Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Electric Terry]

Has anyone else replaced their BMS board?  Protomech, did you have any errors after replacing it? Although your replacement was number 650, and I have another coming soon as the replacement BMS that was sent was the wrong batch (actually a lower number than the one on the bike) and still has a glitch, just not the corrosion.

I'm getting a code, that says "number of cells not set" and can't get it to reset or go away.  It gives me the code on both the new and old BMS.  I've emailed Zero and called but no response on that yet, thought I'd check here while I was waiting for a call back from them.

[protomech]

2300 miles since the BMS replacement, no BMS problems. We haven't had much rain recently, but it's been out in some pretty heavy rain since.

Had some pretty heavy rain yesterday and today, saw a two-flash followed by three-flash error message on my ride back home. Manual says its a CAN error. No effect on bike operation. Cleared up after it dried at home.

I lost three of the fasteners to the top trim plate on a recent ride (pro-tip: don't fasten gear in the tank position and then ride on really rough roads). I moved one fastener up to secure the trim plate, but suspect water got into something through the two remaining holes. Lesson learned. Edit: heavier rain today, fasteners replaced. No problems.

I believe the BMS can be set to a ZF3, ZF6, ZF9 pack configuration. I wonder if perhaps yours is unconfigured for some reason. If you have access to a serial cable to talk to the BMS then you can probably fix the configuration.

[Electric Terry]

That's it.  Somehow it lost it's identity.  Perhaps from too much corrosion.  A new one is being boxed up in Santa Cruz right now and about to be on it's way to Florida by tomorrow morning.  I'll post again tomorrow when I get it.

[CliC]

Does anyone know what BMS lot numbers or whatever are affected? I'm afraid that this is a bit of a ticking time bomb, as I haven't had my bike in any heavy rain except once, and neither Zero nor my dealer has communicated anything to me about this. I'm tempted to take mine off and paint those two prongs with clear fingernail polish or something.

[Lipo423]

I asked the same question and it seems there is no #serial brake and it is happening randomly (probably because not everyone rides in the rain on regular bases).
If you want to protect the PCB board use one of these...leave the fingernail polish to your wife/partner 

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/protcoat.html

[Electric Terry]

The affected BMS boards have a # that reads 948A8B_00400 or lower

And the corrosion on my board was not in the same place.  It was widespread over a good portion.  I have pictures and will post.

[Lipo423]

Thanks offthegrid,
Is there any official communication from Zero about this number, or you just got the information from them?

[Electric Terry]

this is the backside. notice around r242 aand c281

[CliC]

Oh, ok. So the new boards are conformally coated (and maybe more to the point, the old ones weren't)?  I was under the impression the problem was localized at the thermistor contacts.

[CliC]

I asked the same question and it seems there is no #serial brake and it is happening randomly (probably because not everyone rides in the rain on regular bases).
If you want to protect the PCB board use one of these...leave the fingernail polish to your wife/partner 

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/protcoat.html

If the problem can occur in various places on the board, then yes. I'm hesitant to conformally coat power components, though, for fear of impeding heat dissipation, but maybe that's not a problem here.

IMO, every circuit board on this bike should be conformally coated. It may never rain in California, as the old song says, but we can get 60" a year where I live (it's been raining solid for a week as I type).

[protomech]

Looks like Zero is doing the right thing and issuing a recall for the BMS glitch.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recallresults.cfm?start=1&SearchType=QuickSearch&rcl_ID=12V310000&summary=true&prod_id=1484812&PrintVersion=YES

[Richard230]

Between this recall and the brake switch recall, no wonder fixing my turn signal indicator relay is not a big priority for Zero.  I called my dealer yesterday about it and they said that Zero had still not responded to their request for a warranty authorization and the replacement part.  I submitted the claim late last month.

Repairing the BMW glitch is going to stress out some old-time mechanics at some of their dealers, is my guess. It will be a good learning experience on how to work on electric motorcycles.

[manlytom]

With my 2010 i had the motor replaced twice and the IC dealer trying to troubleshoot on issues. Not efficient at all. Guess without the right base skills and a good trainiing a challenge.
Now i ask Zero to OK to fix myself and as some of u do seems no problem or even better and faster. With that a more direct sales model would be of interest - cut out the stealer.

PS. The dealers are usually concerned that the Zero will not give them much income - most of the usual services are not needed...

So shall we pub for a new biz model? ZeroDirect - roaming tech for the hard to do items from the company combined with good DIY repair training setup - online, remote diag etc.

[protomech]

I asked Zero if they would sell the support kits individually and they were not interested.

[CliC]

I wonder why not? They sent people replacement BMS boards. Something with the government now that it made the NHTSA's most-wanted list?

The dealer network, or lack thereof, is one of Zero's biggest problems right now. I half-jokingly told someone that my first and (soon-to-come) second unscheduled round-trip hauling my bike in a pickup to the dealer to get these and my fork issue addressed will have erased the entirety of gas savings I've amassed riding the bike . Until the paucity of dealers improves, I'd think they would want to continue to help those who are so inclined to do their own servicing. Once the bike is out of warranty that's going to happen anyway.