ElectricMotorcycleForum.com

I went into my garage and I noticed that my 2015 SR was showing 00 SOC when plugged into the onboard charger.

I turned on the Error display on the dash and I get the following according to the Unofficial Manual:

6 BMS Throttle Enable Wire Error - throttle
40 BMS Throttle En Wire Disable - Throttle
48 SEVCON Startup Disable - Controller
49 Contactor Open Disable- Contactor
25 Contactor Open Warning - Contactor
30 BMS CAN Error - BMS
57 Module Did Not Connect - BMS


Yikes! Any ideas?

Yes, another partially melted 120V Charge Cable. 

let's go through the normal checklist for this common problem:
--14 AWG, 5-6 ft - check
--Normally unplug at wall outlet - check
--The conductors on the cable and the Zero look clean- check
--The cables and heat shrink on the the Zero behind the C14 plug look good.  This part has been replaced/repaired before by Zero when a previous cable was melted.  - check
--The stock onboard charger was replaced by the dealer under warranty ~6 months ago. 

I have not checked the what the wall outlet contacts or voltage.  The charge cable was worryingly warm at both ends the last time I unplugged it at the wall before charging tapered.  A little white plastic internal to the plug had melted and the plug conductors are bent a little from the weight of the cable hanging from the wall.  The cable is probably a extra one that I bought from Amazon, but 14 AWG is embossed on it. 

I hope its is not the new onboard charger, but that is what I suspect because it seemed that the last onboard burnt the last cable I had when it failed.

I think that the Zero is nice that it comes with a 110 V cable, but what about the EV Plug/ J1772 adapters?  The J1772 should come standard.

Here are the prices that I see on adapters and I think they are too much even though they are professionally assembled:

1. Zero -$300
2. Hollywood Electric- $400
3. Tucson EV - $165 - needs to be terminated, but comes with "pilot signal box"

Now these parts are basically copper, plastic and labor.  They should be able to be done for less that $90 with some volume.  I know some of these people are 'friends', but for the good of Zero and electric motorcycles, these adapters should be standard or driven to low cost.   

Can some one tell me about the J1772 'pilot signal'.  Don't we need a pilot signal on most chargers?  It would be tough to buy a $400 adapter and not have it work because it has no 'pilot signal'.

Do any of the public chargers have issues with the Zero Charge Tank?

Specifically, the J1772 "handshake" / pilot signal.

With permission.

I was looking for Zero photos and I find MY photo of my SR on Mt Hamilton outside of San Jose.

Here it is in a short article:

http://badasshelmetstore.com/electric-motorcycles-the-top-16-e-bikes-to-keep-your-eye-on/



I was proud of how well that iPhone photo turned out that when I was emailing Zero for some service, I greased the wheels with some good vibes that they could use.

Anyway I'm faltered. 

Its possible it was yanked from the internet too, because I have posted it before.

I wanted to know how efficient the charger was because PG&E rates are high-ish even if they are still a fraction of the cost of gas. I went over my "baseline usage" (where my rates go up) for the first time charging my Zero a couple of months ago.  I have NEVER done that before, so now I am trying to use wisely and have switch to "time of use" rates where off-peak I get a rate discount.  To charge off-peak, I use a simple plug timer, that is set to turn on during off-peak times.  I only need 25% of the battery to get to work.

I used a Kill-A-Watt meter to keep track of my kWhrs.

I commuted home from work and plugged in the next day at 69% state of charge indicated.  Since the website says that the practical capacity of my 2015 Zero SR is 11.0 kWhrs, that puts me at 7.59 kWhr in the battery.

I partial charged from 69% to 97% state of charge and according to my Kill-A-Watt, 3.67 kWhr was used at the 120VAC outlet, which should be, if I am calculating it right, 84% efficiency.

Then, I charged to 100% and the total energy used was 4.62 kWhr, so I calculate that at 74% efficien

In conclusion, the charge efficiency drops down to 74% when the charger is "topping" the pack and balancing. 

So, if you want to be most efficient, don't charge to 100% all the time.  Once in a while it is good to do a balance charge to maintain the back, but I dont think you need to do that each charge.

I would like to do this again at a lower state of charge and take a couple of data points. 

Does that make since?  Did I calculate it right using 11 kWhr for the "nominal capacity"?

Highway 9 and 35 California