Stark charger only puts out 3amps now

[massive505]

My charger only puts out @3amps now plugged into 110. I have only ever requested @6-7 amps on the app for charging since I got the bike in February and it’s always put out that amp range for charging on 110. But for some reason now it only puts out @amps no matter what I request on the app. Anyone else having this issue?

 

[AL_V]

My charger only puts out @3amps now plugged into 110. I have only ever requested @6-7 amps on the app for charging since I got the bike in February and it’s always put out that amp range for charging on 110. But for some reason now it only puts out @amps no matter what I request on the app. Anyone else having this issue?

Sounds like you have it on "slow charge"

 

[massive505]

Sounds like you have it on "slow charge"

No, I know the difference. But speaking of, even if I request 4 amps on slow, it won’t do that either

 

[AL_V]

No, I know the difference. But speaking of, even if I request 4 amps on slow, it won’t do that either

OK, I did some testing.
Slow seems to be locked in at 3 amps on the app now, I can't change it.
On 120v, which is more like 125 at my house (I am the only house on a pad mounted transformer), the most I can get is 4.1 amps according to the app, however, it is drawing about 15.5 amps from the power source, which is maximum for most 120v outlets.
But on 240V, and the app set to 10, it draws 14 from the power source, but the app only shows 8.4 going into the bike.
Obviously there will always be some loss in the charger, it draws more amps than it can send into the bike, as I understand, it is converting AC to a much higher DC voltage.
240v charging is more than double the speed of 120V, so if you want to charge fast, you need 240v.
Hope this helps.

 

[massive505]

My issue is that I have been charging on 110 and getting the 6amps when the 6amps was requested on the app. I’m thinking the update I did 3 days ago is the cause of this issue. Hoping to get some feedback here on this thread

 

[AL_V]

My issue is that I have been charging on 110 and getting the 6amps when the 6amps was requested on the app. I’m thinking the update I did 3 days ago is the cause of this issue. Hoping to get some feedback here on this thread

Yea, I'm guessing they corrected what's being displayed on the app, because I am drawing over 15 amps from the wall, I have the app set to 10, but the app shows 4.1, (or 3 in your case). so, if the displayed value is now correct, you were never really getting 6 amps going into the bike (even though the app said so). I doubt that the actual charging rate has changed.
Does it seem like it takes twice as long to charge as it did before?
But as always, it's best to send your question to Stark support and see what they say.

 

[massive505]

Yea, I'm guessing they corrected what's being displayed on the app, because I am drawing over 15 amps from the wall, I have the app set to 10, but the app shows 4.1, (or 3 in your case). so, if the displayed value is now correct, you were never really getting 6 amps going into the bike (even though the app said so). I doubt that the actual charging rate has changed.
Does it seem like it takes twice as long to charge as it did before?
But as always, it's best to send your question to Stark support and see what they say.

I was definitely getting more amps before, takes forever to charge now

 

[rayivers]

My charger only puts out @3amps now plugged into 110. I have only ever requested @6-7 amps on the app for charging since I got the bike in February and it’s always put out that amp range for charging on 110. But for some reason now it only puts out @amps no matter what I request on the app. Anyone else having this issue?

I think in this situation it's much better to use watts, so... your app indicates 3 amps charge current to the 360V battery, or 1080 watts. This should require maybe 1200 watts from the 120VAC line (120 x 10 amps). If you were able to use 6A charge current before, that would've delivered 2160 watts to the battery and charged quicker, but would also require 20 amps AC which ime would cause problems in many 15A circuits (especially ones with old breakers/poor wiring/GFI etc.). That may have been why Stark limited the current.

 

[massive505]

I think in this situation it's much better to use watts, so... your app indicates 3 amps charge current to the 360V battery, or 1080 watts. This should require maybe 1200 watts from the 120VAC line (120 x 10 amps). If you were able to use 6A charge current before, that would've delivered 2160 watts to the battery and charged quicker, but would also require 20 amps AC which ime would cause problems in many 15A circuits (especially ones with old breakers/poor wiring/GFI etc.). That may have been why Stark limited the current.

I think in this situation it's much better to use watts, so... your app indicates 3 amps charge current to the 360V battery, or 1080 watts. This should require maybe 1200 watts from the 120VAC line (120 x 10 amps). If you were able to use 6A charge current before, that would've delivered 2160 watts to the battery and charged quicker, but would also require 20 amps AC which ime would cause problems in many 15A circuits (especially ones with old breakers/poor wiring/GFI etc.). That may have been why Stark limited the current.

I’m guessing they did limit it in the update. I’m testing with 240 later today to confirm. Will post results tonight. Thanks everyone for the comments and thoughts

 

[massive505]

So I just tested charging using 240v 50 amp service and the charger will now push out higher amps again. Requesting 10 amps yields @8amps of charge. My conclusion is that Stark made a change in the update that no longer allows over 3 amps to be pulled off of 110 v, I hope this helps anyone noticing this issue.

 

[blbills]

I just got 4.5 hour charge time on 110v from 18% to full with the new firmware. It was averaging about 3-3.5amps throughout. Seems about normal to me?

 

[massive505]

It would do 6 amps before the update on 110

 

[blbills]

It would do 6 amps before the update on 110

The app may have said 6 amps before but I seriously doubt it was pushing that much current. They have likely just updated it to reflect the actual charge current.

 

[massive505]

I would want to agree with you, but the problem is, it was charging twice as fast before the update

 

[fsfs]

I just got 4.5 hour charge time on 110v from 18% to full with the new firmware. It was averaging about 3-3.5amps throughout. Seems about normal to me?

IIRC, the charger does not send the AC input voltage to CAN bus. This means the bike has no way of knowing if the charger is plugged into 120VAC or 230VAC. So if the bike charges fine on 230VAC but very slowly on 120VAC then I would suspect other things besides the software. Perhaps 120VAC is sagging because of long wires or a bad connection somewhere. Or perhaps the charger is getting hot (cooling issue).

On 120V (assuming the battery is at 400V) you cannot expect much more than 4A (assuming 16A 120VAC in)
Iout = 120*16/400*0.9 = 4.3

 

[AL_V]

IIRC, the charger does not send the AC input voltage to CAN bus. This means the bike has no way of knowing if the charger is plugged into 120VAC or 230VAC. So if the bike charges fine on 230VAC but very slowly on 120VAC then I would suspect other things besides the software. Perhaps 120VAC is sagging because of long wires or a bad connection somewhere. Or perhaps the charger is getting hot (cooling issue).

On 120V (assuming the battery is at 400V) you cannot expect much more than 4A (assuming 16A 120VAC in)
Iout = 120*16/400*0.9 = 4.3

The bike doesn’t know, but I assume the charger knows, right?
I assume that’s how the charger knows not to draw more than 15 amps from the power source.

 

[massive505]

I would agree except, it only changed after the update

 

[ReVolter]

My charger only puts out @3amps now plugged into 110. I have only ever requested @6-7 amps on the app for charging since I got the bike in February and it’s always put out that amp range for charging on 110. But for some reason now it only puts out @amps no matter what I request on the app. Anyone else having this issue?

The amps you are seeing is going to the battery at 420 to 450 volts. A typical North American 110V outlet is rated for 15A. So 15×110/420=3.9A max you will see before blowing a fuse.

 

[massive505]

Then why is it taking twice as long to charge now after I did the update?