battery charging?

Ressikan · Post by **Ressikan** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:46 pm

I can't remember offhand, but can anyone give me a refresher on how to tell if your battery is charging or not?

Right now, when the scooter is running I read the voltage across the battery leads as 11.50 VDC, with the scooter engine not running it reads 12.25.

I put it on a trickle charger overnight and it started fine when I left for work this morning. After my 8 hour shift it barely turned over, but did start, and I made it home okay but it sounded like the battery was just about completely dead. When I arrived home, I turned it off and tried to restart, again it sounded like the battery was dead.

Based on this, do I need a battery or get the charging circuit checked?

Thanks.

Benzo Mike · Post by **Benzo Mike** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:52 pm

It's not charging. Running (rev it and check voltage, not necessarily at idle - not sure what you did) you should see 14 volts or so...

Ressikan · Post by **Ressikan** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 12:00 am

Thank you!

Post by **ericalm** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:33 am

Check all the cables and connections before ordering a new battery. These things often vibrate loose.

But, yeah, you're not recharging.

You can also have the battery tested to see if it can hold a full charge. If it can, you might have issues with your voltage regulator or magneto.

thatvwbusguy · Post by **thatvwbusguy** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 5:41 am

Lower voltage when the engine is running means there is something fundamentally wrong with the charging circuit. It could be as simple as a loose/broken connection or as serious as a failing component. If the latter proves true, the usual suspects would be the stator or the regulator/rectifier.

Benzo Mike · Post by **Benzo Mike** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 2:29 am

But definitely probe it with some revs dialed in. Consider how pathetically dim the headlight is at idle...

Ressikan · Post by **Ressikan** » Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:08 pm

Well, I picked her up from the shop today and here's what they told me...

"Found that aftermarket running lights are causing a huge system draw"

Well, they aren't 'aftermarket' lights, I simply plugged in the unused running lights on the front of the Buddy following the instructions I found here on Modern Buddy.

Also, "Attempted to draw power from a different source for the lights, did not solve problem. Unplugging lights was only solution."

What I really don't understand is the thing ran ALL last summer with no problems at all. The only thing I can think of is, if this is really the problem, that the added running lights caused something to go wrong very gradually.

Have any of you with the turned on running lights on the front of the Buddy run into a similar problem?

jrsjr · Post by **jrsjr** » Sat Aug 30, 2014 9:54 pm

Ressikan wrote:Well, I picked her up from the shop today and here's what they told me...

"Found that aftermarket running lights are causing a huge system draw"

Well, they aren't 'aftermarket' lights, I simply plugged in the unused running lights on the front of the Buddy following the instructions I found here on Modern Buddy.

Also, "Attempted to draw power from a different source for the lights, did not solve problem. Unplugging lights was only solution."

What I really don't understand is the thing ran ALL last summer with no problems at all. The only thing I can think of is, if this is really the problem, that the added running lights caused something to go wrong very gradually.

Have any of you with the turned on running lights on the front of the Buddy run into a similar problem?

May I ask you a question? With the running light unplugged, if you do the same test you did before, what voltage is now showing across the battery terminals? I ask because I suspect a bad ground in the battery charging circuit.

Ressikan · Post by **Ressikan** » Sat Aug 30, 2014 11:32 pm

Now with the deadlights disconnected, and with the scoot running and revved a little, i get 13.3 volts

jrsjr · Post by **jrsjr** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 2:41 am

Ressikan wrote:Now with the deadlights disconnected, and with the scoot running and revved a little, i get 13.3 volts

In that case I have a scenario that agrees with everything you've posted. Last Summer you ran your scooter with the deadlights connected and everything was cool, right? I am going to hypothesize that your battery was in great shape, maybe it was even new? Then you connected the deadlights as running lights. I bet you didn't swap the bulbs out for LEDs, you just used the regular old incandescent bulbs, right? The Buddy electrical system makes just enough power to run the bike under normal conditions and not one whit more. This is why folks who connect the deadlights frequently swap the incandescent bulbs for low-power LED bulbs. So, all Summer last year you were barely charging your battery if at all.

Now a whole year later, your battery has aged and isn't charging quite as well as it did before. The electrical system is working hard to charge the battery and pull the extra load of the deadlights. On your drive to work the battery is slowly being drained rather than being charged. That's why the battery is a a little flat when you go to ride home from work. When you're home, you put it on a charger and give the battery a little extra juice so it will start in the morning and get you to work. It's like slow death for your battery, hence 11.5 volts when it's idling.

Then you took the scooter to the shop. They disconnected the extra electrical load (the incandescent deadlights) and suddenly the battery was getting more juice while the bike is running. This effect (and your charger) revived your battery over the next day or so. Now the voltage across the battery is much higher when you test it.

Solution: Run LED bulbs in the deadlights. Take your battery to a battery shop and have them check it on a load tester. If it's marginal, it's time to replace it.

As I said, this is just a hypothetical scenario that fits the details you've given us so far.

Ressikan · Post by **Ressikan** » Sun Aug 31, 2014 3:12 am

That makes sense to me. I lit up the deadlights very shortly after I got it in 2011. In 2012 the stator was replaced because there was an intermitant break in the coil. It was still under warranty then. It ran fine the rest of 2012 and 2013. It ran fine all this year as well until last week.

You have more experience at this than I do, if you say LEDs are the way to go, I'll gladly put them in. I like being more visible on the road and it looks cool too.

Thanks for the advice!