Battery dead

[NoSup4U]

So the battery on my Buddy 125 seems to have been slowly dying over the last few months. It's been taking a while to get started, and now won't start at all. (with the electric starter. It starts and runs just fine with the kick start)

I assume I need a new battery. I did some searching, and it looks like a lot of people are just taking their out, charging them up, and putting them back in. Is there an easy way for me to know if my battery can be recharged, or should I just take it out and take it to say, a Checker Auto and have them recharge it?

Or are batteries really cheap and i should just buy a new one? if so, where do I get them?

Thanks!
Mark

[Skootz Kabootz]

If your battery is still good and can hold a charge, I would assume just riding your scooter would do the trick, so long as you were going for long enough rides that the charge spent on starting the scooter could be replenished. If you need a new battery, they are easy enough to replace. Just pull up your floor mat and undo the screws to the battery compartment, disconnect the battery, put in the new battery and do the above steps in reverse.

If you don't ride much you can look into getting a battery tender aka trickle charger. Many MB members use them. Check out scooterworks.com for both batteries and the tender.

Some people have replaced their battery with fancier ones. I don't know about those. I'll let the others chime in on that...

[Lil Buddy]

So the battery on my Buddy 125 seems to have been slowly dying over the last few months. It's been taking a while to get started, and now won't start at all.

If this has been going on for a few months, there is a good chance the battery needs to be replaced. Once they get to a certain point, no amount of riding or charging will fix them.

How old is the battery? How often do you ride the scoot? Long rides, short rides? Is the scoot stock or have you added something to it?

As Skootz said, you can start with a nice long ride to see if that recharges it (but if you have been doing that the last few months just skip right to a replacement) or you can recharge it with a tender. The Battery Tender JR is great for the times when your scoot will be sitting for a number of days, or if you only do short rides. It also has a variety of connectors you can use. You don't need to remove the battery to use it.

If there is a Batteries Plus in your area, they have a few batteries that will fit in the Buddy. Sears also has a couple. The higher amp hours the better.

[BeachBuzz]

So the battery on my Buddy 125 seems to have been slowly dying over the last few months. It's been taking a while to get started, and now won't start at all.

If this has been going on for a few months, there is a good chance the battery needs to be replaced. Once they get to a certain point, no amount of riding or charging will fix them.

The Battery Tender JR is great for the times when your scoot will be sitting for a number of days, or if you only do short rides.

when the original battery on my TGB started acting like yours it wouldnt hold a charge seemingly no matter how long or far I rode it. It was never a big deal to me to kick start it so I kept riding it like that. I eventually bought a Battery Tender Jr and would plug it in every evening when I got home during the cold months (I believe the colder temps and my lack of riding was the cause of the battery's initial failure) but once it had died the tender didnt seem to help. As soon as I plugged it in the indicator light on the tender would change from red to green, indicating a fully charged battery. I assumed that was because I had just ridden it enough to charge it back up but the next morning it wouldnt fire. I think it was a cheap battery the once it died and wasnt fully recharged right away it slowly deteriorated to the point of no return. When I took it in for service the shop hooked it up to a charger it showed that it was fully charged - but it didnt have enough juice to turn the starter. I ended up replacing it and the new battery seems to respond to teh tender and I havent had any more issues with it.

I would say get a tender and see if it helps. If the problem continues replace the battery and keep it tended if it lives in a cold environment.

[gr8dog]

You need to discover the reason your battery is not holding a charge or not recharging. How old is the battery? Do you leave the key in the "on" position when the engine is off (this discharges the battery)? Do you have anything plugged into the power outlet? The outlet remains on even when the key is off and anything plugged into it will drain the battery. Is the charging system on your Buddy working properly? You may need to have it checked.

[Howardr]

AS far as cost is concerned, we just had to replace the battery in my son's scoot this week. The best price we could find was $55 at Pep Boys. They do run up to $100 if you have extra money to spend,though.

Howard

[Dooglas]

When the original battery on my TGB started acting like yours it wouldnt hold a charge seemingly no matter how long or far I rode it. It was never a big deal to me to kick start it so I kept riding it like that. I eventually bought a Battery Tender Jr and would plug it in every evening when I got home during the cold months (I believe the colder temps and my lack of riding was the cause of the battery's initial failure) but once it had died the tender didnt seem to help.

That is exactly right. A battery tender won't help a battery that has already gone south. It will keep a working battery up to full charge when you are not riding much - which is good for the longevity of the battery. If the battery has already lost the ability to take and hold a full charge, there is no alternative to buying a new one.

[babblefish]

Quote: "If the battery has already lost the ability to take and hold a full charge, there is no alternative to buying a new one."

I don't know if that's entirely true. I've had my battery sit so long that it became overly sulfated and wouldn't hold a charge even when using a stand-alone charger. It is sometimes possible to bring a battery back to health by giving it a very slow charge using a slightly higher than normal charge voltage. I recovered my battery this way by using a charge current of 0.5A and 14.5 volts (I used an adjustable power supply). In the first 35 or so hours of charging, the battery voltage never got higher than about 13.5 volts, but after that, it rapidly climbed to the max setting of 14.5 volts. I let it sit there for several more hours to make sure as much of the lead sulfate crystals in the electrolyte recombine with the lead plates as possible. After that, my battery worked perfectly fine. But as usual, YMMV.

I know that much of the above is just a bunch of gobblelygook to most people, but if anyone is interested in learning more of the technical aspects of batteries as used in motor vehicles, the Yuasa battery site has some good info. Download the Technical Manual pdf, it makes for good "library" reading material. There's also a "Motorcycle Electrical Systems - Trouble Shooting and Repair" article that may be of interest to some.

http://www.yuasabatteries.com/literature.php

[Dooglas]

It is sometimes possible to bring a battery back to health by giving it a very slow charge using a slightly higher than normal charge voltage. I recovered my battery this way by using a charge current of 0.5A and 14.5 volts (I used an adjustable power supply).

I have tried to recondition batteries a couple of times as you suggest (replacing the full battery bank on my boat costs some $600+ so there is some incentive to try). There certainly are technical websites explaining how one might attempt this. My experience has been that the batteries went south again fairly quickly even though I did initially get them back up to full charge. Doesn't hurt to try, of course, but this could be a frustrating approach for someone who just wants to get their scoot back on the road.

P.O.C. Phil's battery post is certainly worth a read.

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