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General => Technical | How To => Topic started by: blue on December 19, 2010, 10:20:57 PM
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Is it ok for a scooter battery to be stored out side in a cold shed or is it better in a worm house.
I have a few extras just wana know whats best.
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I'm not sure - but you could put half outside, half inside and see which works best!
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no thanks dont wana leave the door to the house open.its cold enough out.
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That's the plan - keep half outside in the shed where it's cold, and half in the house (with the door shut) where it's warm.
Then see which batteries are in the best shape.
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oooooooooo now I understand must be the old age catching up .
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You just gotta run faster blue...Can't let age catch up!
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If the battery is fully charged, it should be safe to store it in either location, unless you live in Antarctica.
Discharged batteries can freeze.
A battery maintains a longer useful life if it is stored charged.
Mery Christmas,
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I have my P250s stored in an unheated workshop hooked up to a float charger.
Some say to remove the battery and take inside a heated place and put on a float charger but photos on the box to my float charger shows the charger hooked up to the battery in the bike.
As soon as the temp gets above freezing I may try starting my scoot & see what happens.
My battery lost some power sitting a week or so this fall so we will have to see if the charger is maintaining a charge.
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scoot did not start to good for me when I was on my way home from work I think all these little trips to work which is about 1 1/2 miles away is not enough to charge the battery think ill throw it on the charger for a while.
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That's a good idea, blue.
Hope it starts better for you next time! :)
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I keep all my bikes on a "battery tender" in a heated basement when not being used daily. Put the included electrical harness on the battery and just plug it in when you come back from riding. A constantly fully charged battery is a happy battery, just ask them!
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I keep all my bikes on a "battery tender" in a heated basement when not being used daily. Put the included electrical harness on the battery and just plug it in when you come back from riding. A constantly fully charged battery is a happy battery, just ask them!
Battery contacts are not exposed on scoots. Do you remove the plastic cover of the battery bay every time? Sounds lika PITA.
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Most battery tenders come with a 8" pigtail that you connect to the battery permanently.
It has a 2-wire quick connection, like used for trailer tail/brake lights, to connect to the tender.
I use a 12" extension connection to run out from under the seat to near the rear shock for accessability.
When not in use, I pull it up into the under-seat storage area.
Real tenders can be left hooked up all winter, but I prefer to check my batteries monthly.
That way I can tell if a battery is going bad;
if the internal resistance of the battery is decreasing, the battery will need recharging more frequently or for longer on the charger.
A good AGM battery probably only needs to be hooked to the tender 1/month for about 30 minutes.
A standard battery is more like 2 times/month.
REMEMBER to check the fluid level in regular batteries and to use Distilled water if needed.
Happy New Year & Scoot Safely,
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My Grandevista battery is 2 years old and ran low out in the shed. Remember
they continue to draw current especially if they have a digital display with a clock.
I found a display of Wildlife Innovations products at Tractor Supply. The 12 VDC
Trickle Charger was $9.95 and is in the garage. I also bought the $29.95 12 VDC
Solar Charger and it's mounted on the shed out back (No Electric). I have installed 12 VDC
Outlets (formerly cigarette lighter ports) on both bikes. These are direct wired
from the battery.
They always say to store flashlight, etc. batteries in a cold are and they'll
last longer. However I haven't seen any firm data on vehicle batteries.
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When the Spouse hooked up a solar charger to a spare motorcycle battery over the winter,
the charger overcharged the battery and "cooked" out all of the water.
For a long term connection, you need to use a battery maintainer or tender that is smart enough to prevent overcharging.
They cost about $20 at Walmart (Schumacher battery maintainer).
Scoot safely,
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MaryK...How big was the Solar Charger you had. The one I got was
6" Sq. and charges in Milliamps. Over the winter, My bikes are started
every 2-4 weeks and if it's decent 35-37 degrees and dry, I'll ride them.
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It was about 4" x 12", for automobile batteries. If you monitor your electrolyte level, yours may be ok.
In general, it is not a good idea to overcharge batteries. That is why the tender or maintainer type of charger
is so useful and it has a visual indicator (green light) to let you know when the battery is charged.
You could use a battery tester.
Scoot safely,
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my charger is like a tender it shuts off when the battery is charged but keeps the battery worm state.
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Battery contacts are not exposed on scoots. Do you remove the plastic cover of the battery bay every time? Sounds lika PITA.
Its really easy once you hook up the pigtail harness to your battery. All batter tenders I know of come with the harness that attaches to your battery, with about a 2-3 foot long wire and SAE plug. You can run the pigtail out from the battery box to a spot easy to access. See my attached photo. Mine comes out the left side and when I get home, I plug the connector from the tender to the one that goes to the battery.
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Wow! You take great pictures, Yager E!
Now I will know exactly what kind to buy to save my battery if I can't get my scoot started up soon.
Seriously - In your pic I can see that the output is 12V DC, the input is 120V AC and even that the Red light means charging. ;D
Can't quite make out the model # though. Is that 021-0123??
Thank you!! :)
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Hi Rianna,
I'm not at home right now...escaping the snow for a few days in Fla, yes I'm a wuss! Not sure of the model # but will check when I get home. The box that I'm holding has a plug behind it to plug into a wall socket. I believe it charges at .50 or .75 amps and is automatic. If the battery is charged it will stop charging it and only maintain it. It isn't supposed to be used to recharge a dead or low battery, just maintain one that is hooked up already charged. If you ride your scoot every day or so, you won't need it, but if your bike will not be started for a week or more I would put it on the tender. I have left some of my bikes on the tender for 6 mos while traveling out of state and started right up when I got home. There are different models but most of them are in the $25-40 price range. Battery tender and Schumacher are good companies to use.
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Thank you so much, Yager E. I think I did see a Schumacher one here.
Wow, Florida, huh? I'm jealous, lol. Hope you all have a great trip!
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Its better to store the battery in a cold place because then the battery will self discharge more slowly.
Its not like it will be damaged when stored at room temperatur but then it self discharge faster.
But if you connect a automatic battery charger to the battery all the time it dossent matter if its cold og room temperature because the battery charger will keep the battery fully charged all the time.
If you dont have a automatic charger its best to charge the battery before the storage and then check and charge the battery every month if its stored cold. Check and charge every 2 weeks if stored in a warm place.
You need a battery charger either way.
Check out page 24 "Storage" : http://scootergrisen.dk/scooterhjemmeside/download/yuasabatteri.pdf (http://scootergrisen.dk/scooterhjemmeside/download/yuasabatteri.pdf)
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Thank you for this link, scootergrisen!
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Wow, Florida, huh? I'm jealous, lol. Hope you all have a great trip!
Rianna,
You must have ESP....yup we are in Florida! We left NE GA, yesterday afternoon in snow flurries, dark and nasty with a big time snow/ice storm on the way Sunday night. We're going to spend a week or so down here. It is hard to take so far.....sunny and 70s, almost had to turn on the AC! Georgia and most of the southeast is in for a really nasty storm the next few days.....I hope everyone stays safe....keep off the ice!
Elliot
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found this today thinking of tryimg it .a battery chager that runs on solar power it can stay on the scoot all the time . what you think yes or no to trying it.
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Rianna,
You must have ESP....yup we are in Florida! We left NE GA, yesterday afternoon in snow flurries, dark and nasty with a big time snow/ice storm on the way Sunday night. We're going to spend a week or so down here. It is hard to take so far.....sunny and 70s, almost had to turn on the AC! Georgia and most of the southeast is in for a really nasty storm the next few days.....I hope everyone stays safe....keep off the ice!
Elliot
Oh, MAN! I bet that was rough to take! 70 Degrees!! You teasin' me...rubbin' it in even! :D
Hey...I'll trade places with ya. ;D
I believe we're supposed to get hit with that storm up here as well. Looks like I'm not going to the store this week. Hey, you ought to bottle up some of that sunshine while you're there and send it up our way. Watch out for them alligators. I hear they're pretty mean down there.
Have Fun!
Reckon I'll go throw a couple more logs on the fire...
"Air Conditioning" Geesh! :)
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found this today thinking of tryimg it .a battery chager that runs on solar power it can stay on the scoot all the time . what you think yes or no to trying it.
That thing looks pretty cool, blue!
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Hi, Elliot! :)
Are you still in Florida, buddy? I do hope you send some warmth and sunshine up this way. My aching bones and muscles can't take much more of this here cold. I can't sleep this night. My back is behaving in an unforgiving and uncooperative manner, so I thought I'd come in and check on ya. I bet y'all are having a blast if you are still down there!
I'll let ya know that you're not missing anything up here. Weather in the teens. Stay as long as you can and have some fun. Hey, did you take your camera with you? Maybe you could post us up a pic of the ocean? Or the sand? Have a great day, Yager E!! :)
(I do wonder if your RV is the one with the 2 televisions in it, and if it has the double door fridge or the mini-mini. A fella down the street has one for sale, but it's not pretty like yours.)
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Hi, Elliot! :)
(I do wonder if your RV is the one with the 2 televisions in it, and if it has the double door fridge or the mini-mini. A fella down the street has one for sale, but it's not pretty like yours.)
Hey Rianna,
Yes, ours have the bigger double door refrig, 2 TVs, satellite dish on top, etc. Kind of like a very small home on wheels. We have been home since Jan 20th, and still kicking ourselves, (not too hard) for coming home way too soon. Weather in the GA mountains has been a lot like yours. Cold, wet, dreary and my bones/muscles ache too! We had some things to do so we came home, but nothing important. The past weekend was a great time for riding, but I signed up for a class (dummy me) and they turned out to be the two best days of winter. Thousands of bikers in the mountains, and mine were stuck in the basement....they are not happy!
Take care, and I hope you are staying warm,
Elliot
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This is so good to hear from you, Elliot. :)
Well, I had thought that I was supposed to take a trip myself this winter, but someone messed up my eight digit reservation # and I was told that I could not go without it and the password, perhaps it wasn't meant to be...I took ill shortly after that with a fever anyway!!
Construction workers hit a drainage pipe while working on the sewer system in the neighborhood leaving me with a bathtub full of mud and no way to soak my aching back for many days...after much rest, the dehydration and fever has finally lifted and my back is improving.
Well, on the 7th, tomorrow, they are supposed to try again to fix it, so I will get in one more good hot bath before they mess things up again!!
Happy all is well with you and yours! :)
Rianna
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Geez Rianna, sorry to hear about those problems with the water. Hopefully they'll get it fixed today ? Try to get out somewhere to take a vacation when you can, its good for the mind and body! With all this lousy weather all over, there are going to be a lot of people with cabin fever....and it could cause a baby boom.....not to mention dead batteries (on the scoots). Keep those batteries charged!!!
Elliot
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thank you so much, Elliot...have a great day!! ;)
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I had a small problem late in January with the battery in my S8 150 ... it seems it came from the dealer with a low charge and the stop and start cycles on a new bike followed the cold weather just depleted it. I had both a Schumacher 6/12 and a Battery tender but the little battery in the S8 was just too small for a maintenance charge. (I think it's just a 4 amp output)
I found on Amazon a neat little charger which has some nice features for modern, small bike batteries.
http://www.amazon.com/CTEK-Multi-Smart-Battery-Charger/dp/B000FQBWCY/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1299619599&sr=8-31 (http://www.amazon.com/CTEK-Multi-Smart-Battery-Charger/dp/B000FQBWCY/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1299619599&sr=8-31)
This has a desulphating function, then a long slow charge cycle and finally a very low trickle phase which is done automatically. All you need to do is to set the button switch for the type of vehicle, the circuitry in the charger takes care of the rest. When I replaced it in the bike, it started better than ever and now my craniking time for a cold start is less than five seconds. While not a cheap solution, extra pigtails are readily available and it also works really well on my truck.