Error Codes and warning light

[Paul34]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and find comfort that there are many die hards out there are willing to help. I'm experiencing an error code B9 and my RED triangle warning light stays on all the time. I downloaded the driving logs and sent them to "Leander" who interpreted them for me. He says:

Several things are catching my eye.

the humidity in your some of the battery modules (5 and 6) is very high. has the bike been very wet?
some cells are really low on voltage sometimes, just above 3volts, and there are cell inballances of more than a half a volt (should be in the milli volt range)

your kickstand sensor is not doing what it should do (minor) seems to be working  the otherway round, maybe connected wrong.

your throttle is not really "off" so a sensor or electrical problem (minor)

Speedsensor doesn't seem okay (minor, standard Ducati sensor)

and your charger or your grid connection has a problem (1Hz ?)

Can anyone help me resolve these issues or know of anyone in CA that would be able to service this bike for me?

Thanks!

[shayan]

Paul,

Are you able to completely charge at all?

Sometimes i get these battery SOC drops to 0 from about 30% and that causes (or is caused by) an imbalance in the cells. I had to leave it to charge in cell balance stage (SOC > 95%) overnight until it got resolved.

-Shayan

[Paul34]

Yes I left it on the charger for the weekend hoping to balance the cells, and it will always charge to 99%. On two separate occasions I was riding up into the mountains where I live and it did the same thing you're talking about. Except I was riding at 78% and it cut right to 0% and said a recharge was required. Luckily I was able to coast to within about a mile of my home then cycle the key and made it home feeling like it had full power but still showing 0%. I charged overnight and tried again the next day with about 83% and it did the same thing at nearly the exact same spot on the road. I think it must have something to do with the throttle position and the load I'm exerting on the hill because I've since charged it and can ride around town all day and take the battery level from 90's down to 30's SOC and not had the issue again. When I try to pull a big hill with a heavy hand is when it does it.

[shayan]

I have had issues with the battery SOC going down to 0% but the worst has been when it was around 40%
I often see this happen in really cold weather and if i do not charge the bike to a 100% ver often in cold conditions. If i do charge it to 100% and not let the SOC go down to less than around 30% or so its all fine.
On high loads, i havent seen this much unless its combined with low SOC and cold temperatures.

The fact that ur stuck at 99% means some of the cells are not completely balanced. To check if ell balancing is indeed taking place, press and hold both the buttons on the dash simultaneously for approximately one second and you will see a different screen show up with cell voltage info of the highest and lowest voltage values and i think the cell identifier of some sort and a sequence of dots something like this: ......................
These dots represent cells that are not charging and if some cell is being balanced, then the dots turn into something like this: .................A.... where A represents that cell being balanced.

At 99% if you are seeing this, then it means cells are still being balanced and u may need to leave the charger on for more time. Also make sure you connect to a wall charger to allow the charger to pull in low voltages for battery cell balancing. A level 2 charger will probably not be of much help.

Hope this helps!

-Shayan

[Leander]

as per above.

balancing is only complete if it reaches 100%

or you charger is not cutting it (but that's a Zero's problem) or you do have a bad cell.

keep it on the charger till it reaches 100%
If you do it where it is below 10deg celsius the battery heaters may be able to get some of the moistere out.

keep an eye on the bike in the mean time and charge it outside just in case.

[Paul34]

Thank you for your replies. I'll try this and return and report.

[Paul34]

Alright, I charged it till it showed 100% SOC. I took it out for a ride and put about 7 miles on it. I rode on the freeway for the first time and found that under heavy acceleration it began to lack power then flashed to 0%. I power cycled the key but nothing changed on the SOC. It still felt as if it had full power though. I rode home and put it back on the charger. The following photos were taken of the dash before the ride at 100% SOC, then after simultaneously pressing the two buttons on the dash, then after I returned from my ride. Thoughts on how to fix this issue?

[jazz999]

Does it balance while connected to Level 2 charger?  I thought they cut power off at 100%

[Leander]

it balances while at 100%

[cybergodzilla]

My bike has under 15,000 miles. I stopped riding on freeways for the same reason. =/

I contacted a local shop and they contacted Victory Tech Service Reps. This was last November 2017; Haven't heard back. Technically my bike is still under the 5 yr warranty up to November of this year...

CyberG from SoCal
Proud Brammo Empulse 2014 Owner, When it Works =/

[jazz999]

it balances while at 100%

I meant doesn't the charging station cut power once it hits 100%.  How does it balance after that if continued to be plugged in?

[shayan]

it balances while at 100%

I meant doesn't the charging station cut power once it hits 100%.  How does it balance after that if continued to be plugged in?

I think it may not do in this case from my observation. But when i look at power usage from the chargepoint app, i can see small bumps in power consumption after 100%. In winter it can be from the battery heater running, but in summer i would imagine cell balancing if this happens.

But safer to use L1 charger to let the cell balancing happen for sure.

[Paul34]

My bike has under 15,000 miles. I stopped riding on freeways for the same reason. =/

I contacted a local shop and they contacted Victory Tech Service Reps. This was last November 2017; Haven't heard back. Technically my bike is still under the 5 yr warranty up to November of this year...

CyberG from SoCal
Proud Brammo Empulse 2014 Owner, When it Works =/

[Paul34]

Sorry...

I'm in SoCal as well. Will you please let me know if you have any luck with finding someone to diagnose your bike.

[shayan]

it balances while at 100%

I meant doesn't the charging station cut power once it hits 100%.  How does it balance after that if continued to be plugged in?

I can verify that it indeed balances at 100% on a charging station. I initially thought that the charging station cuts power, but looks like it does not cut it off entirely.

Alright, I charged it till it showed 100% SOC. I took it out for a ride and put about 7 miles on it. I rode on the freeway for the first time and found that under heavy acceleration it began to lack power then flashed to 0%. I power cycled the key but nothing changed on the SOC. It still felt as if it had full power though. I rode home and put it back on the charger. The following photos were taken of the dash before the ride at 100% SOC, then after simultaneously pressing the two buttons on the dash, then after I returned from my ride. Thoughts on how to fix this issue?

Unfortunately the photo does not indicate if balancing was occurring since its just a snapshot. Did you monitor the cell balancing dashboard view for a few minutes to see if A appeared at all?

I know that u can get to more screens if you play around with the dashboard buttons and one of them shows error codes. Not sure how useful those are.

Another crazy thing to try is to leave the bike charging at 100% for a day or few days to see if cell balancing happens and to see if the SYSTEM FAULT B9 error goes away.