Dead battery not really dead after all.

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C2
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Posts: 229
Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 3:03 am
Location: Palo Alto, CA

Dead battery not really dead after all.

Post by C2 »

How-do all,

I just wanted to pass along an experience I just had with my Buddy's battery.

I haven't been doing much riding lately, we've been having rain off and on for while here in the Bay Area. But today was so nice, I decided to ride to work – about 7 mi. After I got back from taking my daughter to school, I geared up and got ready to scoot to work.

Well... I got Tang outside, got my helmet and gloves on and proceeded to fire her up. She sputtered and then fell dead. I tried again. Nothing. It was if the battery was dead or nearly dead. So I flipped out the kick-start lever, gave it a good shove and she fired right up and I was off to work.

Many hours later...

I had to do the same thing to leave work. But this time, it took several kicks to get her going. Needless to say I was not happy. So this evening I went out and bought a battery charger and proceeded to remove the battery (a Prima) to charge it. Once I had it out and hooked up to the charger, I noticed that the charger said it was already good and charged. Curious. So I got out my old-school analog VOM and checked it out. Yup... all charged. So after a few minutes I was almost done putting the battery back and wondering what was going on.

And then... I saw... and all was clear to me.

The screw hole on the POS battery terminal had become stripped of its threads and/or enlarged. The screw that I took out was no longer “biting” as I screwed the cables back on. So what I thought was a dead (or nearly) dead battery turned out to be just intermittent contact between the cable and the battery!

Luckily, I had some screws that were slightly larger than the old ones, so I used those and Tang is starting right back up again. Just in time too; my MSF driving test is this weekend.

So, be on the look out for this if you run into issues with your Buddy starting up. It could just be the terminals have become stripped or enlarged.

Cheers,
C2
Vic
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Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 2:11 pm
Location: Squad 51

Post by Vic »

I have had troubles with battery connections also, I had a dealer mis-diagnose a bad stator for bad battery connections (long story) but the things seem to be not made quite as well as they could have been...

Tape and that special grease that they put on it is what we are using on mine...

-v
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LuvMyScoot
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Location: Dayville, CT
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Post by LuvMyScoot »

Thanks for the info. It may save someone (dare I say myself?) some hassle in the future.
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