Modern Buddy

Buddy will rest some during bad weather this winter so will hook-up a Battery Tender plug. Where is the best place to route it. I've seen inside the pet carrier (but the Tender literature says not near the Carb) and thought about underneath but am concerned there about moisture from the road. Possible scenarios: Get home from work, scooter hot and fumey, a front moving in and don't plan to ride so want to hook-up to the tender and forget about it, thus carb fumes concerns. Other scenario: get home after driving on wet surface, hook-up is underneath the bike, maybe water inside the "waterproof" cover. Or "waterproof" cover collects a pool of water which arcs + to - and gives me a short while out in the boonies.

Get the optional power socket plug. It works great for our two buddies. Get done riding grab the plug, stick it in the power socket and you're done. 10 seconds.

http://www.scooterworks.com/Battery_Ten ... _P5478.cfm[/url]

Why couldnt you just remove the battery and leave it plugged in on a shelf or workbench in your garage or somewhere out of the way?

I have no battery tender and do not winterize anything. Here in NW Florida we get cold weather but not much and I usually ride year round. January and February and maybe some of March can be tough at times. I know people up north (Ohio) who also do not use battery tenders or put their bikes away in winter storage. They figure that sometime there is going to be decent weather and they'll ride 15 or 20 miles, keep everything working and moving and the battery charged. No problems yet. Unless you're snowed in all winter and are sure the temp will never rise to 45-50 until spring, ride your scooter. You'll love it.

Mine is marked:

donkin wrote:Get the optional power socket plug. It works great for our two buddies. Get done riding grab the plug, stick it in the power socket and you're done. 10 seconds.

http://www.scooterworks.com/Battery_Ten ... _P5478.cfm[/url]

+1. Great accessory, IMO!! (But it's only good for Buddys 2007 and up. '06's do not have the power outlet on the dash!)

donkin wrote:Get the optional power socket plug. It works great for our two buddies. Get done riding grab the plug, stick it in the power socket and you're done. 10 seconds.

http://www.scooterworks.com/Battery_Ten ... _P5478.cfm[/url]

If your Buddy has an auxiliary power outlet (cigarette lighter) then the power socket plug that donkin mentioned is a quick and easy way to connect the Battery Tender to your Buddy. Lots of ModernBuddy members endorsed this plug as a great way to connect the Battery Tender: no tools required, just plug the Battery Tender into the auxiliary power outlet and the Battery Tender will keep your battery charged.

I took a slightly different approach last winter when my Buddys were in winter storage. I did not connect a Battery Tender to either Buddy, instead I would ride the Buddy in order to charge the battery. Our winters are pretty mild so I was always able to find a day in which the roads were clear: no snow, ice or road salt on the roads. About every 2 or 3 weeks I would ride the Buddy for approximately 20 minutes and this was enough to keep the batteries charged. When starting the Buddy, I did not want to drain the battery by using the electric starter so I kick started the Buddy.

For long storage you shouldn't keep the battery on a charger indefinately, it can actually ruin your battery. I too have a battery tender and I went through two batteries during winter storage before I got the tip to use it for about 1 week per month of storage. Haven't killed another battery since. Unless your scooter has an alarm on it there is almost no current draw that you have to worry about, just the normal voltage drop a battey has from sitting. My lawn tractor is still on it's original battery after 8 years by using that method too. 1 week scooter (bike), 1 week lawn tractor, 1 week Truck and 1 week off

Thanks for the great replies. This site is fantastic for exchanging ideas.
The cigarette adapter sounds like the way to go. I wondered what I could use that 1 amp accessory for anyway. Nice pix of powder blue bud. For the others...true, probably don't need the charger at all but just in case. Remember the literature and the BT site with You Tube pitch indicated it would extend the life of your battery.

Anyone tell me what the battery model number is for a 2007 Buddy? Have a scoot with NO battery in it right now!

Thanks.

Ted

donkin wrote:Get the optional power socket plug. It works great for our two buddies. Get done riding grab the plug, stick it in the power socket and you're done. 10 seconds.

http://www.scooterworks.com/Battery_Ten ... _P5478.cfm[/url]

If by chance you also happen to be in the market for a tire pump, you could buy this for $30 with free shipping: http://www.amazon.com/Slime-40001-Power ... 913&sr=8-2

it comes with a cigarette lighter adapter that is compatible with the battery tender

nissanman wrote:For long storage you shouldn't keep the battery on a charger indefinately, it can actually ruin your battery. I too have a battery tender and I went through two batteries during winter storage before I got the tip to use it for about 1 week per month of storage. Haven't killed another battery since. Unless your scooter has an alarm on it there is almost no current draw that you have to worry about, just the normal voltage drop a battey has from sitting. My lawn tractor is still on it's original battery after 8 years by using that method too. 1 week scooter (bike), 1 week lawn tractor, 1 week Truck and 1 week off

I don't think you're using a MC type Battery Tender (brand), or even a float charger here! (Because you sure wouldn't be charging a truck with a little 1.5 amp MC float charger!)

The float Battery Tender types are safer and excellent for extended use on bikes because they kick off when the battery is fully charged! (Thas why they call it a "float" charger, dig?)
I've kept all of my MCs and scooters, (for the past twenty years, at least!) on Battery Tender float chargers in my garage constantly whenever I'm not riding them! (Even in the summertime!)

This way the batteries are always maintained at peak charge and always ready to go; just unplug the leads to the bike and ride away...
And according to what I've read, maintaining a floating level charge this way actually EXTENDS the life of a battery, not shortens it!

nissanman wrote:For long storage you shouldn't keep the battery on a charger indefinately, it can actually ruin your battery. ...

Apparently you've had two unusual experiences.

I've had battery tenders on m/c batteries for years and years, occasionally riding the m/c's now and then. I've certainly had the tender hooked up for more than two months at a stretch. No problems, ever.

What I've found about the Battery Tenders is, they definitely prolong the useful life of batteries. If a battery normally lasts two years w/o ever being on a tender then it'll last about five or more years if its alway on the tender when not being ridden. That's saved me a lot of money over time. Certainly enough to pay for the Tender.

..rickko..

rickko wrote:Apparently you've had two unusual experiences.

I've had battery tenders on m/c batteries for years and years, occasionally riding the m/c's now and then. I've certainly had the tender hooked up for more than two months at a stretch. No problems, ever.

What I've found about the Battery Tenders is, they definitely prolong the useful life of batteries. If a battery normally lasts two years w/o ever being on a tender then it'll last about five or more years if its alway on the tender when not being ridden. That's saved me a lot of money over time. Certainly enough to pay for the Tender

I'd definitely agree. While I've only had the scoot since Sept, I've had it on the Tender all winter and it fires right up. And I've used a Tender on my ATVs for years, keep them on the Tender all winter and have never had a battery problem as of yet. Perhaps Nissanman has a bad Tender?

Rob

donkin wrote:Get the optional power socket plug. It works great for our two buddies. Get done riding grab the plug, stick it in the power socket and you're done. 10 seconds.

http://www.scooterworks.com/Battery_Ten ... _P5478.cfm[/url]

I connected a tender today to my Buddy 150's 12V outlet and quickly found the 12V was not connected to the wiring (no charge signal from tender). So, I took the cover off the floor board & used the clip attachments for the battery to charge, so no hassle there.

This is a 2008 Buddy 150 w/ 1,000 miles w/ no modifications (yet! - I just got it!): does anyone know if the power outlet (12V) comes from the factory disconnected like the daytime running lights?

I'm planning on connecting the DRL and figured I'd tied in the 12V outlet too since it is way easier for charging and was just wondering if anyone had experienced this.

mrhappy2u wrote:
I connected a tender today to my Buddy 150's 12V outlet and quickly found the 12V was not connected to the wiring (no charge signal from tender).

What battery tender did you use? Is it the "tender Jr."? If not, it may draw more than a 1amp load. The fuse on the accessory plug is 1amp.

So, make sure your tender is rated under 1amp. If it is, check the fuse behind the front panel (not the ones in the battery compartment) and replace if needed. Also, check to make sure that the connections going into the back of the plug are good.

FYI, if you do donnect the DRL's to the 12V outlet, you will need to put them on a switch. Otherwise they will always be on, even when the scooter is not (well, at least for about 10 minutes until the battery dies).

You may be right Lil Buddy. I got a 12V 2amp Peak float tender (draws down and goes dormant when battery is fully charged). So its clearly twice the amperage of the fuse on the 12V outlet.

I did check the battery status with a plug-in meter though, and even after fully charged the meter is dead. Could be a faulty meter, but I don't know. [Edit; my guess is I blew the fuse on the outlet - as Lil Buddy pointed out earlier - so no matter what I plug in now its going to look 'dead'. Sorry for being slow to catch in to my own dumb mistakes folks!]

The tender did charge the battery going direct to the post and metal (for negative). Not sure how long it actually took since I was gone for six hours, but it was dead as a doormouse yesterday, and started right up when I rode it this afternoon after being on the tender.

Thanks for any suggestions - yes - on the DRL I didn't mean I was going to connect them to the 12V outlet (although I can see that I wrote that badly), I was just saying if it was disconnected I would connect it when I take the frontpiece off to do the DRL. I saw the instruction for that [DRL] somewhere else on this forum and it looks easy if you have patience and right attitude. I have both!