On board charger on Alta

[gewoontim]

Hi all,

I am interested in how the Alta OBC in the SM works. Can someone shine some light on this?
Where is the charger positioned? How does it look/what is the form factor? What connector did it use? Or did it use the same connector as the offboard charger?

Thanks!

 

[wwmotors]

Hi, the OBC is not good, takes 6 hours to charge and nearly everyone had problems with it. It had a plug on the chargeport, which connects directly to 110V with a standard cable. 220v was promised but never worked out. So better forget it and charge offboard. Cheers WW

 

[datadog]

The SM was designed as sort of a commuter and to be able to plug in easily to normal AC with a household plug. It never accepted 220v but we were working on it when Alta went under. I have an SM and have zero problems with my OBC. It just takes longer. If you are doing short trips with the SM, it’s great fun. Trying to stop and charge on longer trips will not be as fun. Sort of like any EV.

 

[Rashid510]

Hi all,

I am interested in how the Alta OBC in the SM works. Can someone shine some light on this?
Where is the charger positioned? How does it look/what is the form factor? What connector did it use? Or did it use the same connector as the offboard charger?

Thanks!

As @datadog mentioned it was charger with a 110V plug receptacle. We installed the OBC in the front bulkhead well before the initial assembly of the motorcycle. It uses the same LV and HV connectors as the DCCP (which is the control box for the off board charger). I also own an SM with the OBC, its been pretty reliable.

 

[HadesOmega]

It's very finicky about the power you feed it. If the ground is missing it won't charge and for some reason it loves to trip the GFCI outlet in my garage. To charge from a generator I have to use a neutral to ground bonding plug.

Also if the bike is hot it will charge slower, it doesn't have fans to cool the charger like other electric motorcycles. It relies solely on the water cooling system, but at least it quiet.

 

[gewoontim]

Thanks guys! I don't have an Alta, but for a personal project I was mainly interested in this. What brand/manufacturer is the charger or is it in-house developed by Alta?
Does anyone have a picture of the unit? So the output power is about 1000W (+/- 3A)?

So if I understand correctly, an SM can only be charged by the OBC and not with an external charger as the charging port is replaced with the 3-prong US household outlet and doesn't include the DCCP (what does this mean, DC Charge Port?).

 

[datadog]

It's very finicky about the power you feed it. If the ground is missing it won't charge and for some reason it loves to trip the GFCI outlet in my garage. To charge from a generator I have to use a neutral to ground bonding plug.

Also if the bike is hot it will charge slower, it doesn't have fans to cool the charger like other electric motorcycles. It relies solely on the water cooling system, but at least it quiet.

If the ground is missing on the 120/240AC to the off-board charger, it won't work either. I have yet to find an EV charger that will charge without proper grounding.