No power from the Battery

[hal1]

I've been lurking here for a while. The SYM forums just don;t have enough activity, so I'm hoping my problem might be able to be addressed here.

Yesterday I discovered that I left the key in the on position for the last month on my SYM Symba. All power dead. Kick starts easily. Brought the battery to Autozone where they graciously put in on a trickle charger for 8 hours and said it still had life in it.

Hooked it up, but still NO juice at all, no lights, not signals, not even the startup fuel lights.

Other than a fuse, what could be going on?

[ericalm]

Do you happen to have an ampmeter?

[Dibber]

Have the battery tested again. It is possible that the battery is no good and will not hold a charge very long. That's why after charging it was showing a full charge but a bad battery can loose it charge in a short period of time. If they check the battery and it is still full charged then look at the fuses and don't forget to be sure you didn't hit the kill switch during all of this.

[hal1]

No. But how 'bout this idea...

I also picked up a trickle charger. It's the kind that you keep leads permanently hooked up to the battery, then there's a seperate plug to plug it into the charger.

It is okay to have the charger on, then see if I get power to the startup lights (fuel LED's) ?

[charlie55]

Hook up the trickle charger. If it indicates a full charge, either immediately or within a minute or so, and if the scoot is still "dead", then the battery's DOA. I had this happen on the Blur: charger indicated full charge, but not enough oommph present to kick anything over. Basically, the battery is capable of generating 12 volts, but does not have the capacity to maintain that voltage under load (can't provide enough amperage).

[hal1]

Is it okay to turn the key to "on" while hooked up to the charger, check the idiot lights, just to see that the circuit is completing

[jrsjr]

Is it okay to turn the key to "on" while hooked up to the charger, check the idiot lights, just to see that the circuit is completing

The Battery Tender folks recommend against it as do I. I seriously doubt there's a problem other than a dead battery. If you killed it as bad as I think you did, it won't come back to life no matter what you do. Sorry.

[hal1]

The Battery Tender folks recommend against it as do I. I seriously doubt there's a problem other than a dead battery. If you killed it as bad as I think you did, it won't come back to life no matter what you do. Sorry.

Yeah, it was left in the ON position for prolly' about a month

[jmkjr72]

if you left the key on for a month and it got below freezing your battery is toast
heck even if it didnt freeze trying to bring back a battery that sat for a month dead as a door nail is dam near impossible
you will need an antisulfate agent to put in and take days upon days to recharge your battery
infact you praobly did more damage by taking it to the car parts store there chargers will charge at 2 amps and power sports batteries should be charged at 1 amp or less
so if they did get it to charge they proably cooked off fluid from inside the battery so you will need to open the battery up and make sure there is plenty of fluid in the cells if not top off with distilled water and then recharge at least over night with a charger less then 1 amp

[hal1]

Never got much below 50 (my Garage in Phoneix) > they said they put it n a tricle charger, that was for about 7 hours. then they "tested" it and said it had juice. took it home, nothiung.

I don't mind (too much) buying another (overpriced) scooter battery. Just wanted to make sure thre aren't other things I should look at.

[jmkjr72]

Never got much below 50 (my Garage in Phoneix) > they said they put it n a tricle charger, that was for about 7 hours. then they "tested" it and said it had juice. took it home, nothiung.

I don't mind (too much) buying another (overpriced) scooter battery. Just wanted to make sure thre aren't other things I should look at.

they used an automotive trickel charger which is a 2 amp charger way too much for a scooter battery and chances are the tester they used wasnt ment for small scooter batteries
most auto parts stores dont have the right stuff they will go by the fact that the green light came on on the charger for a small battery and that it has the proper voltage
and the only way to trouble shoot the charging system on a scooter is with a fully charged good battery

[hal1]

Thanks for all the help. I guess it's off to Batteries Plus.

Any recommendation on a trickle charger that I can keep plugged in. i just noticed that the one I got is a MANUAL one and must be monitored.

[jrsjr]

Thanks for all the help. I guess it's off to Batteries Plus.

Any recommendation on a trickle charger that I can keep plugged in. i just noticed that the one I got is a MANUAL one and must be monitored.

I've had good luck with the Battery Tender Jr. Most scooter and motorcycle shops seem to carry them.

[jrsjr]

Also, FYI, the guys above are correct that a completely dead battery can be made to briefly show a charge on a meter, even though it won't hold enough charge to run the bike. The way a good battery holds a useful charge is via a reversible electrochemical process. However, it's possible to put a charge on an electrochemically dead cell called a "plate charge." Essentially, the battery charger puts a surface charge on the plates in the cell just like the charge on a capacitor. As soon as that plate charge is drained (a very short amount of time), the battery will be flat again because the electrochemical process isn't working to make more electricity. This is how a completely bad battery which won't store a useful amount of energy can appear (briefly) to show a voltage on a meter. Not a great explanation, sorry, but I suspect this is what's happened in your case.