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Messages - Lipo423

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 25
1
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: Ceramic bearings
« on: July 01, 2016, 02:41:54 PM »
Doug,

What is your experience so far with the ceramic bearings?
I'm just curious...

2
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: Ceramic bearings
« on: March 26, 2016, 02:00:38 PM »
Mmm...I would not suggest you to get ceramic bearings, the price difference will not pay off

I have no experience having them installed on motorbikes, but I have a wide nice experience in bicycles (I clarify the words to avoid confusion). They are suitable for reducing drag and improve life in "soft applications" I guess you know what I mean...as soon as you get the rough word in the middle of the conversation you will destroy them same way -or faster- than regular steel bearings (this is my experience -I own 7 bicycles-)

For people like us (99% do not race with the bikes, or can afford to replace them on regular bases), get SKF new bearings with the suitable required type/model (a bearing shop will tell you what to go for), and you should be ok.

I have not checked Zero wheel bearings but I bet you one beer they are not top notch  ;)

3
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: S and SR - modifying foot brake pedal?
« on: March 12, 2016, 02:20:13 PM »
I would also suggest you to replace the spring -as I did- for a softer one (see photo)
I have never understood why Zero installed a hard -dirt type- spring on a road bike...

After that, surprisingly you will get better braking power  ;D

4
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: Any li ion battery experts here?
« on: March 06, 2016, 01:36:09 PM »
Quote from: xmjsilverx on March 05, 2016, 07:41:30 AM
I understand the risks of this project and I will be as careful as I can.  I am not going out and buying a zero or other bike/battery because I want to learn about this.  These batteries can be had cheaply and I do realize they are not all going to be good batteries.  That's why I am looking for proper ways to test batteries.  I am not sure on the size of the pack I am going to build yet.  I think that all depends on the voltage I need.  I guess it's not technically an EV but I am leaning towards converting my commercial lawn mower to electric.  I do appreciate all the tips.

As long is this is 100% clear in your mind + you get the proper measuring devices you will be fine. There are a few guys out there building packs and EV, and it is a lot of fun...just put t safety first on your list (I have myself  left "risky" battery packs outside home in a proper protected area to avoid potential fire risk, and in Europe we do not own wooded made houses as much as you do in the US)  ;)

5
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: Any li ion battery experts here?
« on: March 04, 2016, 02:26:57 PM »
First of all, good luck with the project!  ;)

I avoid calling myself an expert as there is always someone with better knowledge that you :) anyway, these are my 5 cents:

There is a bunch of information over the Internet about this subject.

When building a battery pack there are a few main considerations, one is topology (the way they are connected serial, parallel, etc...), welding (cells get severely damaged if this process is not done properly and the process itself is also dangerous), and chemistry (you need to chose the right one, my advice is to  got for LiFe, or better yet Lithium manganese. These chemistries are pretty safe within the challenges Lithium represents in the "safety world" and last, but not least charging and Battery management.

- Pouch cells are better than cylindrical because of space, but you may be able to find better deals in cylindrical ones
- Make sure you do not mix cell chemistries...nominal voltages are not the same
- When preforming the sensitive welding process use proper plates (avoid wiring) solid copper or nickel. A spot welding might not be a bad choice
- Make sure you reach a level on consistency in cell "health" or capacity, whatever you call it, when connecting/soldering them. Inconsistency in this will build a messy and unreliable pack
- Got a precision multimeter and a high Amp clamp already?
- Get a charger and a BMS suitable for the voltage you will be dealing with. They are relatively cheap
- Get proper fuses in main High current connections, and be careful with ground connections
- Get a proper quality aluminium case. If the pack is big, it has to be strong enough...Obvious?
- Get a way of measuring pack temp to avoid cells typical de-charging high temperature (lithium loves working in relatively "warm weather" but also hates being charged when hot after use)
- Be careful if you plan in going for a high voltage pack. These are not toys and you could either get severally injured or die...DC voltage in opposite with AC one gives little opportunity to release your hand if you ever touch a cable

6
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2012 and older / Re: Is this charger OK?
« on: March 04, 2016, 12:29:44 PM »
Advice?

Get a Zero/DeltaQ Zero ZF9 2012MY suitable charger...this is what your bike needs and what would give you no headaches whatsoever, both chargers (main and 2nd/3rd, etc...have to be synchronized and unless you are an electronic engineer -or a knowledgeable person- Do not play with the fire or you will get burned...

7
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2012 and older / Re: 2015 Zero SR won't charge
« on: March 04, 2016, 12:21:36 PM »
I really hope Zero is watching this thread...the faulty/low quality charger business is becoming tiring -at least for me- as I'm getting a kind of "charge anxiety" every time I plug the bike for charging...

There are several forum members having faced this problem (and probably a few more we do not know), and after a few charger generations the issue is still on the table.  >:(

8
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: DSP Not Charging - First Major Failure
« on: February 18, 2016, 11:34:41 PM »
Quote from: MostlyBonkers on February 16, 2016, 11:16:50 PM
I'd love to know the exact nature of the issue and where the weakness is. Mine charged the bike to 100% before failing. It actually failed about 18-20 hours after the full charge was reached. I know that because that's when it tripped the circuit in the house.

The short circuit is also an unusual failure mode. I would expect there to be an internal fuse of some sort that would blow. It might trip a circuit the first time it failed but after that the blown fuse would make it appear to just be a dead unit, which in effect it is at that stage.

I wonder how easy it is to check the revision number. I'll start a new topic as it might give us a better idea of how big the problem is.

Richard, I think it's probably a good strategy to unplug when fully charged. Cell balancing probably doesn't need doing very often.

Tom,

The issue goes on the design, and the chosen components (but I'm not discovering anything to you with such statement)
These kind chargers are not under the "new technology umbrella", so we should understand/accept a level of failure as we do with our bikes, this is old fashioned technology.


IMO, If they are in the 6th Gen and the chargers still blow up, they should consider replacing their low-cost/quality supplier for a reliable one, and remove another potential issue in their Zero reliability list.

If you account the units they sell and the number of faults it is a pretty big number, this is unacceptable.

Ask to the forum members the number of DeltaQ faulty chargers replaced and you will get my point...

9
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: DSP Not Charging - First Major Failure
« on: February 11, 2016, 11:22:00 AM »
It is around 8-10 charging cycles (in my experience). From what I have heard in mostly of the cases it blows up in early use
It would be good to know more cases, so all the users pay attention to minimize riding/logistics potential issues

10
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: DSP Not Charging - First Major Failure
« on: February 09, 2016, 11:51:07 AM »
I cannot agree more with the comments...

As I mentioned earlier in my case a 2015 demo bike blowed the charger...and then my new SR2014...
It looks like it is a kind of lottery/random...which is not nice...my replaced charger seems to work fine now, I'm just crossing my fingers as I'm in the number of cycles it usually blows up  :-\

My professional experience is mainly in the equipment industry where there are also a lot of electronics control systems involved.
When performing competitors benchmarking, guess what, the Japanese units had either no failures, or very little on the electronic controls (these machines run also with hydraulics pumps, etc...).
Sevcom controllers did also performed pretty well  ;)

Let's hope they have found the right supplier in the last units

11
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: It's been 1 year since my accident and my Zero is still not repaired !!!
« on: February 03, 2016, 10:25:39 PM »
Mmm...it looks like we have different approaches on this one...

In Europe we replace frames on bikes, cars, etc...and also -if possible- repair them (as long as you have technical guarantees). These big repairs when an insurance company is involved have to be agreed by an expert engineer otherwise is determined by the dealer's engineers.
These guys have also to determine what other parts are damaged, and if they need to be replaced.
If the repairs costs are above the current bike value, then the bike/vehicle is considered "totaled", and the insurance company would make a "current value reimbursement" to the owner

(I have owned +10 bikes so far, and one of them had a chassis repair because of an accident and worked perfectly afterwards) I'm still alive  ;)

It is also true that on Very high performance bikes (which is not the case with a Zero bike) the engineers will look at the chassis with a microscope -you know what I mean- , and discard repair very easily...

The above statement has nothing to do with Zero not supplying the parts, which is really strange (I wonder why)

12
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: Air Cooling Duct for Zero SR/S/DS
« on: February 03, 2016, 12:49:55 AM »
Thanks, I know, but where is positioned?

13
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: DSP Not Charging - First Major Failure
« on: February 02, 2016, 04:43:55 PM »
Quote from: MostlyBonkers on February 02, 2016, 02:15:34 PM
Thanks gents.

Fortunately Streetbike are quite happy to send Andy out in their van to anywhere in the country. They also like to make sure that bikers don't go without a ride, so a courtesy bike shouldn't be a problem. I'm just a bit gutted.

Lucky you!  :)

It's good to know Zero have stock in Holland. Fingers crossed they haven't run out.

[/quote]
99% they do...they know the problem (it also happened to me with a 2015 DS demo bike, and as stated earlier in my new SR 2014)

I would love to own an Elcon or Diginow fast charger but I believe all auxiliary chargers rely on the on-board charger to be plugged in and working.

[/quote]
Yep. No onboard, no charging...they should change that, as you rely in one charger all the time...

I hope that someone decides it's worthwhile to replace the units in the other DSP bikes at the same time. It's a safe bet that they will have chargers from the same batch. At least it sounds like they've resolved the problem and I can expect the replacement to work reliably.

[/quote]
Agreed, but do not expect that to happen...

We heard that Zero are working on a 3kW on-board charger for the European market. If you're listening Zero, I'm happy to test one of these for you! [emoji4]

[/quote]
Me too  ;D

I wonder why they didn't fit one in the first place? Our sockets can supply up to 3.12 kW and many kettles are now 3kW. It would make a big difference. Cost, I imagine.
[/quote]

Both, cost and trying to get to 100% of the public...sometimes old domestic outlets cannot cop up with such current

14
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: DSP Not Charging - First Major Failure
« on: February 02, 2016, 11:39:50 AM »
Quote from: MostlyBonkers on February 02, 2016, 01:56:32 AM
I picked my bike up on 20th Jan and it didn't make it to the end of the month without a show stopper. Damn! I knew there would be problems but I was hoping for a few months grace at least. 11 days and 500 miles isn't great.

Plugging the bike in gets it to initiate but as soon as the contactor clicks on it shits itself, the bike shuts down and the contractor clicks off. What's also bad is that it creates a short circuit somehow which trips the circuit in the house.  Gladys (my wife's name for the bike) wasn't popular last night when half the house shut down along with the heating and hot water...

Fortunately I traced the problem back to the bike and normal service was resumed. 

I've done a video to demonstrate the problem.  I hope some of you don't mind watching it and if you've got any suggestions, or have seen this problem before, please let me know.



In the meantime, I'll have a go at pulling the logs via the app. I've let Streetbike know but they can't pick the bike up until Friday.

Defective charger. It also happened to me after a few hundred miles. 100% same symptoms. The defective ones blow out after just little use.
Get it replaced, Zero has replacement units in Holland.

Zero got a few defective chargers, which unfortunately they had no way to identify (serial number, serial break or similar), as they broke randomly...so they decided "let the user find out"
Mine was replaced last year for (as it was stated in thew box) an "improved version"
I wish we would go back to DeltaQ quality  :'(  but they do not make chargers with suitable size/power for our MY2013+ bikes...

15
Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ / Re: Air Cooling Duct for Zero SR/S/DS
« on: January 31, 2016, 12:52:23 AM »
This is a great system (could not be simpler...) good job!

I would like to ask a question though. Where is the motor temp sensor located?
I ask the question just in case it is located underneath, so, there could be a risk of lowering the temp more where the sensor is located, while the other side of the motor suffers higher temperature with the risk it represents for those magnets.

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