers such as myself, Terry, Luke, and a lot of us here get very focused on small areas of a product. So with #3 and #4 now shipped, by getting feedback we can ensure that we did not miss some larger picture that we missed while focusing on making super solid power electronics.
On top of this we are learning the things we might need to tell people, and how to tell them in a way that isn't to technical or complicated. A lot of people are not tinkerers, engineers, or hackers like a lot of us on the forums, and you might not just be able to say "plug it in" and have them understand.
Long distance travel on electric bikes is something new, and different than touring on a gas bike, Terry has been doing this for a long time, and a lot of things are second nature to him. They go without saying. I have been doing this since 2013 and the same is true for me. Luke is new to electric touring, but a mad scientist genius so he just gets a lot of things. It is important that we know what needs to be shared about touring on our e-motos. For example, if you ride at 80+ mph and charge at 10kW after a few legs your battery will get hot, and you'll need to take a break. Or you could keep your speed down to 65-70 mph. Little things like this, these are important things to explain so people don't think "my charger doesn't work" when in fact they just hauled ass across Virginia and Super Charged.
I appreciate everyones enthusiasm, willingness to help, and support. And I know Doug S will as well as he is next on the list in San Diego.
Once Brian returns to Oakland and gives a full report on his 800+ mile ride (will you hit 1000 Brian?) Doug will get an email from Mike and a call from me, and I will set a time up to come meet and install his charger with him. I will go over the things to keep in mind with his new super power, and we will have another person experienced.
I truly hope this helps alleviate any feelings you have of hurry up and get me my new toy, in favor of thank you for making sure my new toy is safe, reliable, well thought out, well tested and intuitive. All I want is for everyone to be happy in a new era of electric motorcycling.
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Also, @Ben, please put the super charger "IN" the givi ;) not on the seat lol! I know you love it and want it to be right next to you all the time, but I think it will love you more protected in the box ;)
Enjoy!
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Holy moly! A guy goes to sleep then work and misses a great conversation! [emoji3]
I plan to take all my charging equipment on my ride, so I'll have the supercharger, but also my trusty Elcons for backup. This eliminates any space for luggage so the only space for the charger is in my passenger seat. Leaves me kinda cramped, but I don't really have options.
This also means I can fast as charge at 2 J1772 plugs utilizing both systems.
Subscribe to Benswing on YouTube to follow my summer journeys.
Like Ben Rich - Electric Biker on Facebook.
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Holy moly! A guy goes to sleep then work and misses a great conversation! [emoji3]
I plan to take all my charging equipment on my ride, so I'll have the supercharger, but also my trusty Elcons for backup. This eliminates any space for luggage so the only space for the charger is in my passenger seat. Leaves me kinda cramped, but I don't really have options.
This also means I can fast as charge at 2 J1772 plugs utilizing both systems.
Hmm, good point. You have the power tank, so you should be able to charge at 120+ A DC using both systems... but please do test that before you get on the road!
Were you ever able to get the Elcons working in parallel with the OBC? If not, you might consider dropping swapping one Elcon for a side case and using 1 Elcon + the OBC .. worst case (barring Supercharger failure) it'd increase your charge times by about 10% (50 minutes becomes 55 minutes), best case it would have zero effect because you'd be using a NEMA 14-50 or a single J1772 EVSE.
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Ben I would second putting the supercharger in the Givi top case and putting clothes, toothbrush, etc in a duffle bag strapped on the passenger seat. It will be more comfortable as well as you can push against your clothes when you need to slide back. But the main reason is to keep the beagle bone box and wires protected from the elements for now. Versions will be made soon that are more water proof ad strain resistant, but yours is not. It was built and shipped in a rush to you with the understanding you had a powertank so it would always be protected in the top box. I was there when this happened. Please put it in the top case!! And get the Corbin seat to fit with the top rack bolts! Should only take a few min to do this but I haven't seen any pictures posted yet with the Corbin seat back on! That would be my number 1 priority for a long trip like yours!
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SC #6 checking in from Seattle! Very excited about the potential for these. Have a safe trip Ben! :)
-Chris
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Thanks Chris!
FYI the supercharger worked like a charm all day while traveling 460 miles across PA in scattered showers! 9kW plus the onboard charger all day! Average stop time was 45 minutes, just about half the time I had to stop last year.
Having the Elcons is handy when there are 6 J1772 plugs.
Subscribe to Benswing on YouTube to follow my summer journeys.
Like Ben Rich - Electric Biker on Facebook.
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Ben:
Outstanding to hear you had a good day across PA! Wave to my relatives as you pass by. Some of them are Amish.
As far as luggage, I've been known to wrap heavy things in jeans and shirts and jackets, pads and protects the thing and reduces the amount of "suitcase" you need to carry.
Have a great trip, and hopefully we'll see you in California!