Roketa 250 CC Scooter/ Battery keeps dying By concierge (Read 1,158 times)

[concierge]

Greetings everyone,

I'm a newbie, from Miami FL.
My Roketa is 16 months old with 5200 miles.
I just bought a new battery thinking it was the old battery, however the new battery keeps dying.
The horn dies and comes back, same with the dim lights; yesterday the bike die at a stop, I pulled over and when I toched the red line on the battery it send a live signal as if it wants to start, finally it started when I ignited.
Today, it was acting funny in the sence the scooter wanted to dye so I had to keep acelerated at stops signs, last but not least the rpm signal went dead and came back alive eventhough the scooter was running.
I put a new battery and changed all the fuses, also it has an oil changed.
What could be the problem.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Concierge.

[ellpee]

When you say the battery is dying, is that exactly what you mean? I.e., when things all of a sudden don't work, did you actually check with a voltmeter and determine that the voltage on the battery is low? (Generally speaking, it won't crank and other things start acting up when the voltage drops to 10v or thereabouts.) If yes that would suggest a problem with the charging system, but if no -- if the battery voltage is somewhere in the neighborhood of 12v -- then it sounds more like a bad ground, negative pole of battery loose and/or not properly grounded to the engine or frame. Also possible the circuit from battery + to the ignition switch (smaller red wire off the battery + terminal) is compromised in some way, loose connection(s) or bare wire grounding out somewhere. That wire may also have a fuse holder built into it, might check that and see if it and the fuse itself seem to be in good condition. Others here will no doubt offer additional suggestions.

(BTW, what does " finally it started when I ignited" mean? Don't understand what you're saying there.)

PS -- from my own experience I highly recommend buying and installing a voltage gauge so you can see what's going on with your battery and charging system as you're rolling down the road. Not expensive, easy install.

[concierge]

Ellpee,
Thank you very much for all your suggestions, as soon as I finish work, I'll go through all you have explained and get back to the forum.
In reference to "it started again": When the scooter died, I touched the red line on the battery and I switched it on, the scooter started to work again.

[JR]

That's simple, this is a DC type CDI ignition system meaning the CDI gets it's voltage from the battery and not the stator. You have a loose/bad connection on the red feed wire to the key switch, if it loses contact you are not sending 12Vdc to the CDI ignition system thus the engine dies instantly.

Also at 5200 miles it's time to adjust the valves.

JR

[alleyoop]

Yep, JR hit it on the nail, if you touch the red wire on the battery and it then functions the connections on the battery are loose. So tighten the screws on the two terminals on the battery that have the wires under them so they make a good contact.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

And if it STILL acts up -- this has happened with two different batteries, if I'm understanding you correctly, which makes a loose connection AT THE BATTERY less likely -- then if necessary check that red wire all the way to the ignition switch, including the in-line fuse and all connections. There's a gremlin hiding in there somewhere.

(Oh, yeah, and AFTER the ignition switch another wire brings the 12v back to the fusebox, where it gets distributed to the various places where it's needed. If the first red wire checks out 100% OK, the problem could be in the second wire, ignition switch --> fusebox. SOMETHING is interrupting the flow of 12v juice from the battery.)

[alleyoop]

I disagree he said, IF HE TOUCHS the red wire on battery it comes back to life. So the problem is right by the battery the wires on the terminal are not making good contact, not up by the ignition switch or black wire anywhere else.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Never want to get in a head-bump with Alleyoop, heaven knows. But if he had the problem with his original battery, bought and installed a new battery, and had the same problem, he's either really, REALLY bad at hooking up the positiive wires/cables to his battery, or the problem is downstream of the battery, dontcha think?

[alleyoop]

Why not I just disagree and explained why. He is not very mechanical so I suspect bad installation or if he did tighten them up the another thing it could very well be is a loose fuse in the holder and when he messes with the wire it again makes contact. But the problem being up front is highly unlikely and the reason is the wires going from the battery up front go to some type of plug first not directly to the final destination.
Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Makes sense, just seemed unlikely to me that with all that battery switching he would have screwed up the connections every time. The fuse thing certainly seems like a candidate. Or, that plug you mention might be defective in some way. He'll just have to work his way downstream until he finds the culprit, I reckon. I imagine we'll be hearing back from him soon.

[alleyoop]

I am sticking to it is right on the battery or the fuse, as you know the wires do not hang loose like a rope going to their destination they go into a loom and or wrapped up and tied to the frame. So that right there tells you it is right by the battery or its the fuse holder that is not making good contact.
Now since it is a 250 and has a DC CDI if the juice was cut off that say hitting a bump or whatever it would kill the motor at anytime.

Alleyoop

[ellpee]

Well, hopefully he'll post Chapter 2 soon.

[robertban]

Living in Florida why couldn’t it be corrosion in the battery cable itself

[alleyoop]

Maybe an alligator got in there and bit the cable