Check your Stark Varg charger plug

[AgileMike]

I heard some arcing coming from the charger so I took it apart. The white lead had some brown burn marks and all leads didn’t have enough copper exposed and one lead had a Phillips screw that wasn’t close to tight. Everyone should check their charger cables for sure. I had a non-working charger replaced by stark about 2 months ago and I’m 99pcr certain it will be the same issue when I take it apart.

 

[Foss]

I received a new revised plug from stark yesterday, I’ll share a photo of what they are sending out soon to customers. No details on how stark is distributing.

 

[Foss]

Took a while but finally took a photo lol.

 

[Swank171]

Did they tell you it was coming? Did you have to ask or did the just send it to you??

 

[Foss]

Did they tell you it was coming? Did you have to ask or did the just send it to you??

They were replacing my bricked adapter, which they sent already, but this photo is a third adapter they sent lol. So now I have two working adapters, one I use with my bike stand, and the other for transportation. Stark is awesome they just hook you up well.

 

[EDR1]

That’s not correct for North America. Never would want to bond neutral to ground “that point in the schematic labeled “sys gnd”
Passing power via the ground point in an appliance is against NEC code cuz it can kill people. 120 volts is derived via a center tap of the 240 volt transmission line output transformer on the pole here in North America. The correct configuration is to leave that point in the schematic disconnected. The 240 to 120 adapter wud bond one of the hots inside the charge to the neutral wire in the 120 vac plug. And ground is always bonded to equipment chassis.

 

[massive505]

OK, so the moral of the story is just ignore the colors of the conductors on the 240V NEMA 1430R male plug on our Varg chargers. The Europeans used black as ground.

As far as the 120V to 240V adapter goes, is it OK to use the orange single-piece unit?
Swank171, 120/240V adapter didn't work so you made one? Difference is polarity of white and black?
Certainly ground is ground here so the only difference would be swapping neutral white and hot black which shouldn't matter, right?
First photo here is adapter I made works fine for Alta charger, have not tried on Stark charger yet.
Second photo is a 120V plug my dealer provided, must gain access to back of charger to use.

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So if I cut the female plug coming out of the charger, and just want to wire a US female 110 plug on there permanently, which wires do i switch? Thanks

 

[AL_V]

So if I cut the female plug coming out of the charger, and just want to wire a US female 110 plug on there permanently, which wires do i switch? Thanks

All you really need to know is that they used black for ground, where as in the US we use green for ground.
I assume you mean the MALE L14-30 plug that provides power to the charger.
You shouldn't need to cut it, it's screwed on.
In this case black is ground and the other 2 wires, white and green are for power.
I assume white is what we would call neutral and green is "hot," but if you switch these 2, it will still work fine.

 

[massive505]

I cut the whole thing out so it only a short little 110 male that sticks out of the charger now. Thanks for the info

 

[ReVolter]

Check your charger wires mine were not stripped far enough to create a good contact.

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Same here. My plug eventually melted and Stark sent me a replacement of their new version. Much better.

 

[Duncan]

Also check your 120VAC 3-prong moulded male plug for your charger.
Mine got so hot it would burn my fingers when I grabbed it.
It caused over current situations even with app set at 4 amps.
It would pop 15 amp breaker on wall outlet.
I cut it off and replaced it with an Eaton 15 amp male plug with LED indicator from Lowes:
Item #1614092 Model #515PLTY-F-LW
If your plug gets hot or even warm you should replace it.

 

[skomarmy]

I have the "new" plug similar to what Foss posted above, (it is pinned closed) but when I plug my bike in all I get is a yellow LED light. I get the same yellow light when the charger is not plugged into the wall. I have tried several different outlets that all work and are on different circuits. Any advice?

 

[EDR1]

please confirm:
Green and white wires attach to terminals labeled X & Y (the 2 brass colored terminals) - does not matter which wires attach X or Y
Black wire is ground - the green terminal
the Neutral pin - the silver colored screw - is not attached
The wire insulation color choices are wrong for UL approval and NEC - but Stark royally messed that up

Hope that helps!

 

[skomarmy]

Thank you for the help! Realizing that it must be a charger issue/plug issue, I decided to take the charger cover off. I noticed that one of the 3 big internal plugs that attach to the bike/port cord (with the metal locking sleeves) was completely unplugged. Plugged it in and now charging perfectly. Appreciate this community so much!

 

[motocrossmann]

Thanks for the heads up on this. My insulation was also not stripped off enough. Definitely worth verifying for those of you that haven't looked at this.

 

[FYR]

I'm anxious to check this out when my bike gets delivered, which should be next week sometime. You would think that Stark would have some idea of the VIN's that are affected by this inadequate wire stripping/assembly situation and be contacting the consumers that purchased them with some kind of TSB, or recall.

 

[EDR1]

It’s more a question of: who didn’t receive an improperly wired cable and plug. Seems that all of them with hand wired cord caps used the wrong color code wires and improperly attached cord cap.

The chances of Alta allowing that nonsense were probably zero.

 

[ReVolter]

I'm anxious to check this out when my bike gets delivered, which should be next week sometime. You would think that Stark would have some idea of the VIN's that are affected by this inadequate wire stripping/assembly situation and be contacting the consumers that purchased them with some kind of TSB, or recall.

It will be easy to tell if you have the good cord. It has a professional molded cap that can't be disassembled while the problematic version has a screw on type. If you get that version, simply take it apart and clean up the connections before using it and you will have no problems.

 

[AL_V]

I think the problem has been resolved on new bikes: Stark is now shipping with molded plugs.