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Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: caza on November 11, 2018, 02:21:44 AM

Title: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: caza on November 11, 2018, 02:21:44 AM
Rode my 2015 SR home the other day. Plugged it in at 17%.

It now says 3%, but the LED is solid green, indicating a full charge. No errors besides the usual killswitch and kickstand errors.

Tried plugging in the quick charger with the same results, it shows the battery as full.

Since I started at 17% I'm suspecting/hoping that the battery is full and it's just displaying or calculating the charge state incorrectly.

Is there any way to check the voltage or reset the computer on the Zero?

Any help or advice is appreciated.
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: NEW2elec on November 11, 2018, 03:09:51 AM
Well yes to both, sort of.
On your app with the bike on and the kill switch on "killed" you should be able to look at your voltage and SOC from the battery screen.

The only other reset I know of is the tiny BMS reset buttons in the front of the bike behind the round rubber cover.
The best place to look is here.

https://zeromanual.com/wiki/Main_Page
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: caza on November 11, 2018, 03:23:10 AM
Thanks I'll try both of those.

I suspect something bigger is wrong, temperature is reading 1204 degrees Fahrenheit.
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: NEW2elec on November 11, 2018, 03:37:49 AM
I know it's 99% a bad reading but if you do feel any high heat get the bike away from your house and everything away from the bike.
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: caza on November 11, 2018, 04:14:08 AM
Every part of the bike is cold to the touch even after being keyed on for 15 min, so I'd say 100% bad reading.

Looked at the BMS lights and referenced the manual. It reads as normal and working in standby mode, 100% charged when plugged in, and normal/full charge when keyed on.

Reset the BMS software, still reads normal. Reset hardware, still reads normal.

I would suspect if the bike were at 1200f it would not let me ride it, but the throttle still works fine. Have only rolled in the garage. Not sure if I should take it on a short ride around the block to see how it behaves.

A trip to the dealer sounds likely.
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: caza on November 11, 2018, 05:27:45 AM
App says the voltage is at 115  with a cell balance of 3mv

Temperatures in the app are real, 59f for the battery, 55 for the controller, 28 for the motor.

The app and bike do still say the SOC is 3%.

The app also shows distance to empty to be 605 (no units??) While the bike says my range is 35 miles.

So what I'm gathering is that the battery is probably fine and fully charged, but something is wrong with the computer. I'm baffled that there's no "factory reset" option built into the bike aside from the BMS.
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: Richard230 on November 11, 2018, 07:41:57 AM
115 volts is what the Zero app says when my 2018S is fully charged.  So I do believe your display is having a meltdown.  :(
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: caza on November 12, 2018, 01:02:16 AM
Dealers closed today.

So I took it out on a little ride around local roads and did a couple errands.

The temperature immediately dropped to 55F once I got moving. Thankfully not even after the trip its not jumping back up, that part seems to be fixed for now.

Only a few miles but the "range" on the bike dropped from 35 miles to 5. It was down to 10 and I watched it drop to 5 while sitting at a stop light.

SOC shows 0% App shows 114v.

Seems to ride perfectly normal. Didn't take it out on the freeway, but got up to 50 on local roads with no noticeable change in behavior. I'm wondering if there is any risk to commuting with the bike in this state. Seems to be totally fine aside from SOC not being accurate.
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: Shadow on November 12, 2018, 01:59:11 AM
...SOC shows 0% App shows 114v.
Seems to ride perfectly normal. Didn't take it out on the freeway, but got up to 50 on local roads with no noticeable change in behavior. I'm wondering if there is any risk to commuting with the bike in this state. Seems to be totally fine aside from SOC not being accurate.
SoC from what I've observed is based on the BMS in every ZF pack and aggregated at the MBB. When you reset the BMS fully it needs a few full cycles (especially on newer firmware) before it can know where it is in the SoC range. The really strange SoC and Zero App Voltage behavior I've seen only with bikes that have ZF Power Tank that is more than 1Vdc different than the ZF Monolith, where one ZF pack will drop out and the BMS is getting two very different points of information. I observed then things like the App voltage changes between disarmed and ready ride states.

If you have only one ZF pack like the Monolith and no Power Tank, and it's working, there's no reason I know of that it would leave you stranded above say 98Vdc. The actual cutoff normally is like 90Vdc but it can be 92Vdc or greater depending on voltage sag due to temperature and load. From 98Vdc to 90Vdc is not really that many miles.
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: DonTom on November 12, 2018, 02:09:21 AM
I'm wondering if there is any risk to commuting with the bike in this state. Seems to be totally fine aside from SOC not being accurate.
I would guess you're okay, unless that same bad info. is getting back to the controller to reduce your power and such. But i assume it does not work that way and only cares about the actual voltage.

For now, just keep an eye on your battery voltage and use it to help figure your range.

-Don-  Auburn, CA
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: caza on November 12, 2018, 02:47:37 AM
I should have mentioned that I DO have the power tank.  :-\
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: Richard230 on November 12, 2018, 04:50:57 AM
I should have mentioned that I DO have the power tank.  :-\

My 2014 S had a Power Tank that was not communicating with the MMB after it was installed by my dealer.  However, the bike still ran fine, it just acted like a ZF 13.0 (or whatever) and I was not getting the range that I expected from the bike with the PT. Once the PT was replaced everything started working perfectly.  My bike had two problems. The BMS circuit on the PT was defective and also a connector had a couple of mashed pins that was also preventing communication to the MMB.
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: Electric Cowboy on November 13, 2018, 01:04:23 AM
As Shattow mentioned, firmware is a big deal. There are a few revs out there that can not properly calculate AMP HOURS of your battery which will mess up your indicated SoC, indicated Range, indicated charge time, and sometimes real power output dramatically.

However other than the occassional limp mode error the bike will still work. Terry and I thought his bike was about to burn down (not hard to believe ;) xoxo buddy) with one of the odd versions. It showed him with a 6kw discharge. Thankfully after freaking out, we were able to determine and isolate the problem to a firmware bug when we saw his bike a 600+ amp hour battery and were unable to corroberate discharge with manual testing.

This was while I was injured too LMAO no one had seen me move so fast since before my accident. I was laying in the spinal beanbag with the window open to where Terry was working on his bike... he then said something like : "Hey Brando, I think we have a problem... Im showing a constant 6kw discharge... that doesn't look good." To which I responded to by Jumping up and ran out to help start ripping things apart. And testing. After discovering no real danger, I returned to the spanal beanbag and slept at the shop. It was definately too much for me that day and I couldn't drive or ride home.

All that said, I would reccomend upgrading your firmware now. The latest stuff still has an AH bug in it, however, the fix that I saw put in place by Zero was good enough thast we upgraded all our shop bikes.

Here is a break down on the bug and the fix I have seen in place.

bug version:
Remaining amp hours correct
Battery Total Amp Hours fluxuates dramatically
This causes all indicators to be screwed. It also causes power cutback in some scenerios.

bug fix :
Remaining amp hours fluxuates with total amp hours, so it is totally wrong, but SoC is correct.
This leads to some interesting flaws in the code. It means 1C on the bike fluxuates. Thats all Im gonna say on that.

I see no issues big enough to hold back on the upgrade at this point.

-EC

 
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: caza on December 07, 2018, 08:40:38 AM
So I haven't been able to ride lately due to the fires/smoke and then the rain here in CA, until today.

When I left the house I was at 115v with the display saying 0% battery and 15.x mile range.

As soon as I hit 0 miles of range left it reset, and I had 96% SOC.

By the time I finished my commute, I was at 74% SOC after 27 miles.
Charged at work back up to 100, and then was at 80% by the time I got home. (Slower speeds on the way home)

Seems to be back to normal!
Title: Re: State of charge stuck at 3%?
Post by: DonTom on December 09, 2018, 09:30:51 PM
So I haven't been able to ride lately due to the fires/smoke and then the rain here in CA, until today.

When I left the house I was at 115v with the display saying 0% battery and 15.x mile range.

As soon as I hit 0 miles of range left it reset, and I had 96% SOC.

By the time I finished my commute, I was at 74% SOC after 27 miles.
Charged at work back up to 100, and then was at 80% by the time I got home. (Slower speeds on the way home)

Seems to be back to normal!
Great news!  Seems like it must have been just a temporary software glitch of some type.

-Don-