robby
10 mW
Hello ESers,
I come seeking advice for what I hope to be my new project.
Summary
I have a '13 Zero XU whose batteries both died suddenly and unexpectedly. One of my frustrations in troubleshooting this issue is that the proprietary Zero systems (MBB, CCU, dash display, BMS) make it incredibly difficult to debug. While perhaps not intended this way, they are a de facto DRM that requires a great deal of reverse engineering in order to troubleshoot and work around. For example, I built a makeshift 112V battery pack, but I cannot use it with the bike because I don't have the ability to send the "all cells are good" BMS signal to the MBB to allow it to turn on.
If I am going to invest the time and money to get this bike working, I would like to be able to work on it without any dependency on Zero. This means either isolating or ripping out completely any proprietary systems within it. By "isolating", I mean that using a proprietary system for a single purpose is fine but it should be replaceable without affecting all the other systems. For instance, I'm fine using Zero's proprietary BMS to monitor the battery, but I am not fine with it being a requirement to digitally unlock the bike.
Getting My Bearings
Before I commit to the largest financial investment of this project (a new battery), I have a few questions:
1. Has anybody done this before?
2. If not, does anybody know Zero bikes well enough to tell me what this would require? I assume reprogramming the sevcon at minimum. Not sure what else.
3. Has anybody published a schematic of their DIY electric motorcycle, that I could work backwards from?
4. What compromises, if any, should I expect from the resulting bike? Obviously I won't have the dashboard (though that would be a very fun future Raspberry Pi project). Anything else?
5. Any other general advice is appreciated. I'm a software guy. Know enough about EE and ME to ask the right questions. Very little experience relative to what others here have so hugely appreciate any guidance you all can provide.
Thanks,
Robby
I come seeking advice for what I hope to be my new project.
Summary
I have a '13 Zero XU whose batteries both died suddenly and unexpectedly. One of my frustrations in troubleshooting this issue is that the proprietary Zero systems (MBB, CCU, dash display, BMS) make it incredibly difficult to debug. While perhaps not intended this way, they are a de facto DRM that requires a great deal of reverse engineering in order to troubleshoot and work around. For example, I built a makeshift 112V battery pack, but I cannot use it with the bike because I don't have the ability to send the "all cells are good" BMS signal to the MBB to allow it to turn on.
If I am going to invest the time and money to get this bike working, I would like to be able to work on it without any dependency on Zero. This means either isolating or ripping out completely any proprietary systems within it. By "isolating", I mean that using a proprietary system for a single purpose is fine but it should be replaceable without affecting all the other systems. For instance, I'm fine using Zero's proprietary BMS to monitor the battery, but I am not fine with it being a requirement to digitally unlock the bike.
Getting My Bearings
Before I commit to the largest financial investment of this project (a new battery), I have a few questions:
1. Has anybody done this before?
2. If not, does anybody know Zero bikes well enough to tell me what this would require? I assume reprogramming the sevcon at minimum. Not sure what else.
3. Has anybody published a schematic of their DIY electric motorcycle, that I could work backwards from?
4. What compromises, if any, should I expect from the resulting bike? Obviously I won't have the dashboard (though that would be a very fun future Raspberry Pi project). Anything else?
5. Any other general advice is appreciated. I'm a software guy. Know enough about EE and ME to ask the right questions. Very little experience relative to what others here have so hugely appreciate any guidance you all can provide.
Thanks,
Robby