Modern Buddy

My Buddy 170I battery keeps dying. I thought it may be a bad cell so I got a new battery and the same thing happens. It dies after a few days. I think there is something wrong with the bike not recharging the battery while riding. anyone else have this problem? Where to look for solutions?

You might have a voltage regulator problem, not sending enough power to the battery. Or, you might have a short that's drawing power even when the bike is off. How handy are you with diagnosing? If you are up for it, you could try unplugging the positive lead from the battery, and then using a turn signal bulb to bridge the positive connection to that wire. If it lights up, with the key off and in your pocket, that means something is drawing power that shouldn't be. At that point, you get to have fun pulling fuses (under the front nose plastic) till you isolate the problem circuit.

But it could just as easily be a faulty regulator. The charging circuit for the battery is routed through the regulator, which could also fail and drain power while it's sitting.

Are you shutting it off via kill switch? On the Kick that somehow drains the battery, according to both the dealer and at least one person on this forum. Could be happening on the 170i, too.

Do you have a voltmeter or multimeter? If so you can do some simple tests. Measure the voltage at the terminals of the battery with the scooter not running. Measure it again with the engine idling. Measure it a third time while you run the engine at a higher RPM. The second and third readings should be significantly higher than the first. If not, you probably have a problem with your voltage regulator or stator (i.e. your battery is not charging).

Sounds like the regulator to me too although there have not been many reports of failure.

If the regulator checks OK I would move to the stator. It seems like the 09s had stator problems but again I have not seen reports of failures on the 170s

This may help
http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/topic24310.html

If you disconnect the positive don't forget to reset the ECU after making it back up.

I've found the Buddy doesn't have a very robust charging system. If you do lots of short hops all day, your battery won't last long.

Most people have to use a trickle charger to keep the battery topped off overnight. Some need to use it every day. Some use it a couple times a week. Others use it a couple times per month. YMMV.

PhillyKick wrote:Are you shutting it off via kill switch? On the Kick that somehow drains the battery, according to both the dealer and at least one person on this forum. Could be happening on the 170i, too.

No I don't do that. My OG battery lasted ages, like 4 years. Ima have a look at it today and first check the fuses if that don't work Ill look at the voltage regulator...

k1dude wrote:Most people have to use a trickle charger to keep the battery topped off overnight.

We have had our Buddy 125 for 12 years. It is on its 3rd battery. It is typically used on short trips around town. We have never used a trickle charger on it overnight during the riding season. We do occasionally use a battery tender on it during the winter when it has not been ridden for several months, but not otherwise.

Dooglas wrote:

k1dude wrote:Most people have to use a trickle charger to keep the battery topped off overnight.

We have had our Buddy 125 for 12 years. It is on its 3rd battery. It is typically used on short trips around town. We have never used a trickle charger on it overnight during the riding season. We do occasionally use a battery tender on it during the winter when it has not been ridden for several months, but not otherwise.

I think I'm on my third also. It gets used fairly often and I don't keep it on a charger.

Drum Pro wrote:

PhillyKick wrote:Are you shutting it off via kill switch? On the Kick that somehow drains the battery, according to both the dealer and at least one person on this forum. Could be happening on the 170i, too.

No I don't do that. My OG battery lasted ages, like 4 years. Ima have a look at it today and first check the fuses if that don't work Ill look at the voltage regulator...

Coincidentally, my Kick was in the process of slowly dying as I posted that. Didn't ride for two weeks, went out, battery only showed 8.8 volts. Weird, seeing as I didn't ride for 7 weeks over the coooold winter and it fired up fine when I eventually started it just to warm it up and spin the engine (and charge the battery a bit).

Gave me the opportunity to rip into the guts of this thing and take a look at how it's assembled. Gotta say, tiny throttle, huge airbox

And the smallest O2 sensor I think anybody makes.