Dead battery with Battery Tender By bobf (Read 3,074 times)

[bobf]

Today, since it is now below the 100F mark, I decided to use the scoot to take some mail to the post office for the wife. I went to the garage, unplugged the battery tender, and started the engine. I rode the four miles to the post office and shut down in the parking lot. After I delivered the mail I came back to the scooter and the battery was dead. Sure wish I had kick start but I don't. I called the wife to tell her I was not upside down in a ditch, just the battery was dead so I might be a while till I got home.

Right after I talked to my wife a pickup truck with a woman driving and working type person riding came into the empty parking lot. So I walked over and asked if he had a jumper with him. He said yes. His jump got me going once again so I drove home. Took my car to Wallyworld and bought a replacement. We are back in business again.

Are there any others that keep their scoots on a Battery Tender when parked? How do you avoid what just happened to me. Do you just use the tender for long garage sessions? I am all ways hooked up because I never know if for a day or two or maybe a month or more. Should I sometimes unplug for a few days and then try the start? Any experiences similar to mine and your solutions.

Probably no worry right now or for the next two or three years as it is a new battery for now. I just hate becoming a victim of the dead battery.
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[JR]

I've never used a battery tender, don't own one. About the closest thing to one is my solar charger I keep on my camper for the long times in between using it. 3 years on a "good" battery is about the limit, you did good.

JR

[fflintstone]

I have had batteries go down after about 6 weeks or so,if I didn't crank up and ride for awhile to recharge ---my 250 B shouldn't have a problem except it got a clock that stays on ---that is probably about a tenth of an amp drain so a long down time can drain the battery--usually I will take the battery off in the winter and take inside and keep a voltage check on it--when it drops below 12.2 volts I put a little charge on it with my old CB power supply--it is perfect for low amp charging--good luck,happy trails,fflintstone

[ccprof]

I've had my battery go low if I don't charge it for awhile. I usually use the Battery Tender about once every couple weeks to charge up and have no problems. Not having a kick is a pain but with an EFI scoot, I'm stuck. I did try and jump mine once and blew a fuse. Good luck!

[bobf]

My experience has put me leery of depending on the battery tender. Plugged in and attached to the scoot and the green light was on. That means that the battery was charged, So I drove off to the post office, about 3 or 4 miles away. Shut down went in to drop off the mail,, came out and the battery was now dead. Was charged up, ridden at least 3 miles, and within 5 minutes it was so dead that I could not start.

Is there a best way to tell if a battery is about to fail? Will voltage check catch the problem? Should calender time on these new sealed batteries be enough? Somewhere over 2 1/2 to 3 years and just replace the battery for start security? I guess I am sure confused.
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[fflintstone]

My battery is 5 years old--it stays up unless I don't ride it for awhile--the way I check my battery charge ,with it on the bike,I check the voltage with a digital volt meter --say it reads 12.2 volts--it is a little low but not bad--it should read 12.5 or 12.7 ,so I crank it up and then check the voltage with it running--now it should read about 13.8 volts to 14.5 volts--so I let it charge sitting still until the fan kicks on--shut it off,wait 5 minutes and check voltage and it should not be less than 12.5 or 12.7--let it sit over night and check it before starting up and it should not read less than 12.5 volts--if it is down below 12 volts it has a voltage drain or it is just worn out--and if you had ridden it some and then check it,it should read at least 12.5 volts---sounds like you got no charge on it as you are riding,so the stator seems to have stopped working--check the tutorial on it here and see what you need to do--good luck,fflintstone---Oh,do the usual things,check for loose connections on the battery

[bobf]

Thanks fflintstone. I think you might be right, if the charging system is not working, never know how many jumps I may need this year.

I have a new battery in now, but if not charging that should still show.
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[fflintstone]

Oct 7, 2013 18:19:26 GMT -6 bobf said:

Thanks fflintstone. I think you might be right, if the charging system is not working, never know how many jumps I may need this year.

I have a new battery in now, but if not charging that should still show.
.

If it is not charging,it will definitely show --the 12 volt battery will have only 12.7 volts new,and if the stator is charging it will show over 13 volts to around 14 volts--easy to check while you got a good battery--that good battery will only last a couple days without a good charging system--best to check it out right away--good luck,fflintstone--

[alleyoop]

If a battery goes bad does not matter if you charge it some will charge up but loose the charge really quick some will not even take a charge. It all depends how bad the cells are in the battery.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Not directly relevant but responds to one upstream question. My experience with batteries is general is that NO, they give you no warning that they're about to die. Strong crank this time, zip next time, sorry Charlie. Less than zip, even -- not even enough to light up the dashboard. I'm a scoot newbie, so this comes mostly from experiences with auto batteries, but I imagine the technology is the same. In one instance in recent years I even had the AutoZone people do their test thing, purely by chance when I was in there for some other reason, and within 2-3 days the battery that had checked good was DOA.

[fflintstone]

Yup,on that same relevance,bad battery,I have had batteries to run down and charge up fast on a charger and then run down again over night and even had one that ran down during the day at work and would not even accept a jump to start it--on my van--it must have shorted out inside--a new battery made a world of difference--lol--happy trails,fflintstone

[alleyoop]

You got it, batteries are a crap shoot, take mine for instance it is going on 5 years and still going strong. I have a new one still in the box a 9AMP just in case one of these days it dies.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Which brings to mind that whole "84-month warranty" thing. I live in Tucson, where the HOT climate eats batteries, so this may not apply everywhere, but over many, many years I have NEVER had a battery come anywhere close to its claimed warranty lifetime. Yes, assuming I've been smart enough to keep the receipts I can usually get the piddly pro rata refund, but the claims they all make about how long their batteries will last are pure cr@pola.

[fflintstone]

I have had batteries last longer than the warranty ,like the Interstate brand and I had one or two from Auto Zone last 5 years or more.of course we have lots of different temps here in NW Tenn,maybe it helps..but I usually go to Auto Zone or O'Reillys and they got your phone number in the system and they can pull up everything you bought there,and you don't have to worry about losing a receipt--it is good to go where they know you by your name-lol-fflintstone

[bobf]

Oct 7, 2013 16:47:09 GMT -6 fflintstone said:

My battery is 5 years old--it stays up unless I don't ride it for awhile--the way I check my battery charge ,with it on the bike,I check the voltage with a digital volt meter --say it reads 12.2 volts--it is a little low but not bad--it should read 12.5 or 12.7 ,so I crank it up and then check the voltage with it running--now it should read about 13.8 volts to 14.5 volts--so I let it charge sitting still until the fan kicks on--shut it off,wait 5 minutes and check voltage and it should not be less than 12.5 or 12.7--let it sit over night and check it before starting up and it should not read less than 12.5 volts--if it is down below 12 volts it has a voltage drain or it is just worn out--and if you had ridden it some and then check it,it should read at least 12.5 volts---sounds like you got no charge on it as you are riding,so the stator seems to have stopped working--check the tutorial on it here and see what you need to do--good luck,fflintstone---Oh,do the usual things,check for loose connections on the battery

OK, this morning I had some nice cool temps and some free time so I checked my battery.

It had not been on the Battery Tender for over an hour.

First reading with a digital volt meter was 13.02, a bit higher than you said. It is a brand new battery, could that be the difference? I will check cold again tomorrow.

Next, with the engine running, it came back at about 13.90. It varied up and down a bit from about 13.50 to 13.98. I never saw it go into 14.++ range.

So I am assuming that the charging system is working. I won't ride today and I will let it rest overnight with out the battery tender hooked up and retest tomorrow morning. So that would be near 24 hours without charging. Interesting what the numbers may be when I re read the battery and charge system.

Thanks for that information
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It is now tomorrow.

Battery measured at 12.99

Started and after warmup and regular idle now reads 13.37

At faster run, near cruise it reads 13.41

So to me it seems to be charging. Or is it too low a charge.
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