External Charger Fault???!!!

[TCMB371]

At the track right now. My first race day on the Alta. I go out for practice and use a half charge. Come back and pop the bike on the charger and the display says "External Charger Fault" and the bike is not charging.

I'm using the rapid charger hooked up to a 3200watt 240v generator. Worked fine yesterday??? Any ideas?

 

[Fod]

Yikes! I have not seen that before! If you are using water to cool the battery make sure when charging not to get water near the charge port or near the battery charger.

 

[TCMB371]

Seems to be working now. I cycled the generator and disconnected and reconnected everything a few times, and tested the gcfi near the plug a few times and it came alive. Pretty weird. Hope it doesn't happen again. I have 4 Moto's to do today.

 

[OneLapper]

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Philip]

Maybe the generator is not powerful enough today? The charger would shut off if the generator is overloaded.

You need 240V x 16A = 3,840W running power. Your 3,200W generator is probably rated at 2,800W running, or less.

 

[TCMB371]

Maybe the generator is not powerful enough today? The charger would shut off if the generator is overloaded.

You need 240V x 16A = 3,840W running power. Your 3,200W generator is probably rated at 2,800W running, or less.

My generator is 4000 starting/3200 running.

 

[Mark911]

There's another thread that addresses issues that cause a generator to pop (without apparent cause) the ground fault system on the charger. Check it out.

 

[TCMB371]

There's another thread that addresses issues that cause a generator to pop (without apparent cause) the ground fault system on the charger. Check it out.

Just found it. Good info.

By the way, when are you riding next? Would love to link up with you again now that i have an Alta of my own! (I met you a while back that the Old Timers MX race at Cahuilla).

 

[Philip]

Here is the link:
Alta Fast charger

 

[snydes]

I thought there was someone else having that issue and it ended up needing a firmware upgrade as some of the R charger variants were causing an issue. I would hope your dealer updated the firmware before you picked it up though.

 

[TCMB371]

I thought there was someone else having that issue and it ended up needing a firmware upgrade as some of the R charger variants were causing an issue. I would hope your dealer updated the firmware before you picked it up though.

Yeah they updated to the latest firmware before I picked it up.

 

[Tacq180]

HELP! - Keep getting "external charger fault" when connected to my new generator. Bought a 4000 watt Predator generator from Harbor Freight about a week ago in order to quick charge at the track. It's producing 242 volts, the ground fault doesn't trip but it will not go into charge mode. I talked to Louis at Alta yesterday but he didn't have any ideas on what may be causing the problem. Works just fine when I plug into the 220V outlet at home. I've used other generators before and so have some others at the track with no problems. I even tried grounding the generator thinking that may be the problem but other generators were not grounded. Anyone have any ideas on what could be the problem?

 

[TCMB371]

What worked for me is turning the bike off, unplugging everything, shutting the generator off and letting it sit for 5 minutes, then fire the generator back up, plug the charger into the generator and cycle the GFCI 2 or 3 times (reset/test/reset/test) and end with the green light on the GFCI on, then plug the charger into the bike, then turn the key on then hit the on switch.

 

[Tacq180]

What worked for me is turning the bike off, unplugging everything, shutting the generator off and letting it sit for 5 minutes, then fire the generator back up, plug the charger into the generator and cycle the GFCI 2 or 3 times (reset/test/reset/test) and end with the green light on the GFCI on, then plug the charger into the bike, then turn the key on then hit the on switch.

I'll give it a try but still don't understand why that would change anything. Do you have to do that every time?

Thanks

 

[TCMB371]

I'll give it a try but still don't understand why that would change anything. Do you have to do that every time?

Thanks

I have only had it happen to me once so far. It has been flawless since.

 

[bluefxstc]

I wonder if the power from the generator is dirty and the dirty power causes the charger to fault out? When I built my 10kw battery, off grid charging setup, the inverter manufacture recommended I use an EMI filter between the inverter and the charger to clean up the power. I wonder if something like that would help? I haven't used the one I purchased. Seems to work without it, but will probably install since I have it.

 

[Speedkills]

FWIW, I am plugged into the wall and while I haven't found a couple of times my EXR with rapid charger has said it was starting to charge, showed the little bar showing charge happening, even spun up the fan on the charger, and then the next day I find it didn't charge and the gfci is tripped. My SM plugged into the same outlet has never had an issue, it charges every single time. Not sure what is going on yet but if anyone ever noticed a pattern, let me know.

 

[TCMB371]

I have both the standard and rapid charger for my MXR. I have the standard charger mounted in my garage for charging when the bike is home, and use the rapid charger when i go to the track. The standard charger hooked up to 110v in my garage has worked flawlessly. Besides the hiccup i mentioned in the OP, i've only had one other minor hiccup with the rapid charger plugged in to my generator where it just stopped charging. I realized it happened when the generator came out of a loaded state and was freely idling again (you can audibly notice a difference). Otherwise, it has worked fine for me so far.

How many of you are seeing this issue and also using the rapid charger connected to a Harbor Freight Predator 4000/3200 watt generator? Maybe this generator isn't quite up to snuff; whether it be a dirty signal or just inconsistent output.

 

[Silent But Dirty]

Do you know if this generator has a floating neutral? If so, that can cause issues with the GFCI.

 

[TCMB371]

Do you know if this generator has a floating neutral? If so, that can cause issues with the GFCI.

You bring up a very good point. Looking through the user manual for this generator it mentions that you should attach a 6 AWG wire to a grounding rod driving at least 24" into the ground. I haven't done that with this generator.