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Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2012 and older / 2011 Zero S Throttle replacement/upgrade
« on: May 22, 2021, 10:34:40 AM »
New-to-me 2011 Zero S, with some intermittent throttle issues. I get the throttle switch blink code most, but not all, times I power the bike on to ride. Occasionally the throttle is initially unresponsive, I cycle the kill switch, rolling the throttle off and on while the kills switch is engaged, which resolves the issue. I have not been stranded yet, and virtually all of my trips are less than three miles. driven about 200 miles since I became the owner.
I ordered a Domino throttle and received it recently. Yesterday, after two days of heavy rain (the bike is outdoors under a bike cover), I sat on the bike with the key on for longer than 15 minutes (engaged in a phone call but late to meet friends). The throttle was initially responsive but after a few minutes it began creeping slightly while the throttle was fully "off". I understand now there's a "time out" if the key is on and the throttle is untouched for 7200 seconds, but I could not get the bike to reset and allow me to ride. The "creeping" throttle was unnerving.
So, today I removed the old throttle to replace it. One thing I found: the shrink wrap protecting the plug from the throttle was loose and could easily rotate(potential moisture intrusion?) The potentiometer, when tested, never reaches zero. In the "throttle off" position it reads 190-1,000 ohms(manipulation of the handle, as if a hand were on the handle bar, caused it to bounce between those low readings) and WOT measures 5,480 ohms. I imagine the latent resistance is just oxidization inside the wiring and/or potentiometer. The original bike side of the connector has four wires, but the old throttle has only two. My new throttle is a five wire Domino and I'm struggling to find documentation to guide the decision whether to attempt incorporating the microswitch and high side of the pot.
I'm searching on the Unofficial Zero Manual wiki, here, and around the web but haven't really found joy. Also trying to document the process well so I can contribute to the Unofficial Manual for the gen 1 platform. Any pointers are greatly appreciated, I'm trying to get a grasp on the resources available without asking too many simple questions but keep hitting dead ends today.
Cheers
Jim
I ordered a Domino throttle and received it recently. Yesterday, after two days of heavy rain (the bike is outdoors under a bike cover), I sat on the bike with the key on for longer than 15 minutes (engaged in a phone call but late to meet friends). The throttle was initially responsive but after a few minutes it began creeping slightly while the throttle was fully "off". I understand now there's a "time out" if the key is on and the throttle is untouched for 7200 seconds, but I could not get the bike to reset and allow me to ride. The "creeping" throttle was unnerving.
So, today I removed the old throttle to replace it. One thing I found: the shrink wrap protecting the plug from the throttle was loose and could easily rotate(potential moisture intrusion?) The potentiometer, when tested, never reaches zero. In the "throttle off" position it reads 190-1,000 ohms(manipulation of the handle, as if a hand were on the handle bar, caused it to bounce between those low readings) and WOT measures 5,480 ohms. I imagine the latent resistance is just oxidization inside the wiring and/or potentiometer. The original bike side of the connector has four wires, but the old throttle has only two. My new throttle is a five wire Domino and I'm struggling to find documentation to guide the decision whether to attempt incorporating the microswitch and high side of the pot.
I'm searching on the Unofficial Zero Manual wiki, here, and around the web but haven't really found joy. Also trying to document the process well so I can contribute to the Unofficial Manual for the gen 1 platform. Any pointers are greatly appreciated, I'm trying to get a grasp on the resources available without asking too many simple questions but keep hitting dead ends today.
Cheers
Jim