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[Rangerx52]

I bought a showroom SR 2 months ago, had 1k km on it. I love it, its a blast. I use it for my daily driver.

I drove to work this morning, and had really heavy rain. Got to work, plugged it in. Went to the bike when I was done, and the dash was flashing. The whole thing. not one light, all of it.

I unplugged the bike, turned the key, and the flashing went away. I went to move, and the bike seemed to be OK, I did notice that when accelerating from a stop, there would be a momentary hesitation sometimes, where the bike almost seemed to hop back a bit before moving forward. I got out onto the highway, everything seemed ok (it was lightly raining), and all of a sudden I lost all power to the motor- no throttle response.

I got to the shoulder, and tried turning off and on a few times. No go, red triangle flashing intermittently, green ring flashing on and off. It did go solid a few times, and when I hit the throttle, I could hear the field coils pulsing, but no movement at all. To me, seemed like the throttle was not getting a full signal.

Bike currently dead. turns on, doesnt move.
Any thoughts? seen this before?

[Crissa]

There's no pattern to the flashing?  The manual has a series of codes for base level errors.

-Crissa

[Curt]

Sorry to  hear that. Not good!!

If the entire display is flashing it might be a symptom of a bad charger. We've seen that a couple times.
https://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=6034.0

But since it was so wet, maybe water got into a connector. I'd try unplugging as many connectors as possible and spraying contact cleaner in each.

On the other hand, I've ridden my FX a few times in pouring rain splashing through puddles, so the construction seems good.

[Moto7575]

Let it dry - i had such problem with early models, they disappeared after drying.

[Rangerx52]

So that does narrow it down a bit.
Its dry out this morning, and the bike works. i havent taken it for a test ride, but t runs through the pretrip this time and lets the bike move. And the flashing dash, now i know its a charger fault- that makes a lot of sense since the bike was being heavily rained on, maybe it saw a ground fault somewhere (it was charging on a GFCI outlet, but maybe something on a different circuit).

i THINK maybe i got water into the switches for the killswitch and kickstand, and some into the throttle. Does the 16 use a variable resistance magura? is water getting into the throttle been an issue before?

[Moto7575]

I had such problems after heavy rains or washing the bike with water. Early models had a so-so water resistance. You might ask a dealer what easy fixes are possible or google zero unofficial manual and see if there are things there

[Rangerx52]

Frigging seriously?

I started hunting for water permeable connections that could be causing issues. I found damn near all of them. Open contacts, exposed circuits, pooled water everywhere. There is -NO- water protection i can find on this thing. Im going to have to spend the next few days waterproofing everything before id feel safe bringing it back outside.

Unreal.

And whoever designed the throttle spring assembly, can burn in the darkest pit of hell.

[Moto7575]

If you do this, please take pictures and share them in the unofficial zeo manual - not related to zero, will help community (and shame the designer).

[valnar]

I wonder if the later years were assembled any better.

[DonTom]

Early models had a so-so water resistance.

Which years are considered "early models"?

-Don-  OPCNM, AZ

[Moto7575]

I had this with a 2012 and a 2013 model. Never an issue with the 2017 FXS

[TEV]

I had this with a 2012 and a 2013 model. Never an issue with the 2017 FXS

Someone told me that had an '18 or '19 FX submerged in the water up to the handlebars when of road,  with no issue.  So maybe they're better water proofed (the fx platform) or maybe being a newer year.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

The issue with 2012-2013 models was that the BMS was inadequately potted. For that, there was a recall and everyone's BMS eventually was replaced, including mine.

You seem to have a much milder problem, in my experience. The bike may protectively disable riding when there is a detected ground isolation problem.

One source of this problem that few expect and is not too serious is moisture reaching the signal pins of the Accessory Charging Port. Usually the rubber boot covers this, but you have a demo model and it's unclear to me whether that presents a risk, but anything is possible.

One way to test whether this is why the bike won't move is to try pushing the bike with your feet while seated and see if while moving, it allows you to use the throttle to keep going. That is a sure sign that the cutout is self-induced and probably just needs a dry-out period.

I wrote up an unofficial manual entry here based on this, but there are a number of failure modes on this page worth checking for:
https://zeromanual.com/wiki/Common_Problems#Loss_of_Power_to_Motor

[ESokoloff]

I had this with a 2012 and a 2013 model. Never an issue with the 2017 FXS

Someone told me that had an '18 or '19 FX submerged in the water up to the handlebars when of road,  with no issue.  So maybe they're better water proofed (the fx platform) or maybe being a newer year.

I ride Weather or not (year-round commute of 55mls/day) so have ridden in many rain events in the past 2.5 years of ownership (2016 DSR) & knock on wood..... no issues yet.

[Crissa]

I have been poured upon (coming back from CMSP class notably) with no reaction

There's always a chance of water intrusion into any device or bike in the rain.  Eventually even cars take on water!

-Crissa