Gen2/Main Bike Board/Limitations
From Unofficial Zero Manual
< Gen2 | Main Bike Board
The board design is very modest and seems to prioritize light weight and simplicity over robustness.
- Take as much care as possible when troubleshooting in and around this module.
- A professional-grade application of dielectric grease around the connectors seems advisable.
- NOTE: Ensure that the entire connector and pins are clean and dry before applying.
- Performance and Lockup
- The board communicates with the bike's other systems via CAN Bus, which is a 2-wire Multi-master bus.
- This means that multiple nodes on the bus must initiate a transfer.
- The board also has limited memory, I/O dispatching, and computational performance.
- So, it can get clogged with requests for data outside its designed parameters.
- So, running any telemetry while in drive mode through the OBD-II serial console or using the Bluetooth transmitter will meaningfully increase the load on the board.
- In some cases prevent it from acting on rider inputs, including safety interlocks like the cutout switch or kickstand interlocks.
- Reportedly, 2017 and newer models have increased performance and doubled memory capacity.
- This enables an onboard upgrade with an atomic swap of versions by holding new and old firmware versions simultaneously.
- There's no known means of using these in older models.
- Electrical Vulnerability
- The circuits connected to the pins seem to lack significant protection against shorting faults, which could be a source of breakages while dealing with connected systems.
- OBD-II Serial Output
- The use of the non-standard OBD-II port most easily draws power from a very limited internal circuit.
- The OBD-II port as a result is typically not usable over a long cable without an external power supply and good quality connections.
