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[PaulZero]

Has anyone tried to diagnose/demonstrate the SOC symptoms from the 14.4 kWh battery packs?  Sometimes referred to as "magic charging" or "voltage sag" or "voltage rebound".
I live in Ireland and there are no dealers, the only one hasn't got the expertise (due to sick leave) to pull the logs and investigate.  So my options are very limited.
It appears that the logs downloaded via the Zero app are very small/recent - about 2,500 entries, and even when the bike is idle only covers a few days.
My next thought was to go a ride to recreate the issues and capture logs frequently... but then I don't know if the App Download can/would demonstrate the problem.

Any thoughts/experiences to share?

Thanks!
Paul.

[princec]

You barely even need the logs to prove it - in my case all I had to do was ride 23 miles, observe the battery SOC at 65%, and then come back to the bike a few hours later to discover it had charged itself back up to 75%.

My dealer down in Torquay (Davant) managed to pull the logs successfully after I dropped it off and then presumably pulled them again a few hours later, and that was enough for Zero to acknowledge the issue and send me a new battery under warranty, which is apparently being fitted today (hurrah!)

Cas

[stevenh]

The Zero customer support person asked that I ride the bike from 100% down to less than 10%, then let it sit for a hour or so, then grab the logs.  At that point it was off to the dealer for a new battery.  My SOC went up a bunch in that hour (I forget the exact numbers, but it was significant).  The new battery has been great so far, much better range and very consistent SOC.  It feels like a new bike. (my firmware was way out of date as well and it all got updated, I like the new dash and picked up parking mode as well).

Steve

[PaulZero]

Thanks Steve,

This is what I was hoping to hear.  I am in Ireland so I can't get the Bike to the nearest cooperative dealer (in England) very easily.
I'll do exactly this and send them the logs.

Cas - agreed, it is blatantly obvious (to me), but proving it sufficiently to get a Case accepted by Zero - so the battery can be ordered and then I just make one (very long) trip to the dealer is the challenge... fingers crossed the logs will give the evidence they require to get a Case filed and accepted for the replacement battery to be ordered.

 

Paul.

[PaulZero]

Cas,

What battery are they using for replacement do you know?  Is it the newer bigger BCB battery?

Thx,
Paul.

You barely even need the logs to prove it - in my case all I had to do was ride 23 miles, observe the battery SOC at 65%, and then come back to the bike a few hours later to discover it had charged itself back up to 75%.

My dealer down in Torquay (Davant) managed to pull the logs successfully after I dropped it off and then presumably pulled them again a few hours later, and that was enough for Zero to acknowledge the issue and send me a new battery under warranty, which is apparently being fitted today (hurrah!)

Cas

[princec]

It's the latest 17kWh battery but capped in firmware to 15.6 for reasons unknown.

Cas

[Zelidar]

It's the latest 17kWh battery but capped in firmware to 15.6 for reasons unknown.

I can confirm that. I got my third battery mounted last week, 17 kWh capped at 15.6, but I waited 3 months before it got replaced (basically all summer). I was told that there was a queue for battery replacement and that some external components required by the new battery took longer to be shipped.

[gadgetgirl]

I just got my SR/F back today with a replaced main pack after 3 months. Like others, the 14.4 kWh pack was replaced with a 17.3 kWh pack. I'm not sure how to check, but I expect it's limited in software to 15.6 kWh. I did get parking mode too (haven't tried it yet). My bike had the magic charging and abysmal range of 40 miles before the fix. For reasons unknown, Zero wouldn't acknowledge a problem for months (requiring multiple test rides from 100% to 0%), but all of a sudden acknowledged within the past couple weeks and replaced the pack. My dealer was really solid throughout the wait, so I'm thankful that they ended up getting it repaired in the end. Now I just have to get my charger back that they forgot to put back into the storage compartment (and they're over an hour away).

[Specter]

g g girl
It might be easier to have them just ship you the charger back to you instead of the hours for the trip and the time.
Although that would be a GREAT reason to ride and test your bike!!

Aaron

[gadgetgirl]

g g girl
It might be easier to have them just ship you the charger back to you instead of the hours for the trip and the time.
Although that would be a GREAT reason to ride and test your bike!!

Aaron

Yeah, that's on my list of options. Option 1 is to meet them somewhere nearby if they happen to be headed into Chicago soon. Otherwise, I'll ask them to ship it. Riding is a little rough right now since it's in the 40s °F and rainy. It's SO nice to have my bike back and working correctly though. Parking mode is pretty cool too.

[gadgetgirl]

I was able to meet up with the shop owner yesterday about 7 miles from me. I have nothing but good things to say about Randy from Randy's Cycle. Really solid guy and solid shop.

On a side note, I wish I could get some saddle time in, but it's freaking snowing in Chicago today!!

[2020_SRS_Commuter]

( This is for my 2020 SRS bought new, with currently 45k miles and the original battery. )

My experience just for context is if I ride at average road speeds and stay off highways, I don't notice a rebound in SOC after riding.
But... if I get on the expressway for about 15 miles or so, speeds around 80 to 90 mph, it will jump up anywhere from 8-10%.

The degree of bounce back , magic charge, whatever you want to call it roughly correlates to how high the SOC at the start of the trip, and how fast I went. For example if I charged it to 100% until it stopped on its own, then rode 100+ mph for a good portion of the battery discharge, it might bounce back 20% or more after just a few minutes of sitting keyed off. But if it was at 60SOC and I rode slowly, no bounce at all.

I presume some cells are depleted more than others during high current draws, and some kind of balancing occurs between them afterward.

SOC confused me for a long time after buying this bike. I never could understand, how much it really represented.

For example... I set it to charge to 90%, say, come out, and it has reached 90%, but then it continues to charge at 1.3kW for the better part of an hour while staying at 90% before it stops. So I've learned there are two kinds of SOC... the "topped off" reading where it charged until it stopped, and the one where that's just where it is at the moment. You can see how weird this is by doing an experiment: Set your bike to charge to 80%. When it has reached 80% and continued charging for a while, key it on, override, then key off to let it continue charging. Suddenly the SOC will jump to a new level, 90SOC or whatever. You've gone back to the "what is is now" level and not the topped off target.

I got so annoyed by the whole thing I installed a kilowatt-hour counter on my charging box, and it shows me how much power the bike has drawn during charging. Its easier for me to understand.  I wish their software offered such a thing as an option for one of the quadrants.