Modern Buddy

So, after my battery got stolen from my 170i (see this thread)

We got a new battery from the shop- cheaper than the stock brand, which I was excited about. It was dusty, they said it'd been around a bit, but they had tested and charged it.

Lokky got around to putting it in a day or two ago, and he connected it and it would not start. The red engine light would come on, it would click and try to turn over, and then stop and put on the red engine light again.

We went to the shop and had them check the battery again. They verified it was properly charged. We explained the problem and they suggested we check the fuse, and ran through how to connect it properly with us.

So we took a new fuse home with us. Sure enough, the old fuse was cracked at one end, I assume from the thief. Lokky switched it for the new fuse, hooked up the battery properly like we were told, and then we tried to start her up.

With the new, unbroken fuse in she clicks and doesn't even try to turn over. Disheartening.

So we took the Stella up to the Lowe's and got a voltmeter. Testing the battery with the voltmeter, the battery initially showed a full charge sitting on its own, but when we hit the ignition and tried to start it, it dropped to 3-5 volts.

Doesn't that mean the battery is bad? Or is there something else going on here?

You probably have a dead battery. A bad battery can seem to take a charge, but will only carry what's called a "surface charge" in which the open circuit voltage measures ok, but as soon as a load is put on it, it drops significantly (as you've already discovered). Lead acid type batteries can become sulfated by just sitting too long in which the lead plates within the battery gets covered in a hard lead sulfate that prevents charging. If you're interested in more detail this website is good reading:

http://www.rollsbattery.com/content/sul ... attery-501

Thanks... we were pretty sure that was the case. I'm sure they'll order me a new battery to replace this one when we tell them what happened, they open up again on Tue.

I just wanted to make sure it was probably the battery and not something more dire that we hadn't thought of. We hadn't thought about the fuse, either.

At least now I don't have to go through the motion of calling roadside and making them tow the scoot to and fro.

Doesn't sound like the problem was ever a fuse. Fuses don't work half way when they malfunction. They are very much go / no go. Sounds to me like the new battery was never delivering full output.

Dooglas wrote:Doesn't sound like the problem was ever a fuse. Fuses don't work half way when they malfunction. They are very much go / no go. Sounds to me like the new battery was never delivering full output.

This is what we decided after we put in the new fuse and subsequently tested the battery. Although the old fuse was cracked, it worked fine.

Yeah I agree it sounds like a bad battery- if you have a Batteries Plus store near you, they will do a very thorough test of the battery for free. It sounds like it's no good under load, like babblefish said.

Kragen's (or is it O'Reilly's now?), will also test your battery for free. You might even want to check Sears (which, BTW, sells scooter/motorcycle batteries) if there's one near you.

the shop sold you a bad battery. They didn't check it properly either. The only way to really know the condition of a battery is to put it under load. You can sort of guess by seeing what the non-load voltage is but won't be certain without load testing.

I'm experiencing the exact same thing with my wife's 125. I've had it plugged into my BT Jr off and on all summer after learning it was dead earlier this year. Ever since the tender has always gone solid green so I assumed it was ready to rock and roll. That was until I tried staring it a few weeks ago and got the same clickety click The tender says everything is okie dokie as it will hold 12+ volts with no load but evidently can't maintain that under load.

If a charged battery drops below 10 volts under load then it's bad. 3-5V is really bad.

babblefish wrote:Kragen's (or is it O'Reilly's now?), will also test your battery for free. You might even want to check Sears (which, BTW, sells scooter/motorcycle batteries) if there's one near you.

Hmmm I didn't know that, interesting


Shop opens on tuesday, I'm in no hurry since I can't drive til the end of December regardless. Just wanted to make sure that we weren't crazy and that's the bad battery sign. I'd be in a much crappier situation if it turned out something had been damaged in the battery theft, other than battery and wires.

Thanks guys

Definitely a dead cell in the battery. Seen it a number of times on cars. Charging system reports fine, trickle charger reports charged, jumping the car works, but as soon as you take the jumpers off... it dies. If it was a car with a voltmeter... it would read 14V+ since the dead cell won't take a charge.

Automotive/motorcycle/marine batteries are made up of a series of cells inside. The good cells can still show 12V without load (which is what tricks the battery tender into saying it's done), but as soon as you pull current off the battery it can't maintain the same voltage. GOOD battery testers can tell you this... the cheap ones won't.

FWIW - you could hook the battery up from the stella (or a jump start pack) and see if the buddy starts... it would rule out everything else and give you a solid argument for the battery being defective

It does sound like the battery and I would be weary of any replacement that has been sitting around awhile.

You may also want to check and make sure the thief did not damage the cables and connectors. Some one mentioned trying jump or using the battery from your Stella. A good idea and worth the time. If it starts great, if not you probably have a cable or connector issue.

Well I talked to our dealer today. She said whoever implied to Lokky the battery had been there a while didn't intend the implication or was just plain wrong.

Being the thorough gal I know she is, even though I told her what we did with the multimeter, she thought it best we tow the Buddy there so the techs could take a look see and make absolutely sure nothing else is wrong... so they'll check all the contacts, wires, stuff like that.

Just waiting for the tow truck to get here... kind of apprehensive... they're sending a tow company that's been assholes to Lokky before, apparently. I may have a different experience, though. As long as they have proper equipment and don't damage anything I'm okay.

UPDATE:

Tower just left here- it was a very nice older gentlemen whom managed to make Lokky say 'color me impressed'

Sailor Scoot is on its way to the shop!